No Love Lost: Prelude To the Irish Civil War Quiz

Answer: Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith

All of these men were part of the Irish delegation (with Childers acting in a secretarial capacity only), but most of the negotiating was done by Collins and Griffith. Childers was vehemently opposed to the treaty. Barton later opposed the treaty, although he signed it and recommended it to the Dáil Éireann, the governing body of the Irish Republic.

Answer: It allowed most of Ulster to remain part of the United Kingdom

All of these were provisions of the treaty; most were eventually nullified, but the division of Ireland has remained a problem to this day. Six of the nine counties of Ulster were allowed to remain part of the United Kingdom, and today are known as Northern Ireland.

Instead of a republic, the treaty provided for an "Irish Free State" with dominion status within the British Commonwealth, and limited self-government.

Answer: Éamon de Valera and Cathal Brugha

De Valera and Brugha were among the very few surviving leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. De Valera's life had been spared because he was an American citizen; Cathal Brugha had been so severely wounded during the fighting that it was thought impossible for him to live. (It was said that Brugha had so many British bullets in him that he rattled when he walked).

When the treaty was signed, De Valera was President of the Irish Republic, and Brugha was Minister of Defense. Both were bitterly opposed to the treaty, and spoke out against it strongly, both in public and in private. All the other men mentioned supported the treaty.

Answer: 64-57

The "Treaty Debates" were very acrimonious. The exchanges between Cathal Brugha and Michael Collins were particularly hostile. The two men did not like each other. Brugha felt (with some justification) that Collins had used his position in the Irish Republican Brotherhood (not to be confused with the Irish Republican Army) to undermine Brugha's position and authority as Minister of Defense.

He also had many reservations about Collins' character. Support for the treaty came mainly from Dublin and the surrounding counties, and opposition from the southern and western parts of the country. Most of the men who had led the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence were against the treaty, except those from Dublin who owed personal allegiance to Collins.

Answer: The Dáil lacked the authority to ratify it

De Valera's reasoning was that delegates who had voted in favor of the treaty had broken their vow of allegiance to the Irish Republic. This argument may sound specious today, but it was accepted by many Republicans. For many years hardliners within the Irish Republican Army refused to accept the authority of any Irish government on these grounds.

Answer: Limerick

As the British withdrew from their garrisons, there was a race between Free State and Republican forces to occupy them. In Limerick, 700 Free State troops faced off against 800 Republicans under the command of Ernie O'Malley. Only last minute negotiations between Richard Mulcahy, who had taken the place of Cathal Brugha as Minister of Defense, and Liam Lynch, who would soon be appointed Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army, prevented an armed confrontation.

The Free State and Republican troops agreed that each would occupy one of the two abandoned British garrisons in Limerick, and that only local men would comprise the garrisons. An uneasy truce had been reached, but it did not last for long.

Answer: A refusal to recognize the IRA's legitimacy

The convention had been held in defiance of Arthur Griffith, who forbade it from meeting. Liam Lynch was elected as the IRA's new Chief of Staff. Lynch was opposed to the split in the IRA, and attempted to negotiate with the Free State government. But Free State authorities, under pressure from Britain, refused to compromise, and increased their efforts to recruit men to form what would be called the "National Army." They forbade newspapers to use the terms "Republican" or "IRA," and insisted that those in opposition to the new government be referred to as "irregulars." Ironically, some of those recruited into the National Army were British soldiers who had fought against the Irish forces during the War of Independence.

Answer: Rory O'Connor

On April 14, 1922 Rory O'Connor and a force of 200 hardline anti-Treaty volunteers occupied the Four Courts. This was done in the hope of provoking an armed confrontation with the British troops remaining in Ireland, most of whom were stationed in or around Dublin.

The move was opposed by anti-Treaty leaders like Liam Lynch and Cathal Brugha, who still hoped to reach some kind of reconciliation with the Free State government. Michael Collins hesitated to attack the anti-Treaty forces, so they were allowed to remain, and were gradually joined by many more troops, who began fortifying the building against an expected siege.

Answer: Yes

Collins and De Valera had signed a "pact" on May 20, 1922 that nominated a "national coalition panel" of uncontested candidates for the general election that would have kept the numbers of pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty representatives in the Dáil at their existing strength. It also called for a constitution that abolished the Oath of Allegiance and repudiated the partition of Ulster. The British were outraged, and forced Collins to renege on the his promise not to contest the election, and forced him to accept amendments that brought the proposed constitution in line with the provisions of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Just two days before the election, Collins gave a speech in Cork where he said, "I am not hampered now by being on a platform where there are Coalitionists, and I can make a straight appeal to you to vote for the candidate you think best of". He also refused to make the constitution public until the day before the elections, so most voters had no idea what they were voting for. The pro-Treaty Sinn Fein party, led by Collins and Griffith, won 58 seats in the new government, the anti-Treaty Sinn Fein won 36, and other parties, who were mostly aligned with the Free State government, won 31. Republicans regarded Collins' actions as treachery of the worst sort, and believed that yet again he had demonstrated that he was a mere puppet of the British government.

