Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty (Irish: An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. It provided for the establishment within a year of an Irish Free State as a self-governing dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations (the first use by the UK Government of this term, rather than "British Empire", in an official document). It also provided Northern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, an option to opt out of the Irish Free State, which it exercised.

The agreement was signed in London on 6 December 1921 by representatives of the British government (which included Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who was head of the British delegates) and envoys of the Irish Republic, including Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith, who claimed plenipotentiary status (i.e. negotiators empowered to sign a treaty without reference back to their superiors). As required by its terms, the agreement was ratified by the members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and the British Parliament, and so became a treaty. Dáil Éireann for the de facto Irish Republic also ratified the Treaty. Though the treaty was narrowly ratified, the split led to the Irish Civil War, which was ultimately won by the pro-treaty side.

The Irish Free State created by the Treaty came into force on 6 December 1922 by royal proclamation after its constitution had been enacted by the Constituent Assembly (the Third Dáil) and the British parliament.