The Irish Revolution

The period from the Easter Rising to the civil war, in which most of Ireland left the United Kingdom.

Background

Campaigns for Home Rule had failed to settle the Irish question before the First World War, and the divisions between nationalists and unionists deepened. The postponement of Home Rule during the war strengthened radical nationalists.

Course of events

Irish republicans staged the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916, and its leaders were executed. In the 1918 general election Sinn Féin won most Irish seats, and the First Dáil met in January 1919. A guerrilla war with British forces followed, ending in a truce in 1921 and the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Legacy

The treaty created the Irish Free State and split nationalists, leading to a civil war in 1922 and 1923. Northern Ireland remained in the United Kingdom, and the partition of the island continued to shape politics for the next century.