Tag: anti-Treaty

#OTD in 1923 – Frank Aiken orders the Anti-Treaty fighters to “dump their arms” and return home.

24/05/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

After General Liam Lynch was shot by Free State soldiers in the Knockmealdown Mountains and died later that evening in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, many historians see his death as the effective end of the Civil War, as the new IRA chief of staff Frank Aiken declared a ceasefire on 30 April and on 24 May […]

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#OTD in 1922 – De Valera and Collins agree to a pact whereby a national coalition panel of candidates will represent the pro- and anti-Treaty wings of Sinn Féin throughout Ireland in the forthcoming general election.

20/05/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

As in the Irish elections, 1921 in the south, Sinn Féin stood one candidate for every seat, except those for the University of Dublin and one other; the treaty had divided the party between 65 pro-treaty candidates, 57 anti-treaty and 1 nominally on both sides. Unlike the elections a year earlier, other parties stood in […]

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#OTD in 1923 – Éamon de Valera announces end of operations against the Irish Free State, effectively ending the Irish Civil War.

27/04/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Éamon de Valera offered terms for negotiation to end the war which were rejected. But time was running out for the anti-Treaty side and on 24 May, de Valera issued the order to dump arms. In doing so he declared: “Soldiers of the Republic, Legion of the Rearguard… Military victory must be allowed to rest […]

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#OTD in 1880 – Birth of political activist, Sean Hales, in Ballinadee, Co Cork.

30/03/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

During the 1921 elections, Hales was elected to the Second Dáil as a Sinn Féin member for the Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West constituency.   During the 1922 general election, he was elected to the Third Dáil as a Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the same constituency. He received 4374 […]

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#OTD in 1923 – As the Civil War petered out into a de facto victory for the pro-treaty side, Éamon de Valera asked the IRA leadership to call a ceasefire, but they refused.

26/03/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

The Anti-Treaty IRA executive meets in the Knockmealdown mountains, Co Tipperary to discuss the war’s future. Tom Barry proposes a motion to end the war, but it is defeated by 6 votes to 5. Éamon de Valera is allowed to attend, after some debate, but is given no voting rights. SaveSaveSaveSave

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#OTD in 1922 – An IRA anti-treaty army convention announced it would no longer accept the authority of Free State Minister for Defence Richard Mulcahy.

26/03/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

Further movement to Civil War: An IRA convention was held in the Mansion House in defiance of a Dáil Éireann 15th March 1922 decree, despite the Dáil prohibiting it. Richard Mulcahy, the new Minister of Defence having succeeded the anti-Treaty Cathal Brugha, promised that the IRA would remain loyal to the government. However, the army […]

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#OTD in 1923 – Republican officer Tom Barry, after contacts with some former IRA comrades on the Free State side, proposes that the Anti-Treaty IRA call a truce. Liam Lynch turns down the idea.

10/02/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Tom Barry was born in Killorglin, Co Kerry, the son of a former RIC officer who had become a shopkeeper. His family moved to Rosscarbery, Co Cork in his youth, and he was educated for a period at Mungret College, Co Limerick from 25 August 1911 to 12 September 1912. The reason for his short […]

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#OTD in 1923 – The Free State suspends executions until 18 February, offering an amnesty to anyone who surrendered before that day.

08/02/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

‘During the Irish Civil War the National Army executed more Irishmen than the British had during the War of Independence.’ In the aftermath of the sudden death of Arthur Griffith and the killing of Michael Collins, in August 1922, William T Cosgrave became chairman of the provisional government. Cosgrave and his colleagues remained wedded to […]

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#OTD in 1868 – Birth of Irish patriot and revolutionary, Countess Constance Markievicz, née Gore-Booth in London.

04/02/2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

Countess Markievicz, born Constance Georgine Gore Booth, politician, revolutionary, tireless worker with the poor and dispossessed, was a remarkable woman. Born into great wealth and privilege, she lived at Lissadell House in Co Sligo. She is most famous for her leadership role in the 1916 Easter Rising and the subsequent revolutionary struggle for freedom in […]

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#OTD in 1923 – Forty Republicans burn the railway station in Sligo town, destroying it and badly damaging seven engines and forty carriages.

11/01/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

The Great Southern and Western Railway Company releases a report detailing the damage Anti-Treaty forces have caused to their property over the previous six months; 375 lines damaged, 42 engines derailed, 51 over-bridges and 207 under-bridges destroyed, 83 signal cabins and 13 other buildings destroyed. In the same month, Republicans destroy the railway stations at […]

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