The ‘army mutiny’ of 1924 and the assertion of civilian authority in independent Ireland

Abstract

The early years of Irish independence were years of precedent-setting decisions that shaped and moulded the new state. In a country just emerging from a struggle for independence and a devastating civil war, the army was one of the most vital and central institutions; and the relationship between the military and the elected civilian government was crucial. In fact, at the end of the civil war, a strong possibility existed that, unless the government acted quickly to establish its control, the army could remain the dominant force in Irish politics for years to come. The response to the Irish army mutiny of 1924, however, upheld and affirmed the supremacy of constitutional rule in Ireland.

The politics of reaction: the dynamics of treatyite government and policy, 1922–33

“…63 Its central point, that appointments should be made on the criteria of ideological outlook and past services, challenged the meritocratic and apolitical principles which the government applied to its bureaucracy and which Dr Valiulis has striven to show Mulcahy attempted to apply to the army with considerable success (with the exception of his toleration of the I.R.B.). 64 In response to the 'Statement of views', the ministers usurped the standing committee with their own executive organising committee on which Mulcahy not merely served but which he actively helped to establish. 65 There was a naivete and profound miscalculation present in the three challengers to the elite's interpretation of the treaty.…”