Editing Republic of Ireland (section)

===Irish Civil War===
{{Main|Irish Civil War}}
[[File:The Long Fellow (10570624475).jpg|thumb|right|[[Éamon de Valera]], Irish political leader, pictured outside Ennis Courthouse in 1917. He would later be involved in introducing the 1937 [[Constitution of Ireland]].]]

The Irish Civil War (June 1922 – May 1923) was the consequence of the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199846719/obo-9780199846719-0149.xml | publisher = Oxford University Press | website = oxfordbibliographies | title = Literature of the Irish Civil War | date = 25 October 2018 | accessdate = 27 April 2021 | doi = 10.1093/OBO/9780199846719-0149 | last1 = Ward | first1 = Brian | archive-date = 27 April 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210427164828/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199846719/obo-9780199846719-0149.xml | url-status = live }}</ref> Anti-treaty forces, led by [[Éamon de Valera]], objected to the fact that acceptance of the treaty abolished the [[Irish Republic]] of 1919 to which they had sworn loyalty, arguing in the face of public support for the settlement that the "people have no right to do wrong".<ref>{{cite book |title=De Valera: Long Fellow, Long Shadow |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CFlCwAAQBAJ&q=de+valera+%22people+have+no+right+to+do+wrong%22&pg=PT499 |chapter=21 de Valera Stands Tall |first=Tim Pat |author-link=Tim Pat Coogan |year=1993 |last=Coogan | publisher=Head of Zeus |isbn=9781784975371 |access-date=19 November 2020 |archive-date=20 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320174331/https://books.google.com/books?id=5CFlCwAAQBAJ&q=de+valera+%22people+have+no+right+to+do+wrong%22&pg=PT499 |url-status=live }}</ref> They objected most to the fact that the state would remain part of the [[British Empire]] and that members of the [[Oireachtas of the Irish Free State|Free State Parliament]] would have to swear what the anti-treaty side saw as an oath of fidelity to the British king. Pro-treaty forces, led by [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], argued that the treaty gave "not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire to and develop, but the freedom to achieve it".<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 July 2011 |publisher=[[Dáil Éireann]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721130127/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.T.192112190002.html |url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.T.192112190002.html  |title=Dáil Éireann – Volume T – 19 December, 1921 (Debate on Treaty)}}</ref>

At the start of the war, the [[Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) split into two opposing camps: a pro-treaty IRA and an [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|anti-treaty IRA]]. The pro-treaty IRA disbanded and joined the new [[National Army (Ireland)|National Army]]. However, because the anti-treaty IRA lacked an effective command structure and because of the pro-treaty forces' defensive tactics throughout the war, Michael Collins and his pro-treaty forces were able to build up an army with many tens of thousands of World War I veterans from the 1922 disbanded [[Irish regiments#Irish regiments of the British Army|Irish regiments]] of the British Army, capable of overwhelming the anti-treatyists. British supplies of artillery, aircraft, machine-guns and ammunition boosted pro-treaty forces, and the threat of a return of Crown forces to the Free State removed any doubts about the necessity of enforcing the treaty. Lack of public support for the anti-treaty forces (often called the Irregulars) and the determination of the government to overcome the Irregulars contributed significantly to their defeat.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}