Irish War of Independence

Radicalised by Britain's over-reaction to the Easter Rising, Ireland was a powder keg of tensions when World War One came to an end. Attempts to impose order backfired in large swathes of the country as popular opinion indignantly fought back. This picture shows an armoured Rolls Royce and British soldiers at Kenmare in County Kerry in 1921. Unlike World War One, it was not clear who friends and enemies were. This was very much to become a war for hearts and minds, but Britain's heavy handed tactics backfired dramatically.