Loyalism in Development

Ten days after the ending of the War of Independence, Eamon de Valera travelled to London as the President of Dáil Éireann for exploratory talks with the Prime Minister. He returned to Ireland convinced that a full Republic was not achievable and that any further settlement would institutionalize partition. As such, de Valera sent Collins in his place as the principle negotiator for the IRA. Through this action it was assured that Collins, not de Valera, would incur the blame for the perceived failures of the treaty. This political manoeuvring placed de Valera in prime position to resign his post as President and join the anti-Treaty republican forces. In March 1922, after establishing Cumann na Pobhlacta, the anti-Treaty Republican League, de Valera began to travel the country, speaking against the treaty and rallying anti- Treaty supporters. Buoyed by de Valera’s rhetoric, the IRA began to attack both British and Free State Forces. In April 1922, IRA forces seized the Four Courts in Dublin and set up their headquarters. Shortly after the general elections in June, the IRA assassinated a British Army official in London, and Collins was forced by British ultimatum to respond to the situation in the Four Courts. On 28 June, using two field guns on loan from the British, the Irish National Forces began bombarding the Four Courts, thus marking the start of the Irish Civil War.

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