The Irish Civil War
The 3-part documentary series The Irish Civil War tells the epic and often challenging story of the origins, conflict and legacy of the civil war that took place in Ireland in 1922 and 1923. Narrated by Brendan Gleeson, produced in partnership with University College Cork by RTÉ Cork as part of the Decade of Centenary commemorations and based on UCC’s “mammoth and magnificent” Atlas of the Irish Revolution, this documentary series features extensive archive film footage, photographs and materials, interviews with leading academics, archive interviews with contemporary participants and witnesses, firsthand witness accounts read by actors, detailed and dynamic graphic maps based on those featured in the Atlas of the Irish Revolution, and stunning cinematography of the very locations where events took place.
Episodes
This episode explores the events leading up to the outbreak of hostilities between those who supported and those who opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which was signed in late 1921.
This episode explores the conventional phase of the civil war. The fledgling Government, egged on by Churchill, opens fire against rebels installed in the Four Courts. Rebels take de facto control of the southern Munster Republic. The Army goes west and south to reassert its supremacy. Battle is joined and brother fights brother, to the horror of the war-weary citizenry.
This episode explores the guerrilla phase of the Civil War. After the pro-treaty forces retook many large towns, republicans were forced to change tactics against overwhelming odds. Though a ceasefire was declared in 1923, atrocities and reprisals from both sides left a terrible legacy that continued to influence Ireland generations later.
