Top 9 Events that Led to the Civil War - ThoughtCo
[…] September 11). The Irish Civil War – A brief overview. Retrieved November 25, 2014, from This website, despite the title, went into a quite in-depth report about the Irish Civil War. 3 […]
Free College Essay Events Leading up to the American Civil War
Civil War Events Leading to War Timeline
However, what brought about civil war was the split in the ranks of the IRA. From February 1922, Collins began building a new National Army from pro-Treaty IRA units. In March 1922 the IRA called a convention and the majority repudiated the right of the Dail to dissolve the Republic. The two sides almost came to blows over who would occupy Limerick. In April a hardline anti-Treaty IRA group under Rory O’Connor occupied the Four Courts, the centre of the courts system in Dublin, in defiance of the Provisional Government and the Treaty. Michael Collins managed to avert bloodshed in the short term by organising a pact with Eamon de Valera to re-unite Sinn Fein and a similar initiative with the anti-Treaty IRA, which proposed joint operations against Northern Ireland.
Events Leading to War - A Civil War Timeline
Just ten days later, a confluence of events conspired to spark civil war out of the tensions over the Treaty. First a retired British general, Henry Wilson, was shot dead in London by two IRA members, who were later hanged. It has never been proved who ordered the killing but the anti-Treaty IRA certainly had nothing to do with it and it may even have been ordered by Collins himself in revenge for Wilson’s role as military advisor in Northern Ireland. The British blamed the IRA group in the Four Courts and threatened Collins that they would attack the Four Courts, using the 6,000 British troops still in Dublin, if he did not do it. Secondly, pro-Treaty forces arrested an anti-Treaty IRA officer Leo Henderson and in response the Four Courts garrison abducted a Free State officer, JJ Ginger O’Connell.
