Anglo-Irish Truce
| Irish War of Independence | |||||||||
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 Seán Hogan's flying column of the IRA's 3rd Tipperary Brigade during the war |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Irish Republic
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 United Kingdom
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Military commanders: Michael Collins Richard Mulcahy Cathal Brugha Political leaders: Éamon de Valera Arthur Griffith |
Military commanders: Frederick Shaw Nevil Macready Henry Hugh Tudor Political leaders: David Lloyd George Lord French Lord FitzAlan Ian Macpherson Hamar Greenwood |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| Irish Republican Army ~15,000 |
British Army ~20,000 Royal Irish Constabulary 9,700 -Black and Tans 7,000 -Auxiliary Division 1,400 Ulster Special Constabulary 4,000 |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ~550 dead | 714 dead, comprising: 410 RIC dead 261 British Army dead 43 USC dead |
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| ~750 civilians dead Total dead: ~2,014 |
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The Irish War of Independence (Irish: Cogadh na Saoirse) or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and the British security forces in Ireland. It was an escalation of the Irish revolutionary period into warfare.
In April 1916, Irish republicans launched an armed uprising against British rule and proclaimed an Irish Republic. Although it was crushed after a week of fighting, the rising and the British response led to greater popular support for Irish independence. In the December 1918 election, the republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland. On 21 January 1919 they formed a breakaway government (Dáil Éireann) and declared independence from Britain. Later that day, two members of the British-organised armed police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), were shot dead in County Tipperary by IRA members acting on their own initiative. This is often seen as the beginning of the conflict. For much of 1919, IRA activity involved capturing weapons and freeing republican prisoners. In September, the British government outlawed the Dáil and Sinn Féin and the conflict intensified. The IRA began ambushing RIC and British Army patrols, attacking their barracks and forcing isolated barracks to be abandoned. The British government bolstered the RIC with recruits from Britain—the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries—who became notorious for ill-discipline and reprisal attacks on civilians. The conflict as a result is often referred to as the "Black and Tan War" or simply the "Tan War".
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