Edward Carson privately disagreed with the idea of partition and the devolution of Ulster. Claiming poor health, Carson retired from public life and gave the leadership of the Ulster Unionists to James Craig. Elections on the 24 May 1921 saw returns that gave Unionists a landslide victory by winning 40 seats (Sinn Féin and other Irish Nationalists won only six seats each), James Craig became the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Partition did little to settle political turmoil in Ireland, many Irish Republicans rejected the "British" Dublin parliament and, instead, Sinn Féin took their majority and founded their own separatist assembly, the Dáil Éireann. From January 1919, guerrilla fighting between the security forces and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) increased, eventually escalating into the Anglo-Irish War. With the creation of Northern Ireland, violence in Ireland only intensified, though conflict would take on two distinct natures in the north and in the south.