Peace at last?

Collins returned home to Ireland treaty in hand and presented it to the Irish Parliament. Many leaders, like the De Valera, who headed the government, believed that only total Irish independence was acceptable. Others like Collins and Griffith thought it was the best possible outcome. After bitter debate, they approved the treaty 64-57. De Valera promptly resigned and set up his own government. The Irish Parliament quickly split and both sides began to call themselves the IRA.

Then in June 1922, Anti-Treaty forces seized the large Four Courts building in Dublin. Pro-Treaty forces lead by Collins began a bombardment on June, 28, during which the archives of Ireland housed in the building were destroyed when one wing collapsed. Finally pro-treaty forces took the building on June 30. Collins then launched a series of successful operations against other rebel strongholds. Then in August, 1922, Collins traveled to the county of Cork to discuss a peace settlement with Anti-Treaty forces. Before he left, he had said, “They aren’t going to shoot me in my own home county.” But while returning to his hotel on August 22, his convoy was ambushed. Collins ordered his car stopped and began to return fire. In the gunfight that followed, Collins was hit and killed.

After the death of Collins, and of Griffith, who had died of health reasons a week before, the war deteriorated into a series of assassinations and executions, including that of Robert Erskine Childers, who had brought guns to Ireland seven years before, helped negotiate the treaty, and now backed Anti-Treaty forces. In all, it is believed that leaders of Pro-Treaty forces endorsed 77 executions, while another 153 unendorsed executions were also carried out. Anti-Treaty forces used similar tactics. Even members of the Irish Parliament were fair game.  

By mid 1923 Anti-Treaty forces had suffered devastating setbacks largely because their government couldn’t really make any decisions and did not control any territory, while Britain and the Roman Catholic Church supported the Pro-Treaty government in Dublin. Then Liam Deasy, a leader of the Anti-Treaty forces, who had set up the ambush that killed Collins, was captured in February, 1923, and at gunpoint signed a documented which ordered the men under him to surrender. In April, Liam Lynch, another leader of the Anti-Treaty forces, was ambushed and killed. The final blow came when popularity of the Anti-Treaty forces began to drop off and money to continue the war disappeared. Finally they asked for a halt to the violence.

When last gun was laid down, one of the only major figures left standing was De Valera, largely because he had played no real role in making decisions and had stayed away from the fighting He would remain a major force in Irish politics becoming President of Ireland from 1959-1973 dying quietly in a rest home two years later. He remains one of the most controversial figures in Irish history to this day.

In 1949 Britain gave the Irish full independence, but still maintained control over Northern Ireland. The IRA was banned. However, a new radical faction of the IRA began bombing and shooting in the 1950s, giving rise to a new cycle of violence between the Protestant and Catholic forces, This would last until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 which outlawed all violence, allowed the people of Northern Island to become part of the Republic if they wished to, and also allowed both Irelands to make many joint decisions.  Many older Irish people today still vividly remember the civil war and men such as Collins, Pearse, and Connolly are considered martyrs to their cause. Conversely, many Protestants have a low opinion of these men and remain strongly loyal to England. While a new era of Irish peace appears to have finally emerged from all the bloodshed, much tension still exists between the two sides.