Historical route · 1912–1923
Revolution & Civil War
The Home Rule crisis, Rising, independence struggle, Treaty split and Civil War created the modern Irish state.
Play this route →Chronological index
Read the route record by record
- 01 1912 AD
Third Home Rule Bill Introduced
The Lords could delay but no longer veto Home Rule. The bill's advance mobilised nationalists and armed unionist resistance in Ulster.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 02 1912 AD
Ulster Covenant Signed
Hundreds of thousands of unionist men and women signed the Ulster Covenant and women's declaration against Home Rule. The protest turned constitutional argument into mass mobilisation and made partition feel more thinkable.
Belfast and Ulster · Read evidence → - 03 1913 AD
The Ulster Volunteer Force Forms
Unionists organised the UVF to resist Home Rule, converting covenant politics into a disciplined armed movement.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 04 1913 AD
Dublin Lockout
Workers led by James Larkin faced employers and police in one of Ireland’s fiercest labour conflicts. The Lockout exposed a city of poverty behind the grandeur of empire and commerce.
Dublin · Read evidence → - 05 1913 AD
The Irish Volunteers Assemble
Nationalists founded the Irish Volunteers to secure Home Rule. The Irish Citizen Army also emerged from the Lockout to defend organised workers.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 06 1914 AD
The Curragh Incident Shakes Army Authority
Officers indicated they would rather resign than coerce Ulster unionists. The episode weakened confidence that the government could enforce Home Rule impartially.
Curragh, County Kildare · Read evidence → - 07 1914 AD
The Larne Gunrunning Arms the UVF
The Ulster Volunteer Force landed rifles and ammunition at Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee with little interference, demonstrating disciplined resistance to Home Rule.
County Antrim and County Down · Read evidence → - 08 1914 AD
Irish Regiments Enter the First World War
Unionists and nationalists enlisted for different political reasons, while others opposed recruitment. Service, death and remembrance later divided as well as connected communities.
Ireland and European war fronts · Read evidence → - 09 1914 AD
Howth Gunrunning Arms the Volunteers
The Asgard landed rifles at Howth for the Irish Volunteers. Soldiers later killed civilians at Bachelors Walk, deepening anger at unequal enforcement.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 10 1914 AD
Home Rule Suspended
Home Rule reached the statute book, but war suspended its operation. Volunteers had armed on both sides, and the Great War pulled Ireland into a crisis that politics could no longer contain.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 11 1914 AD
War Splits the Volunteers
John Redmond urged service in the British war effort; most followed him, while a minority retained the Irish Volunteers' original organisation.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 12 1915 AD
O’Donovan Rossa’s Funeral Mobilises Separatists
The funeral became a carefully staged republican demonstration. Patrick Pearse’s graveside speech framed sacrifice and armed action for a growing activist audience.
Glasnevin, Dublin · Read evidence → - 13 1916 AD
The Aud Arms Shipment Fails
A German ship carrying rifles for the Volunteers was intercepted and scuttled, while Roger Casement was captured. The Rising proceeded with far fewer weapons than planned.
County Kerry coast · Read evidence → - 14 1916 AD
Easter Rising
On 24 April, Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army occupied positions in Dublin and proclaimed a republic. The week of fighting killed combatants and civilians and led to executions, internment and political transformation.
Dublin · Read evidence → - 15 1916 AD
A Republic Is Proclaimed
About 1,250 Volunteers, Citizen Army members and Cumann na mBan participants seized Dublin positions and proclaimed an Irish Republic.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 16 1916 AD
Executions Transform Public Opinion
Fifteen Rising leaders were executed in May. Courts martial, executions and mass internment helped shift sympathy toward republicanism.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 17 1916 AD
Martial Law and Internment Follow the Rising
Authorities arrested thousands and sent many to camps in Britain. Collective detention spread republican networks even among people who had not joined the Rising.
Ireland and Britain · Read evidence → - 18 1917 AD
The North Roscommon Election Signals Change
Count Plunkett won a by-election on an abstentionist platform. The result showed electoral momentum moving from the Irish Parliamentary Party toward the post-Rising movement.
