Battle of Dublin - Background

Background

On 14 April 1922, about 200 anti-treaty IRA militants led by Rory O'Connor occupied the Four Courts in Dublin, resulting in a tense stand-off. They wanted to spark a new armed confrontation with the British, which they hoped would bring down the Anglo-Irish Treaty, unite the two factions of the IRA against their former common enemy and thereby restart the fight to create an all-Ireland Irish Republic. At the time the British army still had thousands of soldiers concentrated in Dublin, awaiting evacuation. However, for those who were determined to make the Free State into a viable, self-governing Irish state, this was an act of rebellion that would have to be put down by them rather than by the British. The Provisional Government came under pressure from the British to take action against the Four Courts Garrison following the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson in London on 22 June 1922, and when Free State Army General and Deputy Chief of Staff J.J. O'Connell was arrested by Four Courts troops, the government decided to move against them.

Collins accepted a British offer of artillery loaned by Winston Churchill for use by the new Irish Army, along with 200 from their store of 10,000 shells at Kilmainham, 3 miles away. It is possible that some British troops were also covertly loaned. Two 18 Pounder field guns were placed on Parliament Street and Winetavern Street, across the Liffey from the Four Courts complex, and after a final ultimatum they began their bombardment on the 28th of June.