Irish Civil War (1922-23)

The Irish Civil War began with the occupation of the Four Courts by the Anti-Treaty faction in April 1922 and the consequential 28 June bombardment of the building by the Pro-Treaty faction—now known as the Free State Forces. The Civil War was devastating. Colleagues, friends, and brothers once united brutally killed each other. The war lasted only 10 months and by its close in May 1923 many leaders in the Irish Republican movement were dead. Seventy-seven Anti-Treaty Republicans were officially executed during the war. Arthur Griffith died of heart failure on 12 August 1922, at the age of 51. Michael Collins was soon after killed in an ambush and gun battle at Beal na Blath in County Cork. The Free State Forces were victorious and the Treaty was implemented.[1]

[1] “The Signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921,” The National Museum of Ireland, accessed March 10, 2026, https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Documentation-Discoveries/Artefact/The-Signing-of-the-Anglo-Irish-Treaty,-1921/7a49e7e5-7cf7-4218-b3b4-c974d4adafa6.