The Irish Civil War was fought between 28 June 1922, and 24 May 1923. It was a conflict that was caused by two Irish nationalists. One was the Provisional, which supported Ireland being a free republic. The other were the Republicans, who opposed Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Provisional government had a Provisional government and the Free State forces won. The civil war resulted with Ireland split for many decades, and many people were killed.
Anglo-Irish Treaty was believed to be the key factor that influenced the Irish civil revolution. This treaty established Ireland as Free State. After the Irish War of Independence in 1921 ended, the British government and separatists from Ireland came up with the idea of a treaty. A truce was made and negotiations began to reach an agreement. In retaliation against the British Secret Service’s fall in Ireland, independence was proposed. The Irish were turned against the English by such attacks. Therefore, independence was requested. Ireland had to sign an agreement to allow it to become an independent republic. The treaty gave rise to a self-governing Irish state in 26 of 32 Irish counties. The treaty was initially widely appreciated in Ireland. However, it caused a split within the government. The Partition of Ireland became a problem for the northern countries of Ireland. They refused to accept the Government of Ireland Act of 1920. This gave Ireland two parliaments with their own prime ministers. One was granted to the Unionists while the other was for Nationalists. Six northern countries led by the Unionist group voted in a referendum to create a “Northern Ireland” on May 1921. A Unionist Prime Minister ran Northern Ireland. British expected the Northern Ireland to follow the Treaty party that gave power and authority to them.
But, the optimism grew more when Sir James Craig was the PM of Northern Ireland and announced in October 1922 that the “we will need to choose whether to vote for or stay within” the Free State. This showed that he was not with the south. Later, he stated that Northern Ireland should be given the chance to decide immediately. This would show that there was no hesitation in making a decision. Finally, Northern Ireland signed a written accord with Britain in which it reaffirmed any agreement they had under the treaty. In response to the new ruling, the UK’s name was changed to “The United Kingdom of Great Britain And Northern Ireland”.
Thus, the treaty did not result in the state separation that was necessary for Northern and Southern Ireland to begin civil war. Ireland was allowed to have its own army as a result of the treaty. The IRA, which was founded in rebellion against the British government’s rule of Ireland at the beginning, was a guerrilla force dedicated to the establishment a republic. The IRA -Irish Republican Army is the Irish army that fought the British during the war for independence. The war caused the army to be divided into two groups: those who continued to support the treaty became the first Irish army. Those that opposed the treaty were those who wanted total freedom. Some citizens were furious at the signing and deemed it ‘treacherous. They started to protest and conflict. The Dublin Four-Courts was seized by anti-treaty IRA members in April 1922. The ability to control what happened in Ireland. The actions and rulings of the anti-treaty IRA were considered unacceptable. The government attempted mediation with the IRA at times to reach an agreement.
The IRA refused to budge and the government became impatient with trying to deal with the unbalanced power. This resulted in the pro-treaty IRA – now officially the Irish Army – ordering the bombing of the Four-Courts. It succeeded in that it achieved what the government wanted: the IRA from Dublin. The bombing triggered the invasion and the fight for Irish Civil war. The government’s actions were influenced by voting and citizens’ opinions. There was disagreement in the military. As evidenced by votes, people in Northern Ireland were becoming more comfortable with the treaty. Another example is how the Irish Civil War was caused by disagreement with the treaty.
The topic of battle and disagreements became part of the religion. When crossing the military frontier, the Irish army attacked Northern Ireland in many ways. They attacked Protestants, believing that they were the main enemies of the treaty. Eventually, Northern Ireland’s Protestants began to attack Catholics. They believed they were responsible for the IRA’s attacks on them.
The Protestants then began to attack Catholics. With a significant rise in violence, rioting was the result. Despite the fact that violence from the IRA started to decline with the advent of war, the Catholics were targeted for their revenge. The Protestants used military strikes against the Catholics to kill 257 Catholics between July 1920-1922, due to disagreements over the Irish treaty as a free country. Due to Protestant attacks, approximately 11,000 Catholics had to quit their factory jobs.
Although the government of Northern Ireland tried to restore order, it failed to create a police force whose purpose was to reconcile Catholics with Protestants. The offences to the state and special powers acts of 1922 gave police the power of imprisoning people without the need for trial. Because of disputes and unresolved disagreements, everyone had a voice on the matter.
There was always controversy about whether independence was one on national agreements. Since the beginning, it was assumed that all nations would not agree to the partition. It resulted in the seperation of Ireland into two distinct states. Two states with divergent views and goals for Ireland. They also had different ideas about how to achieve the best possible results from UK and UK agreements. The result was radicalism and desperate matters. Military and rebellious groups did whatever they felt necessary to ensure everyone’s equal voice. Ireland wanted to be a “free state”. However, while some areas of Ireland were under British rule and had their own rules, other parts received British-style British government. Unfortunately, misunderstandings and unfortunate events like guerrilla attacks or religious attacks made it impossible to fulfill the goal of creating a free country. It became a war between the government, military, and religion. So, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was an important influence in the Irish Civil War.
