Key Events
July 1921. The Truce between Britain and Ireland came into effect and brought the War of Independence to an end.
December 1921. The Treaty was signed at Westminster. The contentious parts of the Treaty allowed the creation of an Irish Free State under the sovereignty of the British monarch and permitted the Unionist majority in Ulster the opportunity of opting out of the new state.
7 January 1922. After lengthy and bitter debate the Treaty was approved by the Dáil by a margin of 64–57. A provisional government was formed to govern until the Irish Free State could be brought into being.
The anti-Treaty Executive took over the Four Courts and plans were made to launch an attack on units of the British Army not yet evacuated and bounce the provisional government into a resumption of the war between Britain and Ireland.
16 June 1922. The general election in which the Treaty was the dominant issue. Fifty-eight pro-Treaty Sinn Féin candidates were returned and thirty-six anti-Treaty. Most of the other elected deputies were broadly pro-Treaty.1 In total about 78 per cent of those who voted favoured pro-Treaty candidates.2
22 June 1922. The assassination of Sir Henry Wilson in London by London-based IRA men. The government of Lloyd George blamed the anti-Treaty faction that had taken over the Four Courts and briefly considered direct military action.
28 June 1922. The National Army of the provisional government bombarded the Four Courts and the civil war began.
August 1922. The death of President Griffith and Michael Collins, Commander in Chief of the National Army.
28 September 1922. The Dáil passes the Army (Special Powers) Resolution creating military courts with the power to impose the death penalty for possession of arms and other specified offences.
17 November 1922. The first executions.
6 December 1922. The Irish Free State came into being. As expected, the Six Counties in the North opted out.
8 December 1922. The Mountjoy executions. Four anti-Treaty prisoners were executed without trial as a reprisal for the murder of Sean Hales TD.
10 April 1923. The death of Liam Lynch, Chief of Staff of the anti-Treaty faction. This effectively brought about the end of the civil war.
27 April 1923. Ceasefire order issued by Frank Aiken, the new Chief of Staff of the anti-Treaty faction to take effect in seventy-two hours.
24 May 1923. Dump arms order issued by Frank Aiken, Chief of Staff of the anti-Treaty faction.
2 June 1923. The last executions. In total eighty-three men were executed by firing squad.
The Factions
Pro-Treaty: this faction favoured the Treaty between Britain and Ireland. After the Dáil adopted the Treaty, their leaders formed a transitional administration known as the provisional government that lasted until the creation of the Irish Free State which took place on 6 December 1922. Where possible they are referred to in this work as the provisional government or pro-Treaty and after 6 December 1922 as the government of the Irish Free State.
Anti-Treaty: this faction was composed of those opposed to the Treaty terms agreed between Britain and the Dáil. This faction favoured complete independence from Britain and the Commonwealth and were opposed to the partition of Ireland. During the civil war this faction was variously known as the IRA, Irregulars or Irreconcilables. ‘Anti-Treaty’ is a neutral term and that is how they are generally referred to in this work.
The Leaders
Michael Collins was a signatory of the Treaty and head of the IRB. He was commander in chief of the National Army and the de facto head of civilian government. He was killed in action in August 1922.
Liam Cosgrave had been a long-time member of the Dublin Corporation where he did much to alleviate poverty in the city. He was a junior officer in the Irish Volunteers in 1916. After the rebellion he was tried and narrowly escaped execution. During the War of Independence, he was minister for local government. He was a grocer by trade before his involvement in politics. A slightly built man with a big quiff and a fondness for morning dress. He became head of the provisional government after the death of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. Few thought Cosgrave had the mettle to lead the pro-Treaty faction through the civil war.
Richard Mulcahy was Chief of Staff of the National Army until the death of Michael Collins. Thereafter, commander in chief, chairman of the Army Council and minister for defence, then aged only 36. He had been a long-time member of the Volunteers and fought in 1916 under Thomas Ashe at Ashbourne. Although it was he, not Ashe who was the architect of the victory at Ashbourne. After the general surrender, he avoided court martial by a fluke and was interned in Wales until the general amnesty of 1917 when he returned to Ireland and became chief of staff of the reformed Volunteers. He was a careful, methodical man from a conservative middle-class Waterford family with an interest in promoting the Irish language and culture which remained with him throughout his public service.
Gearoid O’Sullivan was from west Cork where he had been an Irish teacher before becoming involved in the Volunteers. He served in the GPO in 1916 and was later interned in Wales where he and Collins established a close friendship. During the War of Independence, he became the right-hand man of Collins and lived in imminent danger of capture until the Truce. While on the run he was elected to the Dáil. In 1922 he became the first adjutant general of the National Army and a member of the Army Council at the age of 32. After the war he left the National Army and trained for the bar where he built a successful practice before being re-elected as a TD in 1927.
Kevin O’Higgins was minister for home affairs including the justice portfolio during the civil war. He was then aged 30, a solicitor by training. He had spent the War of Independence years working in the ministry of local government set up by the first Dáil. He was one of an emerging brand of professional politicians. O’Higgins was highly articulate, forceful and histrionic. He was from a comfortable middle-class background and was intensely conservative and ambitious for himself. He was distrustful of the army and General Mulcahy. O’Higgins became the minister most closely associated with the execution policy and was assassinated in 1927 for that reason. As he lay bleeding on a pavement he joked: ‘I was always a diehard.’
Joe McGrath was a 1916 veteran. He had served at Marrowbone Lane but, along with a handful of others, walked out just before the general surrender and avoided court martial. One of the junior officers under him (Con Colbert) was tried and shot. During the War of Independence, McGrath robbed banks for the cause and skimmed off some of the proceeds to live on. He was arrested and interned at Ballykinlar and escaped by walking out dressed as a British officer. During the civil war McGrath served briefly as minister for labour, director of intelligence and minister for trade and commerce. A taciturn man, still in his early thirties during the civil war, he supported the execution policy. He left government in 1924, somewhat disillusioned with the revolution. In later life he became a successful and quite shady businessman.
Desmond Fitzgerald was also a 1916 veteran. He was given ten years’ penal servitude for his part in the defence of the GPO. A TD, he was minister for external affairs for most of the civil war. Like the other members of the government he was still in his early thirties. In his early days, he was a free thinker and writer but quickly became very conservative in outlook. He supported the execution policy. After the civil war he became minister of defence and was famously punched by the army Chief of Staff in an argument over officers’ pay.
Ernest Blythe was a northern protestant and an Irish language enthusiast and also
