The Civil War of 1922-1924 was a deeply bloody war, following on from the Irish War of Independence. This was triggered by the signing of the Treaty of London, a text granting the creation of an Irish Free State, in exchange for the annexation of the north to the British (later to become Northern Ireland)… Explanations…
Michael Collins – Public domain
When the Treaty of London was ratified on December 6, 1921, it provided for :
When the members of Dàil Eireann learned of the signing of such a text, two movements emerged within Dàil Eireann: the Pro-Treaty group, in favor of the text, and the Anti-Treaty group, firmly opposed to the agreement. Les Pro-Traités sides with Michael Collins andArthur Griffith, the main signatories of the text.
The Anti-Treatyists sided with Eamon de Valera, then unofficial President of the Republic of Ireland, who finally decided to resign from this position when the Dàil decided to ratify the text on January 7, 1922.
Arthur Griffith, in favor of the Treaty, decided to set up a provisional government to organize the creation of the Irish Free State. He organized elections, which were largely won by the Pro-Treaty party. For opponents of the text, this provisional government is above all a puppet government, which will reduce to ashes any possibility of creating a genuine Republic, not shared with the British. Eamon de Valera decides to take armed action to overthrow Arthur Griffith’s provisional government…
To achieve this, De Valera tried to assemble an army by attempting to take control of the IRA, then under the command of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. It was at this point that the IRA split over the Treaty, splitting into 2 entities:
In April 1922, De Valera ordered 200 of his men to occupy the Four Courts in Dublin, with the aim of stirring up conflict with the Pro-Treaties, and at the same time restarting the war with the British. De Valera’s gamble seemed to pay off, and very soon Lloyd Georges ‘ British government threatened the provisional government with action if they failed to bring the situation under control themselves. Michael Collins received arms from England, and was forced to bombard the Four Courts on June 28, 1922 with English guns in order to preserve the creation of the Free State.
Civil war was now official, and the whole of Dublin witnessed the clashes between the Pro-Treaty and Anti-Treaty factions. However, the Anti-Treaties were defeated in less than 7 days, thanks to the military superiority of Michael Collins’ men.
The Four Courts in the midst of the Irish Civil War – Public domain
All over Ireland, a series of clashes broke out, leaving many people dead.
Initially, the Republican Anti-Traffickers succeeded in occupying the major cities of the Southwest, but were not always able to face the Pro-Traffickers in head-to-head confrontations.
The main fault lies in their lack of military equipment, unlike Michael Collins’ armies, which are directly equipped by the London government…
In August 1922, the Irish National Army attempted to recapture all the major towns in Ireland, in order to reclaim the towns taken by the Anti-Treaty forces. The operation was a success, and the Free State regained control of most of the territory thanks to its artillery, which was larger and more modern than that of the Republican Anti-Treaty.
Their army also appears to be more competent, and recruits mainly career soldiers, whereas the Anti-Treaty is made up mainly of young, inexperienced recruits who are harder to manage.
In the meantime, Arthur Griffith died of a stroke on August 12, 1922, and Michael Collins also followed him on August 22, following a violent ambush. These losses were tragic for the Pro-Treaty movement, and it wasn’t long before William T. Cosgrave and Richard Mulcahy took up the fight in their place.
As the weeks went by, the Republicans opposed to the Treaty seemed very weakened, and now only acted through particularly localized guerrilla actions in response to the Irish civil war. Some of the ambushers were eventually taken prisoner and executed by the Free State in November 1922.
In response, the Republican Anti-Treaty carried out a series of attacks and assassinations targeting members of the provisional government. There seemed to be no end to the escalation, and the INA’s Pro-Treaties retaliated with summary executions.
From the very first months of 1923, the Republicans opposed to the Treaty seemed no longer able to cope with the INA’s counterattacks, and were also subject to strong hostility from the population, which had long wished to see lasting peace in Ireland. As a result of the IRA’s numerous failures and public pressure, Eamon de Valera ordered a ceasefire on April 30, 1923, and finally laid down his arms on May 24, 1924.
It is estimated that over 4,000 Irish people died in the Irish Civil War. More than 12,000 republican IRA members were incarcerated in the country’s prisons until 1924.
As for the cost of the war, it left the Free State and England deeply in debt. As a result, the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland had to be redesigned.
England demanded more land in exchange for relief from the debts incurred by the Free State as a result of the First World War and the Civil War.
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