Elena Polyakova

The year 2022 marks the centenary of the formation of the modern, independent Irish state. The Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in December 1921 was crucial to its creation and political destiny, setting the direction of Irish state policy for a century and laying the foundations of modern Irish statehood. The treaty was signed after two years of Anglo-Irish war, in which the Republic of Ireland, proclaimed in 1919, had to defend its independence, when both sides found the will to declare a truce and agree to a five-month-long period of negotiations. The author examines the events that influenced the terms of the treaty, including the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, which provided for the creation of two Irish parliaments, for the South and the North, effectively dividing the country, and the complex and dramatic events between the truce and the signing of the treaty. Special attention is given to the positions of British Prime Minister David Lloyd-George and Irish republican leader Éamon de Valera on key issues of Irish sovereignty and territorial integrity, as reflected in their months-long correspondence. The peace treaty signed by Britain with the unrecognised Republic of Ireland was the starting point of its move towards genuine independence.