A month of mayhem and outrage occurred in Ireland 100 years ago in September 1920. There was no end to the cycle of violence, with the civilian population the primary target. The Irish Newspaper Archive & the Radical Newspaper Archive contain numerous accounts of the outrages committed by both sides which included torture, intimidation, reprisal and counter propaganda as the War of Independence entered into its most trau...

  Throughout August 1920 IRA attacks on the military and police took on very different forms, including engaging with large parties such as at Annascaul in county Kerry to ambushing small parties of the police such as at Ballybay in county Monaghan. Here RIC Constables Boyd and Sharkey of Ballybay were returning from Newbliss when they were ambushed at a place called Aughadrumken, three miles from Newbliss. About half a doz...

Described as an exceptionally dangerous manoeuvre, IRA volunteers waited patiently for a part of thirteen military as they made their way to Dingle with provisions. Upon their return and near Annascaul the ambushers surprised the military and called halt. When the order was not answered they opened fire on the lorry, injuring four soldiers in the process. The soldiers were quickly surrounded and decided to surrender. Their ...

As British military and police retaliations and reprisals continued throughout the country with homes and businesses wrecked in the process, An t-Oglach, the newspaper of the Irish Volunteers urged its members to ‘Keep Cool’ as they were winning the war. In its front-page memorandum of 7 August the editor encouraged not to bow to the burning of Irish towns which is ‘getting out of hands’. Although such action was al...

In early August 1920 the British government released statistics in what was called a ‘White Paper’ on the extent of the conflict in Ireland for the previous two months. During May and June 1920 seventeen policemen and nine civilians had been killed. During the same period there had been 727 attacks on property and 415 attacks on persons, which included acts of intimidation. Thirty-two courthouses were destroyed, twelve ...

There were many ambushes in county Cork during the War of Independence where IRA battalions caught the military by surprise. One such occasion occurred in August 1920 about four miles from Cork at a place called Ballyvolane, where nine military personnel who were being driven on patrol were ambushed by the IRA. During the attack five soldiers were wounded in what was a carefully executed attack. As the military passed a sec...

The destruction of the town of Castlerea, county Roscommon on the night of 3 August 1920 caused a sensation throughout the county. Eight men dressed in waterproof coasts and slouched hats, and without warning attacked three men who were standing on the footpath. Windows were smashed in many of the towns businesses and civilians were assaulted. One of the men assaulted, called Hanley, a shop assistant, were seriously injured...

  In early August 1920 the people of Navan assembled at the local court. Held in the town’s RIC barracks, to hear the case of two young men, James Dalton and Patrick Kane who it was alleged had presented revolvers, threatened and cut of the hair of two girls, Margaret Cooney and Bridget Faulkner. Soldiers it was alleged were present at the time of the assault, perhaps suggesting the reason why the girls were targeted i...

  One of the features of the Irish newspaper industry at this time was the emergence of photographs, which gradually overtook sketches and cartoons. The Irish Examiner newspaper was among a number who regularly carried images in their pages, highlighting an number of important aspects of Irish life in the process. In early August 1920 the Examiner carried images of members of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union wh...

In August 1920 the British Government introduced the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act in an effort to gain control amid the growing lawlessness which prevailed across the country. These new powers gave the military more authority with respect to arrests and raids, which duly increased as the month unfolded. In many instances, the military and police acted beyond the law and increased their intimidation of the civilian p...