1919

  • 12 January Paris Peace Conference begins.
  • 21 January
    • First Meeting of Dáil Éireann at the Mansion House, Dublin.
    • Soloheadbeg Ambush, County Tipperary, in which two RIC officers are killed by Irish Volunteers.
    • The War of Independence begins.
  • 3 February Eamonn De Valera, Seán McGarry and Seán Milroy escape Lincoln Gaol.
  • 1 April De Valera elected President of Dáil Éireann.
  • 1 June De Valera begins a tour of the U.S.
  • 28 June Versailles Treaty between Germany and Allied powers.
  • 11 September Dáil Éireann declared illegal under the Criminal Law and Procedure Act 1887
  • 7 October Cabinet committee on Irish self-government appointed.
  • 4 November Cabinet committee proposes two parliaments: one for all nine Ulster counties, and one for ‘Southern Ireland’.
  • November Irish Volunteers, Sinn Féin, the Gaelic League and Cumann na mBan proscribed
  • 15 December Cabinet informed that Ulster Unionists want the scheme ‘applied only to the six Protestant counties’.
  • 19 December Attempted assassination of the Lord Lieutenant Lord French by the IRA.
  • 22 December Lloyd George outlines two-parliament policy to the House of Commons.

1920

  • 2 January Royal Irish Constabulary enrols first British recruits, later known as the ‘Black and Tans’.
  • 25 February Government of Ireland Bill introduced into Commons
  • 10 March Ulster Unionist Council accepts Home Rule for six of the nine counties in Ulster excluding Cavan, Monaghan, and Donegal.
  • 23 March General Nevil  Macready appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in Ireland.
  • 25 March Black and Tans deployed
  • 12 April The last chief secretary of Ireland, Hamar Greenwood, is appointed.
  • 21 July Belfast riots begin
  • 27 July Auxiliary Division of RIC, recruited from British ex-officers.
  • 12 August Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, goes on hunger strike in Brixton Prison
  • 23-31 August Sectarian violence in Belfast in which 30 people are killed.
  • 20 September Black and Tans sack Balbriggan, Co. Dublin.
  • 22 October Ulster Special Constabulary formed
  • 25 October Terence MacSwiney dies on hunger-strike
  • 1 November Execution of Kevin Barry
  • 21 November ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Dublin: IRA kills 14 suspected secret service agents; Auxiliaries kill 2 IRA commandants; Black and Tans fire on football crowd in Croke Park and kill 12.
  • 28 November Kilmichael Ambush, Co. Cork, in which 18 Auxiliaries are killed by the IRA.
  • 10 December Martial Law declared in  Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Tipperary.
  • 11-12 December Cork City sacked by Auxiliaries and Black and Tans.
  • 23 December
    • Government of Ireland Bill enacted creating a partitioned state, Northern Ireland.
    • De Valera returns to Ireland from the USA.

1921

  • 4 February
    • Edward Carson resigns as Ulster Unionist leader.
    • James Craig elected to succeed Carson.
  • 13 February Walter Long resigns from government.
  • 14 March Execution of Frank Flood.
  • 17 March Bonar Law resigns from government; succeeded as Conservative Party Leader by Austen Chamberlain.
  • 2 May Viscount FitzAlan sworn in as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
  • 5  May De Valera meets James Craig in Dublin.
  • 13 May Election for the Second Dáil
  • 24 May Election in Northern Ireland.
  • 7 June James Craig appointed Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
  • 22 June George V opens Northern Ireland parliament.
  • 9 July Truce between IRA and Crown forces.
  • 14 July Lloyd George and De Valera meet in Downing Street.
  • 7 September Lloyd George holds cabinet meeting in Inverness Town Hall.
  • 29-30 September Lloyd George and De Valera agree terms of conference.
  • 11 October Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations between British Government and Dáil representatives begin.
  • 6 December Anglo-Irish Treaty providing for establishment of Irish Free State as self-governing dominion signed.
  • 14 December Treaty Debates.

1922

  • 6 January Treaty Debates
  • 7 January Dáil Éireann ratifies Anglo-Irish Treaty, 64 votes to 57.
  • 9 January De Valera resigns as president of Dáil Éireann.
  • 14 January Provisional Government of Ireland formed.
  • 16 January Lord Lieutenant formally transfers power at Dublin Castle to Michael Collins as chairman of the provisional government.
  • 21 January
    • Craig-Collins pact includes guarantees for Belfast Catholics.
    • World Congress of the Irish Race/ Aonach na nGaedheal held in Paris.
  • 12-15 February Violence in Belfast: 27 killed, 68 wounded.
  • 30 March Second Craig-Collins peace pact.
  • 14 April The Four Courts seized by anti-treaty members of the IRA.
  • 20 May Collins-De Valera pact provides for pro- and anti-Sinn Féin candidates at the Irish Free State election proportional to current strength.
  • 16 June Irish general election. Pro-treaty 58, anti-treaty 36.
  • 22 June Sir Henry Wilson shot by the IRA in London.
  • 26 June Kidnapping of JJ O’Connell by anti-treaty forces.
  • 28 June Free State army attacks the Four Courts marking the beginning of civil war.
  • 12 August Death of Arthur Griffith.
  • 22 August Michael Collins killed in County Cork by anti-treaty forces.
  • 25 August William T. Cosgrave appointed chairman of the provisional government.
  • 9 September William T. Cosgrave elected President of the Third Dáil.
  • 23 October Andew Bonar Law appointed prime minister.
  • 25 October Irish Constitution approved by Dáil.
  • 17-19 November Anti-treaty IRA members executed by Free State.
  • 5 December Irish Free State Constitution Act ratifies Treaty.
  • 6 December
    • Irish Free State established.
    • Cosgrave appointed president of executive council of the Irish Free State.
  • 7 December Northern Ireland opts out of the Irish Free State.
  • 8 December Execution of IRA members Rory O’Connor, Liam Mellows, Richard Barrett and Joe McKelvey.

1923

  • 7 March Ballyseedy Massacre in which 8 anti-treaty prisoners were killed by Free State troops in Co. Kerry.
  • 10 April Liam Lynch shot by Free State army.
  • 20 May Resignation of Andrew Bonar Law.
  • 23 May Stanley Baldwin appointed prime minister.
  • 24 May
    • Republican military campaign ends when Frank Aiken issues ceasefire and dump-arms order.
    • End of Irish civil war.
  • 20 July Irish Free State appoints Eoin MacNeill to boundary commission.
  • 27 August Cumann na nGaedheal win victory in general election
  • 10 September Irish Free State enters the League of Nations