Editing Éamon de Valera (section)

===Civil War===
{{Main|Irish Civil War}}
Relations between the new Irish government, which was backed by most of the Dáil and the electorate, and the anti-treatyites, under the nominal leadership of de Valera, now descended into the Irish Civil War (June 1922 to May 1923), in which the pro-treaty Free State forces defeated the anti-treaty IRA. Both sides had wanted to avoid civil war, but fighting broke out over the [[Battle of Dublin|takeover of the Four Courts]] in Dublin by anti-treaty members of the IRA. These men were not loyal to de Valera and initially were not even supported by the executive of the anti-treaty IRA. However, Michael Collins was forced to act against them when [[Winston Churchill]] threatened to re-occupy the country with British troops unless action was taken. When fighting broke out in Dublin between the Four Courts garrison and the new [[Free State Army]], republicans backed the IRA men in the Four Courts, and civil war broke out. De Valera, though he held no military position, backed the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|anti-treaty IRA]], or ''irregulars'', and said that he was re-enlisting in the IRA as an ordinary volunteer. On 8 September 1922, he met in secret with [[Richard Mulcahy]] in Dublin to try to halt the fighting. However, according to de Valera, they "could not find a basis" for agreement.<ref>Coogan, Tim Pat ''de Valera: Long Fellow, Long Shadow'' p. 338, {{ISBN|0-09-995860-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-09-995860-4}}.</ref>

Though nominally head of the anti-treatyites, de Valera had little influence. He does not seem to have been involved in any fighting and had little or no influence with the revolutionary military leadership, headed by [[Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army|IRA Chief of Staff]] [[Liam Lynch (general)|Liam Lynch]]. De Valera and the anti-treaty [[Teachta Dála|TDs]] formed a "[[Irish republican legitimatism|republican government]]" on 25 October 1922 from anti-treaty TDs to "be temporarily the Supreme Executive of the Republic and the State, until such time as the elected Parliament of the Republic can freely assemble, or the people being rid of external aggression are at liberty to decide freely how they are to be governed and what shall be their political relations with other countries" .<ref>Mcardle, p. 808</ref> However, it had no real authority and was a pale shadow of the [[Government of the 1st Dáil|Dáil government of 1919–21]].{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

In March 1923, de Valera attended the meeting of the IRA Army Executive to decide on the future of the war. He was known to be in favour of a truce but he had no voting rights and it was narrowly decided to continue hostilities.<ref name=JordanIrishCatholic/>{{rp|131}} The leader of the Free State, [[W. T. Cosgrave]], insisted that there could be no acceptance of a surrender without disarming.<ref>Jordan, Anthony J. ''W. T. Cosgrave: Founder Of Modern Ireland''. Westport Books, 2006, p. 89.</ref>

On 30 April 1923, the IRA's new Chief of Staff, [[Frank Aiken]] (Lynch had been killed), called a ceasefire. This was followed on 24 May by an order for volunteers to "dump arms". De Valera, who had wanted an end to the internecine fighting for some time, backed the ceasefire order with a message in which he called the anti-treaty fighters "the Legion of the Rearguard", saying that "The Republic can no longer be successfully defended by your arms. Further sacrifice on your part would now be in vain and the continuance of the struggle in arms unwise in the national interest and prejudicial to the future of our cause. Military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the republic. Other means must be sought to safeguard the nation's right."<ref>{{cite book | last = Bowyer Bell | first = J. | author-link = J. Bowyer Bell | title = The Secret Army: The IRA | publisher = Transaction Publishers | year = 1997 | page = [https://archive.org/details/secretarmyira00bell/page/38 38] | isbn = 1-56000-901-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/secretarmyira00bell/page/38 }}</ref>

After this point, many of the republicans were arrested in Free State round-ups when they had come out of hiding and returned home. De Valera remained in hiding for several months after the ceasefire was declared; however, he emerged in August to stand for election in [[County Clare]]. Referring to the Clare electorate he said: "If the people of Clare elect me as their candidate again, I will be with them and nothing but a bullet will stop me".<ref>Mcardle, p. 864</ref> Making a campaign appearance in [[Ennis]] on 15 August, de Valera was arrested on the platform and interned at Kilmainham jail. He was moved to [[Arbour Hill]] barracks briefly prior to his release on 16 July 1924.<ref>[https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/building-a-state-in-the-shadow-of-civil-war-part-1-1.234896 'Building a state in the shadow of civil war (Part 1)' ''Irish Times'']</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/07/17/archives/de-valera-and-stack-are-set-at-liberty-more-releases-expected.html |title='De Valera and Stack Are Set at Liberty; More Releases Expected Within 24 Hours', ''The New York Times'', 17 July 1924 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=17 July 1924 |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119094731/https://www.nytimes.com/1924/07/17/archives/de-valera-and-stack-are-set-at-liberty-more-releases-expected.html |url-status=live }}</ref>