Latest / The History of Ireland: Rebellion, Empire, and Independence — Fexingo History / The Irish Civil War: Free State vs Anti-Treaty Forces 1922-23
Transcript
- Lucas: For anyone coming with us through these conversations — about Ireland, about how a country fights for freedom and then has to fight itself — today's episode is the one that often gets skipped over, but it's the one that explains so much of what came after. Luna: The Civil War. Lucas: Exactly. The Irish Civil War of 1922 to 1923. It's the bitter aftermath of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. You have the Irish Free State — Saorstát Éireann — established, but immediately split down the middle between those who accepted the Treaty as a stepping stone and those who saw it as a betrayal of the Republic proclaimed in 1916. Lucas: The two sides were the pro-Treaty forces, led by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith, and the anti-Treaty forces, led by Éamon de Valera and the hardline IRA men like Liam Lynch. It wasn't a simple split over ideology — it was personal, visceral, and it tore families apart. Luna: It's strange to think Collins and de Valera were on the same side just months before. Lucas: They were. Collins had been de Valera's right hand in the struggle. But when it came to the Treaty, de Valera walked away. He couldn't accept the oath of allegiance to the British Crown or the partition of the six counties. Collins, pragmatically, argued the treaty gave Ireland the freedom to achieve freedom. Lucas: The Dáil ratified the Treaty by a narrow 64 votes to 57 in January 1922. But the anti-Treaty IRA didn't accept that. They set up their own military headquarters in the Four Courts in Dublin, openly defying the new Provisional Government. By April, the Four Courts was occupied by hundreds of anti-Treaty fighters under Rory O'Connor. Luna: So the government had to act. Lucas: They hesitated for months, partly because Collins was trying to avoid a split, partly because British pressure was mounting. But in June, after the assassination of a British general, Sir Henry Wilson, in London — blamed on the IRA — the British threatened to reoccupy Dublin if the Free State didn't clear the Four Courts. Collins gave the order. Lucas: On the 28th of June 1922, the Free State army bombarded the Four Courts with borrowed British artillery. The building burned, and the anti-Treaty garrison surrendered after two days. But their commander, Cathal Brugha — a hero of 1916 — refused to surrender. He walked out into the street with a revolver and was shot dead. Luna: The Battle of Dublin. That was the start of the real war. Lucas: It was. For a week, fighting raged through Dublin's streets. The Free State forces, better equipped and more disciplined, pushed the anti-Treaty fighters out. But the war had just begun. The anti-Treaty IRA — often called the Irregulars — retreated to the south and west, where they fought a guerrilla campaign. Luna: We don't run ads on these episodes. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's what keeps the show independent. Lucas: Yeah, exactly. And it means we can cover stories like this without any sponsor telling us to soften it. So back to the war — by August, the Free State had taken most major towns. But the fighting wasn't over. The anti-Treaty forces melted into the countryside, ambushing patrols and attacking barracks. Luna: And then Collins was killed. Lucas: On the 22nd of August 1922, Michael Collins was shot dead in an ambush at Béal na mBláth, a small crossroads in County Cork. He was just 31. There's still debate over who fired the fatal shot — some say it was a Free State soldier who defected, others say it was an anti-Treaty sniper. But his death was a devastating blow. Lucas: Arthur Griffith had already died of a brain hemorrhage ten days earlier. So the Free State was suddenly leaderless. William T. Cosgrave stepped up as head of government, and the war intensified under a new, harsher policy of executions. Luna: They executed 77 anti-Treaty prisoners, didn't they? Lucas: Yes. From November 1922, the Free State began executing captured Irregulars, including the writer Erskine Childers. They also executed Rory O'Connor and three other IRA men who had been captured in the Four Courts. It was meant to break the rebellion, but it also hardened attitudes. Lucas: The anti-Treaty side didn't help themselves either. They carried out atrocities — assassinating a Free State TD, Sean Hales, in December 1922, and then, in March 1923, they massacred eight Republican prisoners in Kerry in retaliation for an execution. The war became a dirty, personal thing. Luna: How did it end? Lucas: It fizzled out rather than ended with a bang. By early 1923, the anti-Treaty forces were exhausted, short of arms, and losing public support. In April, their leader Liam Lynch was killed in a skirmish in the Knockmealdown Mountains. His successor, Frank Aiken, called a ceasefire on the 30th of April, and de Valera ordered a dump arms order on the 24th of May. Lucas: The Free State had won, but at a terrible cost. Over 1,000 lives lost, and a deep rift in Irish society that would echo for generations. The losing side never accepted the legitimacy of the Free State, and de Valera himself would later come to power democratically and rewrite the constitution. Luna: It's almost like the war never really ended—just went political. Lucas: Exactly. The Civil War defined Irish politics for decades. The two major parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are direct descendants of the anti-Treaty and pro-Treaty sides. And the shadow of that split still affects Northern Ireland, too, because the Civil War meant the Free State was too preoccupied to seriously pursue unification. Luna: And the border stayed. Lucas: It did. The Civil War cemented partition in a way that the Treaty alone might not have. It's a sobering chapter — a reminder that winning independence is only half the story. The harder part is deciding what kind of country you're going to be.