1. War of independence Leaving Cert History

2. The War of Independence  Griffith and many SF rank and file thought passive resistance might work.  Collins, Brugha, Mulcahy and many local commanders prepared for war.  The Irish Volunteers were organised into battalions.  Mulcahy was Chief-of-Staff and Collins Director of Intelligence.  15,000 were willing to fight. Guns were smuggled, stolen and bought from British soldiers.  Changed their name to IRA after the first Dail.

3. January 1919: Soloheadbeg  Same day as the First Dail but the Dail never approved it.  IRA paid little attention to their political wing.  Mulcahy and Collins tended to ignore Brugha the Minister for Defence.

4. Collin’s Spy Network  Maids, porters, civil servants, police passed information to Collins.  He warned the G- division to stop spying. Some did not so he formed ‘The Squad’.  One was killed and the rest eased off.  Alan Bell, employed to trace Dail bank accounts, was shot.

5. Around the Country  Some IRA commanders were very active.  Sean Treacy, Tom Barry, Michael Brennan in Clare and Sean MacEoin in Longford.  1919 attacks on small RIC barracks.  The RIC moved to fortified barracks in large towns. These too were attacked.  Many began to leave the RIC.

6. David Lloyd George  Had to keep Conservative views on Unionism in mind so he decided to:  Defeat the IRA so he could be in a strong bargaining position.  Partition so Unionists would get control in Ulster.  He put a more hard-line regime in Dublin Castle.  He made Sir Hamar Greenwood Chief Secretary, General Macready in charge of the army and General Tudor in charge of the Police.  He recruited police in Britain, as he did not want to call it a war.  Black and Tans and Auxiliaries. Brave, ruthless and undisciplined.  IRA went on the run and formed ‘flying columns’. These men were paid and trained.

7. Reprisal  Looting, burning, and shooting.  Increase in support for IRA.  Bad press in GB and abroad.  March 1920 Tomás MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork shot.  His successor Terence MacSwiney died on hunger strike after 73 days. Big funeral.  Kevin Barry hanged.

8. 21st November 1920 Bloody Sunday  14 most from ‘Cairo Gang’ shot by the Squad with help from the Collins spies.  Croke Park 12 killed.  That evening 3 were shot in Dublin Castle.