Osprey - Essential Histories 065 - The Anglo-Irish War 1913-1922

Chronology 13
14 December Sinn Féin wins a
landslide victory in the General
Election, which it takes as a
mandate to declare 'independence'
from the UK.
1919 21 January Dáil Éireann meets
in Dublin. The IRA ambushes and
kills two Royal Irish Constabulary
(RIC) constables at Soloheadbeg, Co.
Tipperary: the traditional start date of
the Anglo-Irish War.
31 January Piaras Beaslai incites the
IRA to target the RIC in an article in
the Volunteers newspaper An tÓglach.
8 September The 'sack' of Fermoy.
1920 25 March RIC recruits from
mainland Britain begin to arrive in
Ireland. Due to kit shortages they are
issued with a mixture of police and
army clothing. Their appearance gives
rise to the nickname the 'Black and
Tans'.
4 June The IRA orders a boycott of
the RIC and their families.
27 July First recruits join the
Auxiliary Division RIC (ADRIC).
9 August Restoration of Order in
Ireland Act (ROIA) passed.
26 August Ulster Special
Constabulary (USC) formed.
20 September The 'sack' of
Balbriggan.
21 November The IRA assassinates
12 men believed to be British
intelligence officers; at least one was
not an intelligence officer. Later the
same day, 14 civilians are shot dead
by policemen in Croke Park, Dublin,
giving the world Ireland's second
Bloody Sunday.
28 November IRA ambushes and
kills 17 RIC Auxiliaries at Kilmichael,
Co. Cork.
23 December The Government of
Ireland Act (sometimes known as
Fourth Home Rule Bill) is passed.
Under the act Lloyd George
proposed the division of Ireland into
a self-governing Southern and
Northern Ireland, still answerable
to the British Government on issues
relating to the Crown, defence,
foreign affairs, international trade
and currency.
1921 25 May The IRA attacks and burns
down the Customs House in Dublin.
11 July Anglo-Irish Truce.
6 December Anglo-Irish Treaty
signed. This effectively confirmed the
partition of Ireland enshrined in the
1920 Government of Ireland Act.
Both sides accept a compromise that
involves the partition of Ireland and
the retention of the monarchy in
Southern Ireland.
16 January The Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, Edward Talbot Fitzalan,
hands Dublin Castle to Michael
Collins and the provisional
Government of Ireland takes over the
government of Saorstát Éireann (Irish
Free State) as a Dominion within the
Empire, with King George V as head
of state.
21 February Civic Guards formed in
the Irish Free-State.
13 April Anti-Treaty IRA under Rory
O'Connor occupies the Four Courts
in Dublin.
31 May RIC disbanded.
1 June RUC formed.
28 June Irish 'civil war' breaks out
between pro- and anti-Treaty factions
of the IRA when Tom Ennis leads pro-
Treaty troops against the rebels
occupying the Four Courts.
22 August Michael Collins killed
in an IRA ambush.
24 May Irish 'civil war' ends when
the IRA Chief of Staff Liam Lynch
is killed and the remaining IRA
'Irregulars' are told to dump arms
and go home.
8 August Civic Guards re-named the
Garcia Síochána.