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Irish Civil War Digital Project

24 May 2023

The Civil War Digital Project coordinated by the Atlas of the Irish Revolution Team in UCC brings together a range of scholarly contributions on myriad aspects of the internecine conflict. 

 

In 2022, the RTÉ and the Atlas of the Irish Revolution editorial team in UCC collaborated on the development of the Irish Civil War, a three-part television documentary based on UCC's definitive Atlas of the Irish Revolution. Screened on RTÉ 1 over three consecutive nights in December 2022, and notable for its wide range of contributors, original musical score and visual impact, the series explored the full, often difficult, story of the Irish Civil War and its legacy. The documentary series is available to view on the RTE player. 

The Irish Civil War digital project was launched on the RTE website in January 2022 as a companion to the documentary series. It offered an opportunity for a 'deeper dive' into the often complex history of 1922-23.

The large-scale project, coordinated by UCC's Atlas editorial team and supported under the Government of Ireland's Decade of Centenaries Programme, is organised around a timeline of 11 key centenary dates between the handover of Dublin Castle on 16 January 1922 and the ceasefire on 24 May 1922.

Each centenary date has a dedicated index featuring a selection of maps, thematic articles and curated content from across RTE's platforms as well as archival images and documents from a range of cultural institutions. 

Collectively, the 11 indexes, 54 articles, 24 maps, and 10 explainer videos represent a valuable long-term resource for students, teachers or anyone interested in Ireland's social, cultural, military or political history during the Irish revolutionary period. 

 

Index 1: 

16 January 1922: The Handover of Dublin Castle to the Provisional Government 

''The Castle has Fallen': The Transfer of Power' by Dr John Gibney

''Women of Character': Women TDs of the Second Dáil and their contribution to the Treaty debates' by Claire McGing

'How the Civil War devastated the Labour Party' by Dr Emmet O'Connor

'Michael Collins: From Treaty to Civil War' by Dr Gabriel Doherty 

'Blurred lines: The Provisional Government of the Irish Free State' by Dr Helene O'Keeffe 

 

Index 2:

26 March 1922: The IRA Convention 

''A Defiant Gathering': The 1922 IRA Convention' by Dr John Borgonovo 

'Thank God you have got to manage it and not we': Britain and the Irish Civil War by Prof Charles Townshend 

'Call to arms: creating the Irish National Army' by Gerry White

'Shadow boxing: the Limerick Stand-Off, March 1922' by Dr John O'Callaghan

'Ireland's Other Civil War: Ulster January-June 1922' by Dr Robert Lynch 

 

Index 3:

16 June 1922: The 'Pact' Election 

'The 1922 "Pact" Election' by Prof Michael Gallagher 

'Press, Propaganda and the Treaty split' by Dr Donal Ó Drisceoil 

'Class warfare: was there a social basis to the Civil War divide?' by Prof Gavin Foster 

'Taking Sides? How voters responded to the "pact election"' by Dr Bill Kissane 

'Practicalities of the future: the 1922 Constitution Committee' by Antoinette Doran NAI

 

Index 4:

27/28 June 1922: The Battle of Dublin 

'Attacking the Block: the Battle of Dublin' by Liz Gillis 

'Under Siege: the Battle of the Four Courts' by Michael Fewer

'Soldiers of the Republic: Cumann na mBan and the Civil War' by Dr Margaret Ward

'Why the Four Courts?' by John Dorney 

 

Index 5:

21 July 1922: The Conventional Phase of the Civil War 

'Urban warfare: the Battle for Limerick' by Dr Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc

'What was the Conventional Phase of the Civil War?' by Dr Helene O'Keeffe

'Bullet holes and battlefields: the archaeology of the Battle for Cork' by Dr Damian Shiels

'Conventional warfare: the Battle of Kilmallock' by Dr John O'Callaghan

'How did the Civil War impact civil society?' by Dr Bill Kissane 

 

Index 6:

8 August 1922: The Sea Landings 

'Turning point: the Battle of Cork' by Dr John Borgonovo

'W.D. Hogan: The man who photographed the Civil War' by Elizabeth M. Kirwan

'Emmet Dalton: the man behind the sea landings' by Sean Boyne

'The Civil War on water' by Dr John Borgonovo 

'No means of defence: raids on lighthouses during the Civil War' by Dr Eoin Kinsella 

 

Index 7:

22 August 1922: The Death of Michael Collins 

The Last Journey - Interactive Map 

'The Death of Michael Collins' by Dr Gabriel Doherty 

'Interactive map: the ambush' that killed Michael Collins

'War of words: censorship and propaganda during the Civil War' by Dr Donal Ó Drisceoil 

'The Catholic Church and the Irish Civil War' by Dr Brian Heffernan 

'The Archaeology of an Ambush: Surviving Traces of Béal na Blá, 22 August 1922' by Dr Damian Shiels and Niall Murray

 

Index 8:

28 September 1922: The Guerrilla Phase of the Civil War 

'Sentenced to death: the Civil War executions' by Seán Enright

'Guerrillas in the west: guerrilla warfare in west of Ireland during the Civil War' by Dr Joost Augusteijn

'Settling scores: everyday violence during the Civil War' by Dr Gemma Clark

'Cave men: cave hideouts in the Civil War' by Dr Marion Dowd 

 

Index 9:

6 December 1922: The Irish Free State 

'An end and a beginning': the birth of the Irish Free State' by Dr Helene O'Keeffe

'W. T. Cosgrave: an iron fist in a velvet glove' by Prof Michael Laffan 

'Burning down the House: Big House burnings during the Civil War' by Prof Terence Dooley 

'Enemy lines: the conflict on Irish Railways 1922-23' by Peter Rigney 

'A new land war? Land, class politics and state-building in Civil War Ireland' by Dr Tony Varley 

 

Index 10:

18 January 1923: The Arrest of Liam Deasy 

'Bitter enemies: the guerrilla phase of the Civil War' by Dr John Borgonovo

''The Mainstay of the Trouble': the imprisonment of 'suspect women' during the Civil War' by Dr Sinead McCoole

Crochet, cards and céilís: Civil War women behind bars

'Hidden away: the treatment of Civil War internees' by Dr Anne-Marie McInerney

'Working for peace: how people on all sides tried to end the Civil War' by Dr Eve Morrison 

 

Index 11: 

24 May 1923: The end of the Civil War 

'The legacy of the Civil War' by Prof Diarmaid Ferriter 

'The arms... are to be dumped': the cease-fire that ended the Civil War' by Dr Brian Hanley 

''Wild geese': IRA emigration and settlement after the Revolution' by Prof Gavin Foster 

''If we stand united, victory is certain': Liam Lynch's final days' by Gerard Shannon

'Broken for generations: the transgenerational impact of the Irish Civil War' by Dr Síobhra Aiken

'From grievance to reconciliation: commemoration and the Civil War' by Dr Eve Morrison 

 

The Civil War Digital Project is the third in a series of collaborative projects between RTE and the Atlas of the Irish Revolution Team supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

 

The seventeen indexes in the Irish War of Independence Digital project, also based on the Atlas of the Irish Revolution, are available to browse here 

 

And the three-part Great Irish Famine project, based on the Atlas of the Great irish Famine (2012), is accessible at 

Part 1: The Eve of the Famine 

Part 2: Famine in Ireland 

Part 3: After the Famine 

The Irish Revolution Project

Scoil na Staire /Tíreolaíocht

University College Cork, Cork,

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