The Black and Tans arrive in Ireland | Jan - Mar 1920 - Episode 20

In January 1920 a small group of young, oddly dressed, British ex-servicemen arrived in Ireland. They had been recruited to reinforce the ranks of the Royal Irish Constabulary and take on the Irish Republican Army. Their strange mix of military and police clothing was the result of a uniform shortage and the bemused Irish people quickly nicknamed them the Black and Tans. Sent to Ireland to restore law and order, they would some become famous throughout the world for their brutality and violence.
If you are interested in purchasing any of the books used to research this episode, please consider using the affiliate links below to support the continued production of The Irish Nation Lives.
References:
D. M. Leeson - “The Black and Tans”
Paul McMahon - “British Spies & Irish Rebels” - amzn.to/3iDjQ0u
Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon - “Turning Points of the Irish Revolution”
Peter Hart - “The I.R.A at War 1916-1923” - amzn.to/33Asg4q
The Black and Tans and Auxiliaries - www.theirishstory.com/2020/01...
Who were the Black and Tans? - www.historyireland.com/20th-c...
R.I.C and the Black and Tans - www.limerickcity.ie/media/wain...
Newspaper reports - / 1214593383135621120
Social Media:
Twitter: / theirishnation
Facebook: / theirishnationlives
Instagram: / theirishnationlives
Soundcloud: / theirishnationlives
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/t...
Main Sources:
Military Archives - www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie
Century Ireland - www.rte.ie/centuryireland
Diarmuid Lynch, Irish Revolutionary - diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/
Atlas of the Irish Revolution - amzn.to/3npOEFj
Maurice Walsh - “Bitter Freedom” - amzn.to/30Dtutx
Charles Townshend - "The Republic" - amzn.to/33AJ0IC
Michael Hopkinson - ”The Irish War of Independence” - amzn.to/2Sxif1l
Diarmuid Ferriter - “A Nation and not a Rabble” - amzn.to/2SFUiF7
Ronan Fanning - “Fatal Path” - amzn.to/3lmswKq
Richard Abbott - “Police Casualties in Ireland 1919 - 1922” - amzn.to/3lmsMJo
Photos:
Military Archives
NLI Flickr account
Wiki Commons

[@kingkong-vy4hd]

Well researched and historically accurate. Well done, there are so many inaccurate videos depicting the Revolutionary period online, great to see a good one.

[@liverpoolscottish6430]

My paternal grandfather, whom I never met because he died in 1965, served in the British Army during WW1. He volunteered at 17 and joined the Royal Lancashire Regt- which eventually became Kings Own Royal Border Regt. He 'celebrated' his 18th birthday in the mud of the trenches in Ypres. In 1917, he was badly injured by 5.9 inch shell fire in a school yard in Ypres. He was subsequently evacuated home to Blighty, where he was treated for his injuries. He was duly declared unfit for further service on the western front, and he was sent to Dublin, where he was part of the garrison at Kilmainham gaol. He spoke to my father about the Black & Tans, he despised them and referred to them as, "The scum of the British Army." He was well aware of the poor discipline and routine brutality, which he thoroughly detested. The Black & Tans deployment was a huge mistake, they were a great recruiting Sgt for the IRA.

[@liamkatt6434]

Great account. There are many cases of British army officers and men forcing tans to stop what they are doing at gunpoint.

[@user-xp4wb5qw4p]

The most important recruiting Sgt for the IRA was brits being in Ireland in the first place

[@darrenfarrell-bn2cb]

Normal British Tommy Had no time for them, or A lot of the Regular RIC Which a lot of them Went Into The Garda after the Treaty , Tans Were pure Bastard Led Drunken RPSTs . Facts are Here for anyone who Questions.

[@donalfinn4205]

Excellent. Have just discovered this page. Subbed.

[@johncenaversusthings8452]

Very good work on that video! As a non native English speaker, the provided subtitles are very much appreciated!

[@TheIrishNationLives]

Thanks very much! The Irish accent can be a bit hard even for native speakers, the auto captioning struggles a lot! I haven't been able to correct the auto captions on some of my most recent videos yet, hoping to have them all done in the next few weeks.

[@misssparky5574]

@@TheIrishNationLives I,m born and raised in the uk but I can clearly understand every word on the video.

[@daisy13joyce]

@Davo Nulan your reading is not that good either, the lady did not put I'M she put I'm which is correct at the start of a sentence.

