Liam Lynch –Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Liam Lynch was born in 1892 in County Limerick and joined the Gaelic League and the Ancient Order of Hibernians in 1909. He dedicated his life to republicanism after the 1916 Easter Rising and rose quickly through the ranks during Ireland’s War of Independence.
The War of Independence ended formally with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty between the Irish negotiating team and the British government in December 1921. Lynch was commander of one of the IRA brigades and was opposed to the Treaty, on the grounds that it disestablished the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916 in favor of Dominion status for Ireland within the British Empire. Ireland would be an autonomous dominion of the British Empire with the British monarch as head of state, in the same manner as Canada and Australia. The Treaty also allowed Northern Ireland (the six north-eastern counties), where collectively the majority population was of the Protestant religion to opt out of the new state and return to the United Kingdom – which it did immediately when the treaty was signed.
Ireland’s Civil War broke out in 1922 with Michael Collins commanding the National Army of Free State forces supporting the Treaty and Eamon de Valera (later President of Ireland) leading Anti-Treaty forces. Lynch was appointed chief of staff of Anti-Treaty forces and did the fighting while de Valera was the nominal head. Michael Collins was killed in an ambush on 22 August 1922. Death found Liam Lynch six months later. On 10 April 1923, a National Army unit was seen approaching Lynch’s secret headquarters in the Knockmealdown Mountains. Lynch was killed while trying to escape. Liam Lynch was 30 years old when he died, and the Anti-Treaty forces surrendered three weeks later. The Civil War had lasted less than a year. Ireland’s Civil War ended on 24 May 1923 and the Irish Free State emerged. Lynch is remembered as a master of guerilla war who could deliver local victories but lacked the vision to be an effective national leader.
