Historians Irish Civil War

• Dorothy MacArdle: the split over the treaty was a driving cause for the civil war, but the "heroic and virtous" perspectives of independence also contributed
• Tom Garvin: the Gaelic League did not directly cause the civil war, but it had a permanent impact on the politics of independent Ireland
• Max Weber: most civil war are caused by contributing geopolitical factors
• Patrick Buckland: there were many links, like family ties, between Irish -pro-unionists and Britain
• Patrick Geoghegan: Catholicism greatly defined Irish identity