Chronology

1918 11 November Armistice between Germany and the Allied powers ends First World War 14 November Tomás Masaryk elected president of Czechoslovakia 16 November Hungary proclaims itself a republic 14 December UK general election voting: Lloyd George's Liberal and Conservative coalition wins a huge majority; Sinn Féin wins 73 of Ireland's 105 seats 1919 15 January Spartacist uprising crushed in Berlin, Rosa Luxemburg shot 18 January Peace conference opens in Paris 21 January Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann, inaugurated in Dublin. Two policemen killed in an ambush by Irish Volunteers at Soloheadbeg in County Tipperary 5 February Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists film studio 8 March Anti-British riots erupt in Cairo 23 March Mussolini launches Italian fascist movement 1 April Following his escape from Lincoln Prison in February, Eamon de Valera elected president of Dáil Éireann 13 April In India, 379 protesting civilians massacred by British troops at Amritsar 14-25 April General strike in Limerick sees the formation of the Limerick soviet 11 June De Valera arrives in New York at the start of an eighteen-month tour of the United States 23 June Detective Inspector Hunt shot dead in Market Square, Thurles 28 June Treaty of Versailles signed 31 July Detective Patrick Smyth of G Division of the DMP shot dead by IRA Squad in Dublin. 12 September Dáil Éireann declared illegal 19 December Viceroy Lord French survives assassination attempt in Dublin 1920 2 January Ex-servicemen recruited to reinforce the Royal Irish Constabulary; they become known as the Black and Tans 15 January Sinn Féin scores big successes in local government elections 13-17 March Attempted right-wing coup fails in Germany 20 March Lord Mayor of Cork, Tomás Mac Curtain, shot dead at his home 26 March Retired magistrate investigating Dáil finances, Alan Bell, shot dead in Dublin 3 April Hundreds of tax offices and abandoned police barracks burned by the IRA 12 April General strike in support of hunger strikers at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin 19 July Sectarian rioting begins in Derry; 19 killed over several days 21 July Expulsion of Catholics from Belfast shipyards sets off three days of violence 25 July French troops occupy Damascus to begin French mandate in Syria 27 July Auxiliary Divison of the RIC is launched, made up of ex-British Army officers 6 August Dáil Éireann declares boycott of goods from protestant firms in Belfast 9 August Restoration of Order in Ireland Act gives military sweeping powers including trial of civilians by court martial 22 August Assassination of Detective Inspector Swanzy in Lisburn sparks renewed violence in Belfast 20 September Black and Tans ransack Balbriggan in County Dublin 14 October One of the Soloheadbeg ambushers, Sean Treacy, shot dead in a street battle with Auxiliaries and British intelligence agents in Dublin 25 October Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, dies in Brixton Prison in London after 74 days on hunger strike 1 November IRA volunteer, Kevin Barry (aged eighteen), hanged for the murder of a British soldier in the first execution since the 1916 Rising 2 November The Republican Warren G. Harding, an isolationist, wins the US presidential election 21 November IRA Squad organised by Michael Collins kills 14 suspected British secret service agents; Black and Tans kill 12 during a football match at Croke Park 28 November 18 Auxiliaries killed in an ambush at Kilmichael, County Cork 10 December The American Mamie Smith becomes the first black singer to make a gramophone record 11 December Following an IRA ambush in Cork, Auxiliaries and Black and Tans set fire to large parts of the centre of Cork city 23 December British parliament passes the Better Government of Ireland Act, creating two parliaments, one for Southern Ireland (covering 26 counties) and another for Northern Ireland (6 counties) 1921 1 January The destruction of seven houses in County Cork by military order signals the start of official reprisals. 7 March The Mayor of Limerick, George Clancy, and the former mayor, Michael O'Callaghan, shot dead at their homes 24 May General election for parliaments in Northern and Southern Ireland: Sinn Féin candidates returned unopposed to 124 of the 128 seats in the south; in Northern Ireland, Unionists win 40 seats, Sinn Féin 6 and Nationalists 6 25 May Custom House in Dublin set on fire in IRA attack on headquarters of Local Government Board and burns for five days, destroying thousands of administrative records. 22 June George V opens Northern Ireland parliament and calls for reconciliation in Ireland. 11 July Truce between British forces and IRA comes into effect 14-21 July Lloyd George meets de Valera in London three times to explore grounds for peace talks 9 October- Anglo-Irish conference opens at Downing Street 6 December to negotiate final settlement of the Irish question 6 December Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London at 2.10 a.m. 14 December Dáil Éireann meets to debate the treaty 16 December British parliament ratifies Anglo-Irish Treaty 1922 7 January Dáil Éireann approves the treaty by 64 votes to 57 16 January Michael Collins, as chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, takes formal control of Dublin Castle 2 February James Joyce's novel Ulysses published in Paris 11 February Four Special Constables from Northern Ireland and one IRA man killed in clash at Clones railway station in County Monaghan 27 March Anti-treaty convention representing almost fifty brigades of the IRA meets...