Answer: Sir Henry Wilson

Field Marshall Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, Baronet, was born into a Protestant family in County Longford in 1864. He was vehemently opposed to any form of Irish independence or self-government. In 1914, he was one of the key figures in the Curragh Mutiny, in which hundreds of British officers refused to take action against Ulster Protestants who were arming themselves against the possibility of Home Rule. He was an important figure in WWI, and had opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He was also seen by many as one of those responsible for increased violence against the Roman Catholic minority in Ulster during and after the War of Independence.

Wilson was shot and killed by two IRA operatives, Reginald Dunne and Joseph O'Sullivan, outside his London home. His death enraged the British public. It has never been proven who ordered Wilson's killing, but most of the evidence points towards Collins, who wanted to placate Ulster Catholics for the numerous atrocities perpetrated on them by Unionist groups who had Wilson's backing and support. The British government, however, blamed the Republican forces.

Answer: Artillery

The British told Collins that if he did not immediately clear the Four Courts, their remaining troops, under the command of Sir Nevil Macready, would. Collins knew this was exactly what the "rebels" wanted. Allowing the British to attack the Four Courts' garrison, which included some of the greatest heroes of the War of Independence, would rally public opinion to the anti-Treaty side, and spell the death of the Free State.

Unfortunately, while the Free State army had grown to over 20,000 troops, and Collins had thousands of men at his disposal, it was sadly lacking in the equipment needed to wage warfare.

A humiliated Collins was forced to ask for the loan of two 18-pound cannons from Macready. As a song of the period puts it, "When they battered on the Four Courts / With their borrowed British guns / Traitors in the pay of England / Shot down Ireland's faithful sons." In a final irony, the British forces supplied the Free State army with shrapnel shells, which were virtually useless against the sturdy walls of the Four Courts.

Answer: J. J. "Ginger" O'Connell

J. J. "Ginger" O'Connell was a general and Deputy Chief of Staff in the Free State army. He was kidnapped and imprisoned in the Four Courts by Ernie O'Malley and three other anti-Treaty men in reprisal for the arrest of Leo Henderson, an anti-Treaty man who was enforcing the IRA's decision to ban all trade with Ulster until the partition of Ireland was ended. O'Connell's arrest gave Collins the pretext he needed to launch an attack against the Four Courts. Detailed information about the kidnapping, and the siege of the Four Courts, can be found in O'Malley's book, "The Singing Flame."

Answer: Oscar Traynor

Oscar Traynor, Commandant of Dublin's First Brigade, was one of the few Dublin leaders to oppose the Anglo-Irish Treaty. When Free State forces attacked the Four Courts, he ordered his men to occupy positions along O'Connell Street in order to force the Free State army to divert some of their forces to deal with this new threat. Reinforcements were expected from Munster, but they failed to arrive in time to affect what is known as the "Battle of Dublin."

Answer: June 30

After three days of fighting, it was obvious that the Four Courts could not hold out against the overwhelming numbers of the Free State army. In addition, stores of ammunition exploded, destroying many valuable records stored in the building, and doing considerable damage to the structure. Ernie O'Malley, after consulting with Rory O'Connor, agreed to conduct the surrender.

Although over 400 prisoners were taken, many anti-Treaty men, including Seán Lemass, Tom Barry and O'Malley himself were able to escape.

Answer: Cathal Brugha

"And the pride of all was the first to fall / The Glory of our fighting men." Cathal Brugha had opposed the occupation of the Four Courts, and had worked to achieve a peaceful settlement of the standoff, but when Free State troops began shelling the Four Courts, he could no longer remain neutral. He joined Oscar Traynor's men in O'Connell Street, and led a group of fifteen men occupying the Hamman Hotel. On July 5, hopelessly surrounded and most of the buildings under their control set on fire, Traynor ordered Brugha to surrender. Brugha said that he would fight a rearguard action that would allow Traynor's men to slip away. After holding out as long as possible, he ordered his remaining troops to surrender. But he armed himself with a pistol in each hand, and charged the Free State lines. He was cut down in a hail of bullets, while still blazing away at the enemy. A major artery in his thigh was severed, and he bled to death two days later.

The death of Brugha set the stage for a bloody and desperate conflict that would lead to the deaths of many of Ireland's greatest leaders: Michael Collins, Dinny Lacey, Liam Lynch and Erskine Childers to name just a few. The Civil War would last until May 24, 1923, and cost thousands of lives.