January 1, 1970

The situation in Ireland was rapidly descending into chaos. In 1920 Churchill supported Lloyd George’s policy of recruiting counter-insurgency forces – including the ‘Black and Tans’ – to fight against the Irish guerillas and the reformed Irish Republican Army. Their unofficial reprisals and the murder of civilians made Churchill a target for the guerillas. But, with Lloyd George, he negotiated the Anglo-Irish treaty in December 1921, resulting in the creation of an Irish Free State.

In signing the treaty, Michael Collins, the leader of the IRA, signed his own death warrant and was assassinated only several months later.

According to Churchill, writing later in The World Crisis, Collins wrote to him saying: ‘Tell Winston that we could never have done anything without him’.