Analysis: the new documentary series on the Civil War delves deep into the violent events that marked the founding of the State 100 years ago

It is appropriate that a new documentary series should mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in 1922 and the turbulent events surrounding the birth of the State. It was a year which saw the independence movement in Ireland split apart, creating divisions which precipitated a bitter civil war.

From the beginning, it was important that the series reflect an approach where the impact of events on the ground were examined. One of the key strengths of the Atlas of the Irish Revolution, on which the documentary series is based, was the local and regional analysis it provided.

It was also imperative in the context of a documentary series that degrees of subtlety and refinement were interwoven in the narrative that captured the different shades of opinion and the intertwined lives of those caught up in the spiralling violence. All civil wars are bloody and understanding the Civil War in Ireland in the context of other civil wars in Europe and beyond was important.

In addition, the British influence in shaping events did not end with the signing of the Treaty. While the initial evacuation of troops took place almost immediately, the threat of British intervention did not dissipate during the following months, as the Provisional Government came under increasing pressure from those within the IRA bitterly opposed to the Treaty.

The Treaty debates had sown deep-seated division. Those supporting the Treaty viewed its acceptance as a stepping stone to a greater degree of independence, while those on the anti-Treaty side abhorred the dissolving of the Republic to which they had previously sworn allegiance to. The oath of fidelity to the British crown was also anathema to republicans.

But months would pass before the attack on the Four Courts, which would signal the start of the Civil War. The documentary needed to capture the turmoil of these critical months from the perspectives of the key personalities caught in the gathering storm, while also detailing the wider social, economic, political, and military upheavals as they unfolded.

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From RTÉ News, report marking 100 years since the attack on the Four Courts and the start of the Civil War

On January 4th 1922, three days before the Dáil vote on the Treaty, moves were already afoot to maintain unity. Both pro and anti-Treaty representatives met in the home of Seán T. O'Kelly TD. While the failure of such an initiative was not inevitable, the sundering of the independence movement - Sinn Féin, Cumann na mBan, IRA – would become more pronounced in the months that followed.

It was never a case of the main protagonists sleepwalking into civil war, but positions became ever more hardened and entrenched. The strike against militarism organised by the Labour Party and Trade Union Congress at the end of April drew thousands onto the streets, but ultimately proved futile. Michael Collins’s efforts to draft a constitution which would satisfy Republicans was scuppered by the British government’s refusal to countenance any such attempts at dilution of the terms of the Treaty.

While the Pact Election delivered a substantial vote in support of the Treaty, it carried little weight with those who mattered in the IRA, an organisation riven by tensions in its own leadership between hardliners and moderates. Events in the South in the first half of 1922 would also impact the newly established polity of Northern Ireland, where heightened sectarian tensions resulted in rioting, expulsions, reprisals, and killings.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's History Show, Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh introduces a selection of oral history recordings from 1979, from civilians and combatants involved in the Civil War

The split in the IRA was the one which could not be healed despite the best efforts of some who would remain neutral in the ensuing conflict. The killing of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson in London on June 22nd and the British government’s threat that the British Army would take the Four Courts if the Provisional Government did not intervene, forced the latter’s hand.

However, that decision to attack the Four Courts provokes debates to this day. Once the National Army attacked, there was little room for manoeuvre and a war-weary public would have to endure another period of violence. While the anti-Treaty IRA had superior numbers at the beginning of the war, a recruitment drive by the Provisional Government, backed up by British armaments and munitions, would eventually see the National Army overtake its anti-Treaty adversary.

Many of the National Army's initial intake were raw recruits such as the McKenna brothers from Phibsborough in Dublin – Frederick aged nineteenth and Gerald aged seventeen – who were killed in the early months of the war in the Battle for Cork. While the National Army exerted its control during the conventional phase, some of the tactics employed by both sides during the guerrilla phase would leave a legacy of bitterness and shame.

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From RTÉ Brainstorm, how the Civil War split an Irish republican family in two

One of the central events of the Civil War and one captured poignantly in the documentary was the killing of Collins at Béal na Blá, little over a week after the passing of Arthur Griffith, who died of a cerebral haemorrhage on August 12th 1922. The war had quickly moved on to a guerrilla phase which became ever more embittered. A fearful and financially strapped government resorted to ever more hard-line measures introduced to eradicate the threat posed by anti-Treaty forces.

The Catholic hierarchy’s position vis-à-vis Republicans had also hardened to the point where, in a Joint Pastoral in October 1922, they publicly condemned their actions as a 'system of murder and assassination’. The government's executions policy, initiated with the passing of the Public Safety Act in late September 1922, was designed to strike fear into the heart of its opponents. The trial by military court of those caught in possession of arms or those caught attacking National Army troops would result in death sentences. Official – and unofficial – executions would forever stain the record of a government charged with upholding the rule of law.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today With Claire Byrne, Prof Diarmaid Ferriter on the Catholic Church during the Civil War

The resort to such killings increased in intensity after the Free State formally came into being on December 6th 1922. Amongst those executed in reprisal for the killing of Seán Hales TD on December 7th were leading Republicans Liam Mellows and Rory O'Connor. O’Connor had been best man at Kevin O'Higgins’s wedding the previous year. In the month of January 1923 alone, 34 Republicans were executed. It is also clear that the government was selective in who they executed, with the rank and file in the anti-Treaty IRA bearing the brunt of its executions policy.

Demoralisation in Republican ranks was intensified by the loss of legitimacy amongst a war-weary public who were increasingly at odds with the nature of the 'everyday violence' and the economic pain inflicted by the targeting of key infrastructure. The conduct of the war in Kerry in particular was indicative of the extent of the bitterness and brutality. One of the strengths of the documentary is the inclusion of maps that reveal the local and regional dynamics of the war that impacted some counties more than others.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, historians John Dorney and Liz Gillis discuss how the executions marked one of darkest periods of the Civil War

It is estimated that over 1,600 people were killed in the Civil War, including large numbers of civilians. Even in the midst of war, the State continued to build, but the government’s prosecution of that war and the treatment of those interned and imprisoned on the Republican side would leave its mark in the decades that followed.

The documentary series is timely in that it allows for a fuller understanding of and engagement with the violent events that marked the founding of the State. The extent to which the war was inevitable as well as its impact on combatants, both men and women, and the general populace are also important themes covered in the series.

The Civil War begins on RTE One on Sunday at 9.30pm and will continue on Monday and Tuesday nights. It will also be available on RTE Player

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