An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March 2019 www.dfmagazine.ie 42 | COGADH NA SAOIRSE: AR MUIR IS AR TÍR A Changed World: In 1919, the war to end all wars was over. The 19th January saw the start of peace negotiations in Paris, which would culmi- nate in signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June. This momentous year saw the drafting of the covenant of the League of Nations, the surrender and scuttling of the German high seas fleet in Scapa Flow. It also on the 21st January saw the first Dáil sit in the Mansion House in Dublin, where they declared Irish Independence in fulfil- ment of the goals of the grand heroic failure of the 1916 Easter Rising. Also on that fateful day in Soloheadbeg, volunteers of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade under the command of Seán Treacy and Dan Breen ambushed and shot two constables of the Royal Irish Constabulary. These were the first two deaths of an estimated 1,400 deaths between 1919 and 1921. While most of the fight- ing occurred on land across Ireland, the sea had a major role to play in the both the Rising and the War of Independence. Lonely Edge of Europe: Ireland holds a geostra- tegic maritime position on the lonely edge of Europe, facing out into the North Atlantic where the European and North American sea-lanes veritably bustle with all manner of shipping. At the turn of the century Ireland's seas and maritime domain were under the firm control of the British Empire and the might of the Royal Navy. The ports and deep sheltered harbours of Cork, Berehaven and Lough Swilly, protected by massive forts and coastal artillery batteries, had played their part in centuries of British domi- nation of the high seas and from these ports where shipped troops to fight in Britain's many wars. Many a period of rebelliousness across Ireland was subdued by forces shipped from these Naval installations, helping to underpin the British presence in Ireland as the dark clouds of war gathered on the European horizon. Those clouds burst in August 1914. War and Rebellion: At the outset of World War I, the focus of the Royal Navy was on contending with the German High Seas Fleet in North Atlan- tic, their forces concentrated from Scottish ports such as the Firth of Forth and Scapa Flow. Cork Harbour and the other main Irish ports were fairly quiet, until submarine activity saw one of the most pivotal sinking's of WWI, where on the 7th May 1915, the 'Lusitania' was torpedoed at the lost of 1,201 souls. This lead to a change of attitude and management of the Royal Naval BY CPO/ERA RUAIRI DE BARRA (War of Independence: On Sea and on Land) Cork City Following Auxiliary Rampage December 1920

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