County Roscommon · Read evidence → - 19 1917 AD
Released Prisoners Rebuild the Movement
Amnestied internees returned to public welcomes and reorganised Sinn Féin and the Volunteers. Prison experience helped create a shared leadership and national network.
Ireland and Britain · Read evidence → - 20 1918 AD
A Wider Electorate Transforms Irish Politics
The Representation of the People Act enfranchised most adult men and some women over thirty. The December election therefore measured opinion in a radically expanded electorate.
Ireland and United Kingdom · Read evidence → - 21 1918 AD
The Conscription Crisis Unites Opposition
Plans to extend conscription to Ireland brought nationalists, labour and the Catholic hierarchy into a mass campaign against the British government.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 22 1918 AD
The German Plot Arrests Remove Sinn Féin Leaders
The government detained leading republicans over an alleged conspiracy. Evidence was weak, and the arrests strengthened Sinn Féin’s claim that constitutional politics had failed.
Ireland and Britain · Read evidence → - 23 1918 AD
Sinn Fein Landslide
Sinn Fein won a sweeping victory in Ireland at the general election and refused Westminster. The result gave revolutionary politics a democratic claim and led to the first Dail.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 24 1919 AD
War of Independence
The first Dail met in Dublin as shots were fired at Soloheadbeg. Guerrilla war, counter-insurgency, courts, propaganda, and local government now moved together toward a new state.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 25 1919 AD
Soloheadbeg Opens the Armed Conflict
Volunteers killed two RIC constables while seizing explosives in County Tipperary. The action was locally planned but later came to mark the War of Independence’s opening.
Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary · Read evidence → - 26 1919 AD
The Dáil Organises a Police Boycott
Republicans urged communities to ostracise the RIC and resolve disputes outside Crown courts. Social pressure weakened intelligence and made everyday neutrality difficult.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 27 1919 AD
De Valera Seeks Support in the United States
Éamon de Valera toured America to raise funds and recognition for the republic. Irish-American divisions limited formal diplomacy but the bond loan financed the underground state.
United States and Ireland · Read evidence → - 28 1919 AD
The Underground Dáil Builds a State
After the Dáil was banned, republican courts, local authorities, a national loan and diplomatic work challenged British administration.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 29 1920 AD
Local Elections Strengthen the Republic
Sinn Féin and labour gains transferred many councils to republican control, giving the underground state local legitimacy and institutions.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 30 1920 AD
Tomás Mac Curtain Is Killed
The republican lord mayor of Cork was shot at home by men an inquest linked to the RIC. His death demonstrated how political office and armed conflict had merged.
Cork city · Read evidence → - 31 1920 AD
Black and Tans Arrive
Auxiliary forces and Black and Tans entered the conflict, bringing reprisals and terror to towns and villages. Their violence hardened Irish opinion and international attention.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 32 1920 AD
The IRA Offensive Widens
A coordinated Easter offensive attacked barracks, courthouses and tax offices, accelerating the collapse of policing across much of rural Ireland.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 33 1920 AD
Workers Refuse to Carry Munitions
Railway and dock workers resisted transporting British troops and military supplies. Dismissals and disruption made organised labour an independent actor in the conflict.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 34 1920 AD
Terence MacSwiney Dies on Hunger Strike
Cork’s lord mayor died in Brixton Prison after 74 days without food. International reporting turned a prison protest into a powerful argument about British rule.
London and Cork · Read evidence → - 35 1920 AD
Bloody Sunday Strikes Dublin
IRA teams killed suspected British agents; Crown forces then fired at Croke Park, killing fourteen civilians. Three prisoners died that night.
Dublin · Read evidence → - 36 1920 AD
Kilmichael Escalates Guerrilla War
Tom Barry’s flying column killed seventeen Auxiliaries in an ambush. Accounts differ over a purported false surrender, so the disputed detail should not be treated as settled.
Kilmichael, County Cork · Read evidence → - 37 1920 AD
Martial Law Is Declared in Munster
Military authority expanded across southern counties after escalating attacks and reprisals. Courts, movement and punishment increasingly operated under wartime rules.
