This is a timeline of the Irish Civil War, which took place between June 1922 and May 1923. It followed the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921), and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The conflict was waged between two opposing groups of Irish nationalists: the forces of the new Irish Free State, who supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty under which the state was established, and the republican opposition, for whom the Treaty represented a betrayal of the Irish Republic.
The government of the Irish Free State (established as a provisional government in January 1922 and as a full government in December 1922) was ultimately victorious. The anti-Treaty forces called a ceasefire in April 1923 and ordered their men to "dump arms" in May 1923.
The war involved both conventional warfare (late June–August 1922) when the Free State forces took the major towns and cities, and then a longer period of guerrilla warfare (September 1922 – April 1923) as the anti-Treaty forces were gradually brought to a standstill.
See also IRA and the Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Free State forces under General Prout take Carrick on Suir with one man killed and three wounded. Breen's men retreat southwards.
Republican ambush in the Ox Mountains kills up to 15 Free State soldiers, including Brigadier Joe Ring.
Statistics are incomplete, Free State government sources stated that between 540 and 800 National Army soldiers were killed in the war. Historian Michael Hopkinson, in Green against Green, pp. 272–3, states "There are no means by which to arrive at even approximate figures for the dead and wounded. Mulcahy stated that around 540 pro-Treaty troops were killed between the Treaty's signing and the war's end; the government referred to 800 army deaths between January 1922 and April 1924. There was no record of overall Republican deaths, which appear to have been very much higher. No figure exists for total civilian deaths."
Year | No. |
---|---|
January–June 1922 | 11 |
June/July 1922 | 207-242 |
August 1922 | 123 |
September 1922 | 122–164 |
October 1922 | 48 |
November 1922 | 77 |
December 1922 | 34 |
1922 | 619-696 |
January 1923 | 51-75 |
February 1923 | 59 |
March 1923 | 66-69 |
April 1923 | 48-66 |
May 1923 | 5 |
June–December | 9 |
1923 | 238-265 |
Total for 1922 and 1923: 857–961.
With additional statistics – fatalities by county available for: Cork 180, Kerry 185, Mayo 88–100, Sligo 54, Offaly 21. Anti-Treaty combatants killed in Clare: 28 (no reliable statistics for pro-Treaty/Civilians). [217] Pro/Anti-Treaty combatants killed between January–June 1922, 9, – 2 in Clare. [218] Casualties in County Kildare, 45 killed. (17 National Army) [219]
Additions,: Kerry + 78, Cork + 120, Sligo + 39, Offaly + 19, Clare + 27, January–June clashes + 7 = 290
Revised total: 1,147-1,251*
A range is given where casualties are reported but not confirmed.
*this is not a definitive total, but rather what could be found in this article.
Deaths by status of victim | |
---|---|
Status | No. |
Civilian* | 86 |
Pro-Treaty | 346 |
Anti-Treaty | 596 |
unknown status | 30 |
Total | 1,058 |
*Civilian casualties, may be far higher, casualties for the Dublin fighting are given as 250, but it is not clear how many of these were killed and how many wounded.
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary paramilitary organisation. The ancestor of many groups also known as the Irish Republican Army, and distinguished from them as the "Old IRA", it was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916. In 1919, the Irish Republic that had been proclaimed during the Easter Rising was formally established by an elected assembly, and the Irish Volunteers were recognised by Dáil Éireann as its legitimate army. Thereafter, the IRA waged a guerrilla campaign against the British occupation of Ireland in the 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence.
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Empire.
The Irish War of Independence or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-military Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and its paramilitary forces the Auxiliaries and Ulster Special Constabulary (USC). It was part of the Irish revolutionary period.
Events from the year 1922 in Ireland.
Thomas Bernardine Barry, better known as Tom Barry, was a prominent guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. He is best remembered for orchestrating the Kilmichael ambush, in which he and his column wiped out a 18-man patrol of Auxiliaries, killing sixteen men.
William Fanaghan Lynch was an Irish Republican Army officer during the Irish War of Independence of 1919–1921. During much of the Irish Civil War, he was chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army. On 10 April 1923, Lynch was killed whilst trying to escape an encirclement by Free State troops in south Tipperary.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) of 1922–1969 was a sub-group of the original pre-1922 Irish Republican Army, characterised by its opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It existed in various forms until 1969, when the IRA split again into the Provisional IRA and Official IRA.
The Dublin Guard was a unit of the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and then of the Irish National Army in the ensuing Civil War.
This is a timeline of the Irish War of Independence of 1919–21. The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla conflict and most of the fighting was conducted on a small scale by the standards of conventional warfare.
The Irish Free State offensive of July–September 1922 was the decisive military stroke of the Irish Civil War. It was carried out by the National Army of the newly created Irish Free State against anti-treaty strongholds in the south and southwest of Ireland.
The Battle of Dublin was a week of street battles in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922 that marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. Six months after the Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the recent Irish War of Independence, it was fought between the forces of the new Provisional Government and a section of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that opposed the Treaty.
The executions during the Irish Civil War took place during the guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War. This phase of the war was bitter, and both sides, the government forces of the pro-treaty Irish Free State and the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (IRA) insurgents, used executions and terror in what developed into a cycle of atrocities. From November 1922, the pro-treaty provisional later Free State government embarked on a policy of executing Republican prisoners in order to bring the war to an end. Many of those killed had previously been allies, and in some cases close friends, of those who ordered their deaths in the civil war. In addition, government troops also summarily executed at least 130 prisoners in the field. The executions of prisoners left a lasting legacy of bitterness in Irish politics.
Paddy Daly (1888–1957) sometimes referred to as Paddy O'Daly, served in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and subsequently held the rank of major-general in the Irish National Army from 1922 to 1924.
The Battle of Kilmallock took place between 25 July and 5 August 1922 in County Limerick, Ireland. It was one of the largest engagements of the Irish Civil War.
County Wexford is a county located in the south-east of Ireland. The period 1916–1923 was one of the most turbulent in the county's history. In 1914 Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom. During World War I much war-related activity took place in County Wexford, especially in Wexford's coastal waters. A number of men enlisted in the British Army from Co. Wexford died in the land war in Europe. In 1916 Wexford Rebels seized the town of Enniscorthy during the Easter Rising. Co. Wexford was very active throughout the War of Independence and later fought an especially bloody Irish Civil War.
Griffith Barracks is a former military barracks on the South Circular Road, Dublin, Ireland.
Michael Kilroy was an Irish republican and politician. He was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) officer in his native County Mayo during the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War. Subsequently, he was a Sinn Féin and later Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo South.
The guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War began in August 1922, when the forces of the Irish Free State took all the fixed positions previously held by the Anti-Treaty IRA. The IRA then waged a guerrilla war to try to bring down the new Irish Government and overturn the Anglo-Irish Treaty. This guerrilla campaign was ultimately defeated.
The National Army, sometimes unofficially referred to as the Free State Army or the Regulars, was the army of the Irish Free State from January 1922 until October 1924. Its role in this period was defined by its service in the Irish Civil War, in defence of the institutions established by the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Michael Collins was the army's first commander-in-chief until his death in August 1922.
Timothy Lyons, a.k.a. Aero or Aeroplane, was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier who fought with the Anti-Treaty side during the Irish Civil War. After a three-day siege by Free State forces at Clashmealcon, County Kerry, he died after falling from a cliff onto rocks and then being shot.
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