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...

One of the most daring attacks of the Irish War of Independence was carried out in late July 1920 when more than sixty armed men stormed the RIC barracks in the village of Streamstown, county Westmeath. The constabulary were completely overwhelmed being only eight in number, three of home were apprehended returning from Divine Service where they were stripped of the weapons and uniform. What made the attack so daring was th...

As we have already seen, the cause of labour was very much to the fore in every town and village across the country in July 1920 where agricultural labourers and others aired their grievances. In Dublin and other large centres it was very much the same scenario although involving workers in a different industries. In July Dublin drapers rejected proposals for wage increases, while the issue of holiday entitlements and the n...

By July 1920 the IRA had intensified its campaign and sought new methods in engaging the military and police.   While some had studied the practice of warfare in other countries, more practical advice was also supplied to volunteers through radical newspapers such as an t-Oglach. Military instruction was offered in the engineering notes of the newspaper on the use of paraffin oil for arson, which was deemed to be be...

Labour disputes all across Ireland continued in July 1920 and were championed by newspapers such as The Watchword of Labour. In its pages amid the ongoing War of Independence, The Watchword carried news of these ongoing labour disputes which were in many communities as the national struggle. In Killucan, county Westmeath there was an ongoing dispute over payment to farm workers from which farmers had tried to renege from t...