[@martinmanifold2241]

Just a copy of wikipedia script

[@101mossie]

“The English are gone Bull” “Gone, but not forgotten”.

[@Eric-the-Bold]

A very well blanced view of history.

[@TheIrishNationLives]

The first batches of British recruits to the RIC were arriving on Irish shores 100 years ago. Initially dressed in a mixture of police and military uniform, they were all in the rifle-green/black of the RIC by winter. The Auxiliaries on the other hand were actively encouraged to wear different military and police uniforms and even to mix them. This caused confusion at the time and continues to do so today. A lot of the pictures of "Black and Tans" that you will find online and see in newspapers in the years ahead are actually of the Auxiliaries.

[@chrissanchez2998]

The Irish Nation lives is awesome I like the Irish history very interesting

[@Shelldrake489]

The auxiliaries were all former British army officers as opposed to the Black and Tans who were ex British army enlisted soldiers, most of the crimes committed in Ireland by the auxiliaries were attributed to the Tans, the only tan executed for crimes in Ireland is William Mitchell who was executed for the murder of a justice of the peace in Dunlavin Co. Wicklow, the JP was a Protestant and a loyalist which is why the authorities had to take any action, William Mitchell’s remains in the ground in Mountjoy prison.

[@marknagle57]

Fantastic to hear a correct telling of this awful part of our Nations history

[@robertdoyle687]

My grandparents home, in Tullow Co Carlow, was trashed twice by these 'troubled' ex-soldiers. They behaved like animals my father told me ! Robert Doyle, Scotland

[@jdoyle6821]

THE DREGS OF CROMWELL.

[@maryarigho5868]

Mr Treacy,, a friend's father, like my family, Irish, living in Birmingham UK, was good friends with a local man when, to his horror, he found that he had been a Black and Tan. Never spoke to him again.

[@stephenmcmahon5833]

Irish history should be mandatory in English schools.

[@dannyboy5517]

Education should be mandatory in English schools

[@RobRoyBoaz]

@@dannyboy5517 Well said mate. Well said.

[@dannyboy5517]

@ASCALON I guess that explains the reason why English history is not taught properly in English schools then

[@dannyboy5517]

@ASCALON Poor boy living in the past

[@dannyboy5517]

@ASCALON Poor boy

[@kevinruddy448]

Teach the Irish how to forget, and maybe get the English to be humble enough to remember 🤔?

[@davidharrison441]

A great drink .

[@stevethomas5849]

Thank you for an in depth analysis of the infamous Black and Tans. Broken soliders with PTSD armed a recipe for disaster.

[@paulkelly660]

Steve, if you listen to the description, it tells you they were not PTSD or criminals. But in fairness, because of the war and the situation they found themselves in. They would have been prone to violence.

[@RobertK1993]

No Ulster Scots Presbyterians in the Black and Tans once again to afraid to fight IRA.

[@tonyhendrix8075]

@@RobertK1993 sorry but you are wrong mate,there was plenty of filth that came from Scotland,mainly from the West I might add. I actually knew one of their relations who lived in Carfin,very few knew he was a relative of the bastard B&T. The most annoying thing of all was he was a member of the Carfin Hibs club,he also lived there.

[@RobRoyBoaz]

My great uncle was in the IRA at that time. He killed several B and T. I got the stories directly from him. Proud of him. Wished he had killed more.

[@1916jamesconnolly]

Sounds like a great man to be proud of. Was he pro or anti-treaty?

[@RobRoyBoaz]

@@1916jamesconnolly I am not sure. When I met him he was a very old man, and I was just a young teenager. During the 1916 Rising however, he was actually inside the GPO when the Brits pounded it with field artillery. He told me what it like. Spooky thing is that circa 2010 I was watching a documentary on The Rising, and watched original footage shot from behind a Brit field gun firing at the GPO. After a couple of minutes I realised that my Great Uncle was inside that building being pounded. And here was me sitting in South Africa all these years later. Very eerie.

[@1916jamesconnolly]

@@RobRoyBoaz We will never have men like that again. If it had not been for brave men like your great Uncle making the ultimate sacrifice for freedom we would still be under British rule. God bless him.

[@RobRoyBoaz]

@@1916jamesconnolly Thank you for those comments. Much appreciated. I am extremely proud of him. He stepped up to the plate like thousands of others of his generation, and put his life on the line so Ireland could be free. Part of that job has still to be done. When I met him I proudly showed him my LP record of Irish Rebel Songs. I still have it. You might know it. On the cover it shows a ploughman type man with his arms stretched out and behind him is The Irish Tricolour. He told me the story behind every one of those songs on that LP. Then he sang songs that had never been commercially recorded but had been passed down from father to son so to speak. I feel privileged to have met a man who made history. All the very best to you. KTF.

