Irish Civil War

The Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty arose from the Anglo-Irish War (or "Irish War of Independence"), fought between Irish separatists (organised as the extra-legal Irish Republic) and the British government, from 1919-1921. The treaty provided for a fully self-governing Irish state, controlling most of Ireland's population and area, and having its own army and police. However, rather than creating the independent republic favoured by many nationalists, it provided that the state would be a dominion of the British Empire with the British monarch as head of state. The treaty also stipulated that members of the new Irish Oireachtas (parliament) would have to take an "Oath of Allegiance" to the Free State constitution and an oath of fidelity to the British king. Under the treaty the state was not to be called a republic but a "free state" and it was only to include twenty-six southern and western counties of Ireland. The remaining six northeastern counties were to remain part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland. Also, several strategic ports were to remain occupied by the Royal Navy.

Nonetheless, Michael Collins, the republican leader who had led the Irish negotiating team, argued that the treaty gave "not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire and develop, but the freedom to achieve freedom". Events were eventually to prove him right, as the Free State later evolved into an independent republic. However, Anti-Treaty militants in 1922 believed that the Treaty would never deliver full Irish independence.

Split in the Nationalist movement

The split over the Treaty was deeply personal. The protagonists on both sides had been close friends and comrades during the War of Independence. This made their lethal disagreement over the Treaty all the more bitter. Michael Collins felt that Éamon de Valera had sent him to negotiate the Treaty because he knew that the British would not concede an independent Irish republic and wanted Collins to take the blame for the compromise settlement. He therefore felt deeply betrayed when De Valera refused to stand by the agreement he had negotiated with David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill.

The IRA West Cork Flying Column during the War of Independence. Most of the IRA units in Munster were against the TreatyDáil Éireann (the parliament of the Irish Republic) narrowly passed the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64 votes to 57 in December 1921. Following the Treaty's ratification, a Provisional Government, headed by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith was set up to transfer power from the British administration to the Irish Free State.

Upon the Treaty's ratification Eamon de Valera resigned as President of the Republic and led the anti-treaty wing of Sinn Féin out of the Dáil. He challenged the right of the Dáil to approve the Treaty, saying that its members were breaking their oath to the Irish Republic. De Valera then attempted to promote a compromise, in which the new Irish Free State would have "external association" with the British Commonwealth rather than membership of it. More seriously, the majority of the Irish Republican Army officers were also against the Treaty and in March 1922, their Army Convention repudiated the authority of the Dail to accept the Treaty. The anti-treaty IRA formed their own Army Executive, which they recognised as the real government of the country.

However, both sides wanted to avoid civil war. Collins established an "army re-unification committee" to re-unite the IRA and organised an election pact with De Valera's anti-treaty political followers to jointly fight the Free State's first election in 1922 and form a coalition government afterwards. He also tried to reach a compromise with anti-treaty IRA leaders by agreeing to republican type constitution (with no mention of the British monarchy) for the new state. IRA leaders such as Liam Lynch were prepared to accept this compromise. However, the proposal for a republican constitution was vetoed by the British as being contrary to the terms of the treaty and they threatened to impose an economic blockade on Free State unless the treaty was fully implemented. Collins reluctantly agreed. This completely undermined the electoral pact between the pro and anti treaty factions, who went into the Irish general election, 1922 on June 18th as hostile parties, both calling themselves Sinn Fein. The Pro Treaty Sinn Fein party won the election with 239,193 votes to 133,864 for anti-Treaty Sinn Fein. A further 247,226 people voted for other parties, all of whom supported the Treaty. The election showed that the Irish electorate supported the Treaty and the foundation of the Irish Free State but De Valera, his political followers and most of the IRA continued to oppose it. De Valera is quoted as saying, "the majority have no right to do wrong".