Munster · Read evidence → - 38 1920 AD
Crown Forces Burn Cork
After an IRA ambush, Auxiliaries and other Crown forces burned buildings in central Cork. The destruction made reprisals visible to domestic and international audiences.
Cork city · Read evidence → - 39 1920 AD
The Government of Ireland Act Partitions
Westminster created separate parliaments for Northern and Southern Ireland. The northern institutions took root while war continued elsewhere.
Northern Ireland · Read evidence → - 40 1921 AD
Crossbarry Preserves an IRA Column
A large Crown operation failed to trap Tom Barry’s West Cork flying column. The engagement showed both the reach of British forces and the mobility of guerrillas.
Crossbarry, County Cork · Read evidence → - 41 1921 AD
The Custom House Is Attacked
The IRA burned the centre of local-government administration in Dublin. The symbolic blow came at a high cost as many volunteers were killed or captured.
Dublin · Read evidence → - 42 1921 AD
Northern Ireland’s Parliament Opens
Elections and the opening of a Belfast parliament made the 1920 partition settlement operational in the six counties, amid continuing communal and political violence.
Belfast and Northern Ireland · Read evidence → - 43 1921 AD
The Truce Halts the Independence War
A formal truce stopped fighting without an IRA surrender, creating the space for negotiations between the British government and Irish representatives.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 44 1921 AD
Treaty Negotiations Begin in London
British ministers and Irish plenipotentiaries debated status, Crown, defence and partition. The delegates worked under pressure from both military realities and competing mandates.
London · Read evidence → - 45 1921 AD
Treaty Signed; Partition Confirmed
The Treaty created a self-governing Free State. Northern Ireland, established under the 1920 Act, exercised its right to remain in the United Kingdom.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 46 1922 AD
The Dáil Ratifies the Treaty
After bitter debate, the Dáil approved the Treaty by 64 votes to 57. The narrow decision split Sinn Féin, the IRA and families nationwide.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 47 1922 AD
Dublin Castle Is Handed Over
The British administration transferred the Castle to the Provisional Government. The ceremony made state change visible while rival republican institutions still existed.
Dublin · Read evidence → - 48 1922 AD
Anti-Treaty Forces Occupy the Four Courts
Rory O’Connor and about two hundred opponents of the Treaty seized the complex. The standoff concentrated tensions that negotiations within the divided movement failed to resolve.
Dublin · Read evidence → - 49 1922 AD
Free State and Civil War
Fighting began when Provisional Government forces shelled the anti-Treaty garrison in the Four Courts on 28 June. Former comrades fought over sovereignty, the oath, partition and the meaning of the republic.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 50 1922 AD
The Four Courts Opens Civil War
Provisional Government artillery shelled an anti-Treaty garrison in the Four Courts. Fighting spread from Dublin into conventional and guerrilla war.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 51 1922 AD
Michael Collins Is Killed
Anti-Treaty IRA fighters ambushed and killed Collins at Béal na Blá, ten days after Arthur Griffith died. The war then entered a guerrilla phase.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 52 1922 AD
Emergency Powers Authorise Executions
The Provisional Parliament empowered military courts to impose death sentences for armed offences. The policy sought to break guerrilla resistance and intensified bitterness.
Irish Free State · Read evidence → - 53 1922 AD
The Irish Free State Comes into Being
The Treaty constitution took effect with W. T. Cosgrave leading a new dominion whose institutions were being built during civil war.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 54 1923 AD
Ballyseedy Exposes Civil War Brutality
National Army officers tied republican prisoners to a mine at Ballyseedy; eight died. The atrocity embodied the conflict’s reprisal violence.
Ireland · Read evidence → - 55 1923 AD
Liam Lynch Is Fatally Wounded
The anti-Treaty IRA chief of staff was shot in the Knockmealdown Mountains. His death strengthened leaders willing to suspend operations without surrender.
County Tipperary · Read evidence → - 56 1923 AD
The Anti-Treaty IRA Dumps Arms
Frank Aiken ordered fighters to dump arms rather than surrender. The Civil War ended without a negotiated settlement, leaving durable political wounds.
Ireland · Read evidence →