1917 Gjorkan coup d'etat
1917 Gjorkan Coup d'etat | |||||||
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Revolutionary Soldiers patrolling the street following the Coup d'etat | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Revolutionary Army |
Revolutionary Assembly Communist Militias | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Éamon de Valera |
Joseph Vanderburg Colm Kilpatrick | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
3rd Revolutionary Infantry Division 1st Revolutionary Cavalry Battalion |
Revolutionary Guard 1st Militia Battalion 2nd Militia Battalion | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
8,000 Soldiers | 1,000 Soldiers | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
12 Dead 14 Injured |
437 Dead 202 Injured 361 Arrested |
The 1917 Gjorkan Coup d'etat occurred in Gjorka on February 1, 1917. The coup was orchestrated by Éamon de Valera in response to complaints from the Socialist Bloc of the Revolutionary Assembly over Valera's brutal crackdown on anti-war protestors. Using soldiers pulled from the frontline to quell the protests in the early morning of February 1 he secure control of Louth, and secure control over the Assembly building following a brief skirmish. Valera announced the suspension of the Assembly, and the Arrest of all members of the Socialist Bloc for treason. However, in the chaos over securing the assembly caused a number of socialist leaders to escape and organize communist militias and organize a counter-coup against Valera. Intense fighting began in the early afternoon, and by nightfall most of the communist militias had either been defeated or had fled with the remainder of the socialist bloc. In response to this coup, the remaining socialist leaders formed a rival government in Nomakoa entering them into the Second Gjorkan Civil War.