The Irish Civil War

Structure
 Background (History, Reasons)
 Outbreak of the war
 Wartime
 End of the war
 Aftermath
 Background (History, Reasons)
 Anglo-Irish Treaty
– “Irish Free State“ as an autonomous territory of Britiain (like
Canada and Australia)
– Michael Collins: “…not the ultimate freedom that all nations
aspire and develop, but the freedom to achieve freedom…”
– Anti-treaty radicals rejected his opinion
 The Irish Republican Army divided into two parts
– Pro-treaty members led by Richard Mulcahy
– Anti-treaty members led by Liam Lynch
 Pre-war attacks
– Confrontations between IRA factions
– Invasion of Kilkenny
 18 men died
 Truce was declared to avoid a civil war

aspire: anstreben; achieve: erzielen; truce: Waffenstillstand

Background (History, Reasons)
 The 1922 election
– Collins planned a compromise to reunite the IRA
 Set up of a republic-style constitution (not mentioning
Britain)
 Accepted by anti-treaty leaders
 British threatened with a military intervention
– Both parties were called “Sinn Féin”
 Pro-treaty (38%)
 Anti-treaty (21%)
 Others (mostly pro-treaty) (41%)
– IRA broken up
 Old British barracks and weapons given to the anti-treaty
part of the IRA
 Outbreak of the war
 Battle of Dublin
– 14th April 1922
– 200 anti-treaty IRA members invaded Dublin’s four court
buildings
– Britain almost intervened
– National Army attacked the buildings
– 65 killed, 280 wounded, 250+ civilians dead, 500 imprisoned
 The opposing forces formed
– Pro-treaty
 Free State Army (National Army, “Staters”)
 7000 men, supported by British (aircrafts, cars, arms, ammunition)
 55000 men at the end of the war
– Anti-treaty
 Remaining IRA, “Republicans” (“irregulars”)
 Based in the south and west of Ireland
 Poorly armed, no clear command structure
 Wartime
 Irish Free State offensive
– July to September 1922
– NA against republican strongholds in the south and west
– 14000 (NA) against 15000 men (IRA)
– Munster Republic, Limerick, Waterford, Battle of Killmallrock,
Cork
– NA: 185 killed, 647 wounded; IRA: 300 killed/wounded, 6000
imprisoned
 Guerilla Warfare
– A reaction of the IRA to the NA’s success
– IRA takes towns back, NA has many casualties
– Winter baffled the tactic, lack of supplies
– Only small attacks continue in 1923
 Sabotage/destruction of infrastructure
 Assassinations

baffle: vereiteln
 End of the war
 Many imprisoned IRA members
were executed during the final
months of the war
– Many executions were unauthorized
– Weakened the IRA’s morale
 Liam Lynch was killed on April 10th
 Frank Aiken signed a truce on April
30th
– Ordered IRA forces to drop arms on
May 24th
 Thousands of IRA members were
arrested
 Aftermath
 Casualties
– Pro-treaty: 800 NA, 4 CID
– Anti-treaty: 2000-3000 (12000
imprisoned)
– Civilian: Unknown, 250 in Dublin
– Historic homes were destroyed
 Economic costs
– High cost of the National Army
– 50 million pounds in property damage
 Political results
– Northern Ireland was not affected
– Borders were determined and debts
shared
– Today the Free State of Ireland is
independent
 Influence on today‘s politics (legacy)
– “Fianna Fáil” / “Fine Gael”
– Some tensions still unresolved
 Sources
 English Wikipedia
– Irish Civil War
– Anglo-Irish Treaty
– Michael Collins
 UCD-Archives
– Frank Aiken