December 14, 1918. Post War Diplomacy, Elections, and Violence

December 14, 1918, saw the playing out of several stories that we have been following here over a period of years, or at least significant steps in those stories.

Woodrow Wilson was in Parish, and he was being treated as a hero by a people who were grateful that American soldiers had arrived when they did.

Wilson riding in a carriage with French President Poincare.

The United Kingdom held its first post war election, and the first in its history in which women could vote.  It's remembered in the UK for that, and in Ireland for something else, with both stories a bit muddled.

There was only one general election in the United Kingdom in 1918, in spite of some reporting this as "Ireland also held an election".  Every time the United Kingdom held an election, Ireland held one. What was different about this election, however, is that republican Sinn Fein stood a full slate of candidates in Ireland and took 47% of the vote with Home Rule supporting Irish Parliamentary Party, formerly the most powerful Irish party in Parliament, taking only 21%. The balance went to Unionist, whose strength also increased in this election.

Eamon de Valera, the head of Sinn Fein and a giant in Irish political history.

That clearly didn't give Sinn Fein enough to be an absolute majority of Irish representation in Parliament, but it was close enough and it took the position that it was entitled to form a separate Irish parliament, the Dail, which it did, thereby developing a strategy in which it claimed political legitimacy by way of the British Parliamentary election for its national aspirations.  The first Dail claimed to be the legitimate ruling body for all of Ireland, and war would soon follow.  In essence Sinn Fien had succeeded in using legitimate British machinery for its own aims, which was a brilliant strategy.

While the strategy would ultimately succeed, it's of note that over half of the residents of Ireland actually didn't vote for an independent nation.  Nearly half did.  That immediately proved impossible for the United Kingdom to ignore, but Irish nationhood also required the new Dail to ignore the 30% of the population that had voted for strict union and the 21% of the Irish nation that had been satisfied with home rule.

Still, Sinn Fein's showing was sufficiently impressive that it took over 4% of the British election, meaning that as a new party its showing was still impressive even in that election, which it was really part of.  

David Lloyd George took the British election with a coalition government, thereby retaining his seat as Prime Minister.

Lloyd George effectively ran as the head of a new party, but he was enormously popular in 1918, thereby allowing him to escape the fate Churchill endured in 1945.

In Portugal, the strongman president Sidonio Pais was assassinated at a railway station.  A controversial figure, the assassination by a leftist would destabilize the Portuguese government beyond the point of recovery.

Pais had essentially ruled in the classic Roman dictator style, and was termed the President King.  Coming into power through his parliamentary position during a crisis in World War One, which he'd opposed Portugal entering into, he ruled to an extent by decree in violation of a constitution he'd helped draft.  He retained a fair measure of popularity for much of his term in office, however, in spite of that and generally acted as a populist.  He was essential to what Portuguese unity there was, which his death unfortunately demonstrated.