The Proclamation of an Irish Republic from the steps of the GPO did not exactly ring around the world in April 1916 but it did start a long drawn-out process of dismantlement of the then mighty British empire. The 1916 rebellion had, after all, been ruthlessly suppressed by British power just as stirrings of revolt in the colonies from time to time were stamped out.
But the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 showed independence movements, especially in India, that it was possible to win a measure of freedom from the imperial power. If Ireland, which was an integral part of the United Kingdom, could progress to the status of a self-governing dominion, surely the faraway colonies could aspire to this kind of freedom also.
By achieving dominion status instead of the sought-after republic, the Irish Free State joined Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as partners in the British Commonwealth. Allegiance was due to the king, who was represented by a governor-general in the dominions, but in practice these countries were independent, although Britain preferred to be vague about what this meant constitutionally.
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