on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty
, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand. On the day the Irish Free State was established, it comprised the entire island of Ireland
, but Northern Ireland
almost immediately exercised its right under the Treaty to opt out of the new state. The Irish Free State effectively replaced the self-proclaimed Irish Republic
(itself established on 21 January 1919).
1922 Arthur Griffith is elected President of the Irish Free State.
1922 General election in the Irish Free State: a large majority goes to the pro-Treaty Sinn Féin.
1922 The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces.
1922 Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Free State Army is shot dead during an Anti-Treaty ambush at Béal na mBláth, County Cork, during the Irish Civil War.
1922 Author and Irish Republican Army member Robert Erskine Childers is executed by an Irish Free State firing squad for illegally carrying a revolver.
1922 One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State comes into existence.
1931 The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster 1931, establishing legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Dominion of Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
1937 The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.
1949 The twenty-six counties of the Irish Free State become the Republic of Ireland.