Title ‘The Civil War in Dublin’
Speaker: John Dorney
Time: @ 7:45 PM
Location: Iona Pastoral Centre

John Dorney’s book: ‘The Civil War in Dublin: The fight for the Irish Capital 1922-1924’

“While the Irish Civil War first erupted in Dublin, playing out through the seizure and eventual recapture of the Four Courts, it quickly swept over the entire country. In ‘The Civil War in Dublin’ John Dorney extends his study of Dublin beyond the Four Courts surrender, delivering shocking revelations of calculated violence and splits within the pro-Treaty armed forces. Dorney’s exacting research, using primary sources and newly available eyewitness testimonies from both sides of the conflict, provides total insight into how the entire city of Dublin operated under conditions of disorder and bloodshed: how civilians and guerrillas controlled the streets, female insurgents operated alongside their male counterparts, the patterns of IRA violence and National Army counter-insurgency alternated, and – for the first time – how the pro-Treaty ‘Murder Gang’ emerged from Michael Collins’ IRA Intelligence Department, ‘the Squad’. The Civil War in Dublin brings the city to life through meticulous detail and reveals unsettling and shocking truths about the extreme actions taken by a burgeoning Irish Free State and its Anti-Treaty opponents”.

About the author:
“John Dorney is an independent historian and chief editor of the Irish Story website. He is the author of ‘Peace After the Final Battle: The Story of the Irish Revolution 1912-1924’ (2014) and ‘Griffith College Dublin: A History of its Campus’ (2013)”.
Source: amazon.co.uk
Image: theirishstory.com

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Brief background to the Battle of Dublin:
The ‘Battle of Dublin’ was a week of street battles in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922 that marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. Six months after the Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the recent Irish War of Independence, it was fought between the forces of the new Provisional Government and a section of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that opposed the Treaty.

The Irish Citizen Army also became involved in the battle, having supported the anti-Treaty IRA in the O’Connell Street area. The fighting began with an assault by Provisional Government forces on the Four Courts building, and ended in a decisive victory for the Provisional Government.
Source: en.wikipedia.org

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Other sources: The Irish History Show: Episode 1 – The Civil War in Dublin and Cork via youtube.com

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