The Civil War ended with a ceasefire rather than a decisive victory. As Free State forces steadily overcame the Anti-Treaty IRA, the fighting become a series of skirmishes; IRA leadership, knowing it could not win, ordered its forces to stand down on 30th April 1923. 
 
The Civil War had lasted for ten months, and claimed the lives of some of the most prominent leaders of the independence movement.


HA:2012.25: The Anti-Treaty IRA leaders’ ceasefire statement included orders to dump weapons rather than surrender them. This Luger semi-automatic pistol - a highly-prized firearm amongst the IRA - was dismantled, wrapped in oiled cloth and carefully hidden in an ‘Allenburys’ rusks tin box, dating from the 1920s. It was recently discovered and brought to the National Museum.