Meanwhile under the leadership of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith, the pro-treaty Provisional Government set about establishing the Irish Free State, an organised national army to replace the IRA and a new police force. However, since it was envisaged that the new army would be built around the IRA, anti-treaty IRA units were allowed to take over British barracks and take their arms. In practice, this meant that by the summer of 1922, the Provisional government of the Free State controlled only Dublin and some other areas like Longford where the IRA units supported the Treaty.

Fighting would ultimately break out when the Provisional government tried to assert its authority over well armed and intransigent anti-treaty IRA units around the country -particularly a hardline group in Dublin.

Dublin fighting

The Four Courts along the River Liffey quayside. The building was occupied by Anti Treaty forces during the civil war, whom the Free State army subsequently bombarded into surrender. The building was badly damaged but was fully restored after the warIn April 1922, 200 anti-treaty IRA militants led by Rory O'Connor, occupied the Four Courts in Dublin, resulting in a tense stand-off. These Anti-Treaty Republicans wanted to spark a new armed confrontation with the British, which they hoped would unite the two factions of the IRA against their common enemy. However, for those who were determined to make the Free State into a viable, self-governing Irish state, this was an act of rebellion that would have to be put down by them rather than the British. Arthur Griffith was in favour of using force against these men immediately, but Michael Collins wanted at all costs to avoid civil war and left the Four Courts garrison alone until late June 1922, when his hand was forced by British pressure.

Ironically, the British lost patience as result of an action ordered by Collins. He had Henry Hughes Wilson, a retired British General assassinated in London on the 22nd of June because of his role in attacks on Catholics in Northern Ireland. Winston Churchill assumed that the anti-treaty IRA were responsable for the killing and warned Collins that he would use British troops to attack the Four Courts unless the Free State took action. The final straw for the Free State government came on the 27th of June, when the Four Courts republican garrison kidnaped JJ "Ginger" O'Connell, a general in the new Free State Army. Collins made a final attempt to persuade the men holding the Four Courts to leave it before violence broke out. They refused and Collins decided to end the stand-off, under a British threat of imminent re-occupation, by bombarding the Four Courts garrison into surrender. Collins was then appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Free State Army. This attack was not the opening shots of the war as skirmishes had taken place between pro and anti treaty IRA factions throughout the country when the British were handing over barracks. However this represented the 'point of no return' when all out war was ipso facto declared and the Civil War officially began.

The Four Courts under bombardment by Free State Troops in 1922Michael Collins had accepted a British offer of artillery for use by the new Free State Army. The anti-treaty forces in the Four Courts, who possessed only small arms, surrendered after two days of bombardment and the storming of the building by Free State troops (28th-30th of June 1922). In the chaos of the moment, the Irish Public Records Office, which had been used as an ammunition store by the Four Courts garrison, was the centre of a huge explosion, blowing to pieces one thousand years of Irish state and religious archives. Several anti-Treaty leaders, notably Ernie O'Malley escaped from captivity to continue fighting elsewhere. Pitched battles continued in Dublin until July 5, as anti-Treaty IRA units from the Dublin Brigade led by Oscar Traynor occupied O'Connell Street - provoking a week's more street fighting. The republicans held out in a "block" of buildings until artillery was brought up, under the cover of armoured cars, to bombard them at point blank range. Oscar Traynor and most of his men made their escape when the buildings they were holding caught fire. Among the Republican casualties was Republican leader Cathal Brugha, who stayed behind in the Granville hotel after Traynor and most other IRA men had left. He was shot dead when he left the burning building alone to confront the Free State troops. Cathal Brugha was the last casualty in the battle for Dublin which had cost both sides sixty-five killed and twenty-eight wounded. In addition, the Free State took over 500 Republican prisoners. The civilian casualties are thought to have numbered well over 250.

Cathal Brugha, Anti-Treaty leader killed during the fighting on Dublin's O'Connell StWhen the fighting in Dublin died down, the Free State Government was left firmly in control of the Irish capital and the anti-treaty forces dispersed around the country, mainly to the south and west.

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