Eamon de Valera, newly released from prison, is elected to lead Sinn Fein

Countess Markiewicz, an Irish republican, is elected a member of Britain's House of Commons but refuses to take her seat

The Sinn Fein members elected to Westminster establish their own parliament in Dublin, the Dáil Eireann (Assembly of Ireland), soon declared illegal by Britain

The armed supporters of Sinn Fein become the IRA, or Irish Republican Army, in Ireland's war of independence

Returning from active service with the Royal Navy, Erskine Childers devotes his energies to Sinn Fein and Irish independence

John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown fly from St John's in Newfoundland to Clifden in Ireland

The Government of Ireland Act provides for separate devolved parliaments in southern Ireland and the six counties of Ulster

The brutal behaviour of the British police reinforcements, the Black and Tans, aggravates the violence in Ireland

The IRA and the British security forces clash during a violent 'Bloody Sunday' in Dublin

The republican party Sinn Fein is unopposed in southern Ireland's first general election, and so wins every available seat in the Dail

The Sinn Fein members of southern Ireland's new parliament assemble on their own, under the name Dáil Eireann (Assembly of Ireland)

Envoys sent to London by de Valera agree independence for southern Ireland as the Irish Free State, with Dominion status

The British parliament ratifies the Anglo-Irish treaty, but de Valera repudiates it and resigns as president of the Dáil

James Joyce's novel Ulysses is published in Paris, by Sylvia Beach, because of censorship problems elsewhere

In elections to the Dáil the pro-treaty faction of Collins and Griffith defeats the opposition, led by de Valera

Bitter war breaks out between factions of the IRA supporting and opposing the Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Irish Free State takes stringent measures against rebel terrorism, making possession even of a pistol a capital offence

After Michael Collins is killed in an ambush, William Cosgrave and Kevin O'Higgins emerge as leaders of the Irish Free State

Erskine Childers is sent before a firing squad in the Irish Free State for possession of a revolver

With the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the 26 counties of southern Ireland formally become the Irish Free State

William Thomas Cosgrave becomes the first prime minister of the Irish Free State

De Valera and the IRA lay down their arms, bringing to an end the Irish civil war

De Valera and his followers do well in elections to the Dáil but decline to take their seats

Sean O'Casey's first play The Shadow of a Gunman is performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin

Sean O'Casey's second play Juno and the Paycock is performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin