Who were the Republicans in the Irish Civil War?

Answer 1

well for starters. Both sides were Irish republicans. However their view over the treaty differed and led to a split in the Irish Republican Army. One side accepted the terms of the Treaty and a formation of an Irish free state. the other felt that England was still ruling them through the free state through all the restrictions placed on the free state government and its people. The anti treaty IRA felt that giving an oath of loyalty to a king who they had fought so hard to get out of Ireland was unthinkable as well as giving up the North of Ireland. So although Irish handled day to day life in Ireland England had the final say on anything and could demand Irish help in any war. this did not sit well with 8 out of ten volunteers in the IRA who were forced to turn their own guns on fellow Irishmen when the Free state Army the IRA who had supported the treaty opened fire with artillery on the Four courts where Anti Treaty IRA were holed up. The violence was terrible..and no Irishmen likes to talk about the Irish Civil war. This is a very complicated subject i would recomend you read the book The IRA by Tim pat coogan. and other books such as rebel hearts and other sources (avoid Britsh sources since they are always biased towards any IRA some Irish are not much better however you can pick through most of the bias in no time espically ones that start off with the phrases that try to define them as either heros or vile terrorists.) please read more to get a better understanding

Answer 2

basically the republicans in the Irish civil war were the anti-treaty IRA. they opposed the 1921 Anglo-Irish treaty and wanted a 32 county republic