Summary of Why the IRA Lost The Irish Civil War 1922-1923 (4K Documentary)

00:00:00 - 00:25:00

The Irish Civil War of 1922-1923 was a bloody conflict between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the National Army. The National Army eventually gained victory, but the IRA fought stubbornly, and losses were heavy on both sides. The war was largely a return to the guerrilla warfare of the Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921, and the IRA's failure was due to a lack of public support and their unsuited position for defensive battles.

• 00:00:00 The long and bloody guerrilla war in Ireland between the Irish Republican Army and the British Army finally came to an end in January 1922, but the peace treaty's division of the island proved controversial. The new Irish state is only a few months old when it descends into civil war, and the Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921 saw the Irish Republican Army fight the British Army and local police in the cause of Irish independence from Britain. The British responded by first great war veterans to the Black and Tan paramilitary police, introducing martial law, and cracking down with brutal reprisals. By 1921, the IRA was near breaking point and UK public support for the war was weaker than ever. A truce ended the fighting, followed by a controversial peace treaty signed in early 1922. The Anglo-Irish Treaty included many contentious articles, and Ireland would not become an independent republic, but would remain in the British Empire as a Free State. Six largely protestant counties in the north-east of Ireland would be partitioned and stay in the UK, while members of the Irish parliament, the Dáil, would have to swear an oath of allegiance to the king. The treaty had also been signed in controversial circumstances. Eamon De Valera, the president of the self-
• 00:05:00 The Irish Civil War began on June 28, 1922, when the National Army of the Irish Republic (IRA) attempted to occupy the Four Courts building in Dublin. The occupation was opposed by the Provisional Government, which had recently been formed after the end of the Irish War of Independence. The National Army eventually forced the occupiers to retreat, and the Civil War continued until 1923.
• 00:10:00 The Irish Civil War was a three-year conflict between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish Free State. The IRA unsuccessfully attempted to capture the Four Courts garrison from outside Dublin in 1922, and the National Army eventually captured The Block on July 5th, 1923. The Dublin Guard, made up of IRA veterans and former Dublin Fusiliers, became the shock troops of the National Army. However, the National Army lacked experience and was eventually defeated by the Free State. The IRA abandoned County Wexford and attempted to form a defensive line running from Limerick to Waterford, but the line was an illusion. In July, the National Army captured Limerick and Waterford, breaking communications between the IRA in Munster and the north. The Free State estimated around 12,900 IRA fighters were still active, especially in the south-west.
• 00:15:00 The Irish Civil War of 1922-1923 was a bloody conflict between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the National Army, with the National Army eventually gaining victory. However, the IRA fought stubbornly, and losses were heavy on both sides. In early August 1922, General Dalton shifted his strategy to focus on the IRA's weak coastal defenses, and on August 8th, National Army troops landed at Union House and Yougal in amphibious assaults, which were diversions for the main landing at Passage West near Cork. On August 10th, the National Army took the IRA stronghold of Cork, followed by the last IRA military base at Fermoy. The so-called Munster Republic was over and some IRA men began to talk of surrender. However, Lynch ordered his forces to form flying columns and conduct guerrilla operations. This was a return to their old methods and led to new successes. Michael Collins toured the southwestern regions recently captured by the National Army despite warnings from colleagues, but he was fatally shot on August 22nd, 1922 while driving through the valley of Béal na MBlath. This led to the replacement of Collins as Chairman of the Provisional Government by Cosgrave. From August, the war began to resemble the Anglo-Irish conflict
• 00:20:00 The Irish Civil War lasted from 1922 to 1923 and was fought between the pro-Treaty (Nationalist) side and the anti-Treaty (Republican) side. The pro-Treaty side was eventually victorious, largely due to the implementation of a government resolution that allowed for the execution of captured fighters. The Catholic Church also lent their support, with captured IRA fighters being denied communion and an official pastoral making the Church position clear: "The guerrilla warfare now being carried on by the Irregulars is without moral sanction; and therefore the killing of National Soldiers in the course of it is murder before God." By the end of the fighting, about 750 pro-Treaty troops had been killed, along with a similar number of anti-treatyists, at least 78 of whom were executed by the Free State. The IRA's failure against the National Army was largely due to a lack of public support and their unsuited position warfare and defensive battles.
• 00:25:00 The Irish Civil War was fought from 1922 to 1923 between the pro-Treaty (also known as the Irish Free State) and anti-Treaty forces, primarily the IRA. Public opposition to the IRA was based on the dire economic situation in many of the anti-Treaty regions, and IRA activities and the need to raise funds limited economic recovery. The Free State seemed to be the only institution capable of providing security, peace, and economic recovery after years of conflict, and the IRA was no longer the face of popular rebellion. But, the end of the civil war was not the end of violence, and sectarian violence and assassinations would continue, even after Ireland gained full independence from Britain in 1937. In the 1960s, rival paramilitary organizations, some of whom claimed continuation from the IRA, would engage in a 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland simply dubbed ‘the Troubles’. Only in 1998, after nearly a century of violence, the Good Friday and Belfast agreements brought peace to Ireland that has lasted more than twenty years.