March 20th 1920:

Tomas MacCurtain, the Lord Mayor of Cork and commandant of the 1st Cork Brigade of the IRA, is shot dead by a masked gang at his home. The jury at the inquest returns a verdict of wilful murder by the RIC directed by the British government.

July 21st-24th 1920:

Sinn Fein supporters and socialists are named "disloyal workers" and driven out of Belfast shipyards by their Protestant and Unionist coworkers. The Irish Times v reports that "scenes of wild disorder" throughout Belfast, which claim the lives of seven Catholics and six Protestants, are unprecedented in their "intensity and bitterness".

November 21st 1920:

"Bloody Sunday" begins with the assassination of 14 undercover British intelligence agents by an IRA squad organised by Michael Collins. In reprisal, Black and Tans kill 12 civilians when they open fire on a crowd at a Dublin-Tipperary football match in Croke Park.

November 28th 1920:

An entire patrol of 18 auxiliaries at Kilmichael, west Cork, is wiped out by a flying column under the command of General Tom Barry in what would be one of the most effective and bloody IRA ambushes of the war.

December 23rd 1920:

Lloyd George's [Better] Government of Ireland Act provides for the states of Northern Ireland (six counties) and Southern Ireland (26 counties). The Act requires elections for both parliaments which take place the following May and result in Sinn Fein being returned in 124 out of 128 seats in the South and Unionists taking 40 out of 52 in the North.

March 14th 1921:

Six republican prisoners are executed in Mountjoy jail including members of the Bloody Sunday execution squad. Over 20,000 protesters congregate outside Mountjoy resulting in a general work stoppage.

May 25th 1921:

British administration in Ireland is crippled when the 18th century Custom House building is burnt to the ground by the IRA. "If there is an Elysian Field for beautiful buildings, Dublin's General Post Office, her Custom House and her Four Courts will keep sad company there," comments The Irish Times.

December 6th 1921:

The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed following six months of difficult negotiations between the British Cabinet and Irish delegates after the Truce. The Irish Free State is to have its own army and navy and total control of its own affairs subject to membership of the British Commonwealth and an oath of loyalty to the King.

June 28th 1922:

Civil war breaks out when Michael Collins orders the bombardment of defiant anti-treaty IRA "Irregulars" in the Four Courts by the Free State army. A Republican broad front evolves and fighting quickly spreads over the country. Michael Collins is shot in an ambush in Beal na mBlath in August (his funeral is pictured above) and Republican Erskine Childers is executed while awaiting appeal.

December 6th 1922:

Saorstat Eireann comes into existence with W.T. Cosgrave as president of the Executive Council.

May 24th 1923:

Frank Aiken, chief of staff, calls on republicans to dump their arms. De Valera issues a proclamation that "Military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the Republic." The Civil War ends.

August 8th 1923:

The Garda Siochana, an unarmed police force, is established by law.

December 3rd 1925:

The Boundary Commission promised under the terms of the Treaty is shelved and the existing border remains intact in exchange for a cancellation of certain debts to the British government. President Cosgrave in a press statement says, "The cloud of division between North and South which has hung over the country for the last fifty years has begun to lift."

May 16th 1926:

De Valera inaugurates the Fianna Fail party at La Scala Theatre. The party has its first Ard-Fheis in November and takes 26 per cent of the vote in the June 1927 General Elections to Cumann na nGaedheal's 27 per cent.

July 10th 1927:

Kevin O'Higgins (right), vice-president of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice, is shot dead by republicans outside his home in Booterstown. The Government responds with a Bill requiring future Dail candidates to sign an affidavit that they will take the oath if elected.

Not forgetting

December 2nd 1922: by James Joyce is published in Paris by Sylvia Beach.

November 14th 1923: W.B. Yeats (left) wins the Nobel Prize for literature, followed by G.B. Shaw, in November 1929.

January 1st 1926: Radio 2RN, the national broadcasting station opens.

May 7th 1928: The voting age for women is lowered from 30 to 21.

October 14th 1928: Dublin's Gate Theatre opens at the Peacock with Peer Gynt.

July 29th 1929: Official opening of Ardnacrusha hydroelectric station in Clare.

Compiled by Edel Morgan

The Irish Times Book of the Century by Fintan O'Toole, about key events this century as reflected in the newspaper, is published by Gill & Macmillan this month. Price £25