This timely introduction presents a clear, balanced account of the rapid and complex events from 1880 leading up to the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922.

This work examines the political, social and cultural factors, which gave rise to the free state and the state of Northern Ireland. Beginning with the Gaelic Revival from 1880-1910, Walsh guides the reader through the events of the Easter 1916 Rising, the Anglo-Irish War, the treaty by the Dail in 1922 and subsequent civil war.