[@gordonrides840]

Did you speak to him through a meadium

[@seanbrown453]

My grandfather served aged 16 from 1916 to 1921 as a IRA volunteer but never got HIS medal

[@davekeating.]

Did he apply and not qualify?

[@timothyrobson3325]

@10 seconds in Dublin Metropolitan Police. Not RIC. Note their height in comparison to the British Army officers.

[@King.Mark.]

I think saying that the black and tan where not prisoners let free to terrors the people of Ireland is even worse if this is the english standard of what descent solders are that fight for them,

[@skippership7]

Wrong nationality I'm afraid, it staggers me how people still get this mixed up and is based purely on either ignorance or xenophobia.

[@tomellis4324]

@@skippership7 can you enlarge on that contribution please?

[@Elle_Gowing]

They had uniforms to identify them then, now they come by stealth in sleeper cells.

[@darrenfarrell-bn2cb]

A lot of RIC Went straight into the Garda a The time and Carried On , ( Funny Feeling PSNI Will follow suit shortly) Some in already 2024 .

[@michaelahern6821]

Great channel...pity bout the trolls ...most of them keep changing their names but you'd recognise them easy enough...lol

[@ryanflanigan6362]

Irish history is something the English should remember, and the Irish should forget...

[@Hereward47]

Bore off

[@ryanflanigan6362]

Don't tread on me... Limey.

[@patrickoconnor2254]

11:10

[@freedomfightingnanny]

My cousin was Joseph O'Sullivan and his brother Patrick O'Sullivan Leaders of the ira

[@robertcrowther8202]

What people forget is this was a different age when I was young my parents had a pub in Manchester I used to talk to the old men who had fought in the world war some had been black and tans one thing I noticed is how to me now they seemed to be loyal to king and country they believed they were doing it for the king as far as they being short and only weighing 10 stone that was normal in Britain at that time many were powerful ex miners and had spent years killing the Kings enemies its strange how the Irish have forgotten the the Irish have fought all over the world as mercenaries for money and fame .the alamo custers la St stand Waterloo South America the US civil war so don't condem others who have done the same and yes I'm of Irish decent

[@tomellis4324]

Mmmmmm " Irish decent" haaaa?

[@robertcrowther8202]

Yes Tom I was adopted my father was a irishman from mayo .my mother was of Scottish and English decent my dna. Tests tell me I am one of the one in 12 irishmen who are genetic decendents..of the u .Neill dynasty... so why the sneer

[@michaelahern6821]

@@robertcrowther8202 He can sneer if he likes...have you any idea what the tans done in Ireland...?

[@robertcrowther8202]

Mr ahern yes I am a keen student of irish history the r. I. C. And the British army did not want the black and tans the man behind the idea was the anti irish Churchill who seemed to have a low opinion of the irish believing they were incapable of ruling themselves

[@michaelahern6821]

@@robertcrowther8202 Means nothing really black and tans British army two peas from the same pod..both occupiers both despised..

[@surinbasnet8305]

Irish never give up against British occupied when black and tans roaming on Irish streets what counter produced by IRA....

[@johnkennedy972]

The worst of the worst black in tans ex prisoners who killed innocent civilians 🇮🇪32

[@robertcrowther8202]

Looking at the information on the black and tans many of them were brave men who had fought though out the first world they were hard men some were killers some ended up being hanged later in Britain for murder the main problems with them was lack of leadership you must remember that all of Europe was in turmoil after World War one with fighting and genocide ethnic conflict Ireland was not alone in this type of warfare

[@user-po9sg3ks4p]

Let Dan breen at them lol 🇮🇪

[@Shekhinah74]

-All english must see the sufferring they have done to poor Ireland. The cruelty of the british is beyond all human rights...

[@Genekellystand]

@terry phidaheights terry , a man of many words ,and lack of knowledge ,bless him.

[@rabsmiff]

I reckon the Nazis took the biscuit in the' cruelty to others' stakes, they would have crammed Millions of you lot into cattle trucks and shipped you off to Death Factories. Same as they would have done to the Brits. They bombed you with 'planes for Christ sake, in the North and the South.

[@AnnesleyPlaceDub70]

@@Genekellystand ignorance is bliss for many a clown.

