Sir, – It has long been common to state that the Civil War began on June 28th, 1922, with the shelling of the Four Courts. We see it again this week as the media mark that event.
It puts the burden for starting Civil War on the shoulders of the Free State government, and supports a narrative that the British forced its hand.
In fact the Civil War had been simmering since February, with many acts of occupation and violence by the anti-Treaty side.
There was a fierce two-day gun battle in Kilkenny in May, for example. There was even a “truce” discussed in May, and one does not have a truce without war.
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No government could tolerate violent defiance indefinitely, especially after the Four Courts was seized at gunpoint in April and its occupiers demanded that the government cease to function and the Treaty approved by Dáil Éireann be scrapped. A general election in June had seen the anti-Treaty vote come in at less than 30 per cent of first preferences. The government hoped that retaking the Four Courts would deter further confrontation.
As regards borrowing British guns to shell the Four Courts, it may be noted that the anti-Treaty IRA itself was willing to take delivery of British rifles and ammunition from Collins to use against Irish unionists in Northern Ireland. The new National Army needed weapons from somewhere.
Why is the retaking of the Four Courts and not its taking seen as the start of a war? Dramatic photos of explosions may be one reason. The media and historians should avoid lending themselves to a version of history that too neatly paints a lawful and democratic state as the instigator of violent confrontation. – Yours, etc,
Dr COLUM KENNY,
Professor Emeritus,
Dublin City University,
Dublin 9.