This week a century ago: The Treaty

SHORTLY after two o’clock in the early hours of Tuesday morning, December 6, 1921, the historic document bearing the title “Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland” was signed.

The document now commonly known as “The Treaty” is not a complex document; it is short and written in straightforward terms consisting of 18 Articles. But the recriminations and bitterness that followed its signing led to former comrades falling out, and a brutal Civil War that scarred not just the countryside but also emotionally and physically those who fought.

Many participants went to their graves never having spoken of the horrific and traumatic incidents that divided families and communities for decades.

Some believed silence was the best way of not passing on a legacy of bitterness to the next generation; for others, it was probably their best and only coping mechanism.

Many disillusioned revolutionaries on the losing side joined in the large emigrant outflow in the aftermath. There were no winners.

Read the full feature in this week's edition of The Tuam Herald, on sale in shops and online www.tuamherald.ie