[@rechtsradicaillou]

@@rabsmiff lol wtaf. theyd have no need to. Nazis and Ireland would be like Rome invading Britannia and un-Romanized Hibernia being left alone. Not like theres a huge Jewish or Romani population in Ireland. Plus the Free State was a bit sympathetic to the Germans in WW1. If they ever bombed Ireland its mostly because they lost their flight paths as they were bombing western cities like Liverpool and Cardiff. Ireland never posed strategic importance to the Germans during the Battle of Britain.

[@Minime163]

@terry phidaheights the original nazi's

[@martinmanifold2241]

Easy to point the finger at the english ...there was a mix scot welsh and english in the ranks ....even irish in the ranks . There is no english government or parliament ....the english are under direct rule from the UK gov .

[@petergrossett9236]

The English are under Westminster England rule. The English can outvote the Welsh, Scots, and, Ulster loyalists twice over. The Enlish invaded Wales and subdued them, invaded Ireland, invaded Scotland too. The population of Scotland was no bigger in Mary Stuarts rule than it was in Sir William Wallaces, two hundreds years later, due to wave after wave of invasion by the English

[@martinmanifold2241]

@@petergrossett9236 😂😂😂 you reading nationalist and tourist nonsense ...research scottish king james the VI ..the scottish king who took over England and united the kingdoms ....resesrch king henry VIII and his family ( when the welsh ruled england ) ....England have never successfully invaded scotland ...but a scottish king birthed us the UK

[@martinmanifold2241]

@@petergrossett9236 check out the bruces campaign in ireland ....when english and irish troops stood side by side on irish soil to repel the scots under the bruces who were on a murderous campaign from north to south of ireland

[@petergrossett9236]

@@martinmanifold2241 I'm Scots/Irish.

[@petergrossett9236]

@@martinmanifold2241 not quite, king James VI, becameJames I of England. The Union was,Scotland was united into England. The Union flag, then the George cross & Andrews saltire was an English flag, and still is. He may have brought the flag to Scotland perhaps, on his very rare visits. True his son lke he himself was crownned both King of Scots, and King of England.. Since 1707 the monarch wears the English crown only, up until today no English/British monarch has worn or been crowned with Scotlands royal crown, the honours of Scotland. The House of Stuart saw themselves more than just Scot, due to their marraige aliances. Suggested reading? I suggest you mug up on Scottish independenc & nationalism, the parcel of Rogues. Henry theVIII, and the rough wooing.

[@johnkennedy972]

They will never criminalise the Irish struggle 🇮🇪32 history proves this beir bua erin go bragh

[@12redwine]

A proud force the Royal Irish Constabulary.

[@aidanjoyce3248]

Proud of what ffs

[@12redwine]

@aidanjoyce3248 Oh dear, I seemed to have upset someone.

[@roberthunt8819]

No surrender 🇬🇧

[@tomellis4324]

No shit Robert 😄😁

[@michaelahern6821]

To brexit is it.??.but...you did...How's life now...lol

[@alanbaird6]

Brexit is your surrender to the corporate ruling classes, you as a Brit are now just a serf.

[@Hereward47]

@@michaelahern6821How are you liking Sinn Féin’s diversity drive? Dublin starting to look like Lagos now. Unlucky

[@marksmith7425]

The black and tans were an awesome site and they sorted out he vi** IRA sc** good style.

[@mkeibergin3775]

Hello mark, well the Saxons always loved their criminals, loved them so much they sent them to Ireland armed and dangerous, thankfully, we soon sorted them out and sent them back to you to fill your jails again. yours Winston Churchill

[@liverpoolscottish6430]

Don't compare the old school IRA who fought in 1916 and fought the Tans with the PIRA scum of The Troubles. The old IRA blokes generally came out in the open to fight more often than not- as they did in the 1916 Easter uprising, they had guts, and they believed in what they were doing, they didn't set off remote control IED's in the north from the safety of Eire, they mostly fought head on. The Tans were an ill-disciplined, poorly led rabble. My paternal grandfather who served in the British Army during WW1 ended up in Dublin after being declared unfit for further service on the western front after being injured by shell fire. He served as Kilmainham prison and he was well aware of the dubious calibre of many of the Black & Tans, he described them to my father as, "The scum of the British Army." The Tans had a reputation for heavy drinking, poor discipline and resorting to brutality on a routine basis. They were one of the best recruiting Sgt's the IRA ever had.

[@michealhand1001]

#Mark smith Rhymes with Twit😂