The state executions of 81 IRA men during the Irish civil war have long been a bitter, almost taboo subject in Irish society. This article provides a geographical perspective on these executions. While the origins of the policy can be traced to elite divisions, the geographical spread of the executions, especially in 1923, reflected the geography of the civil war, and the need to broadcast state power at the local level during its guerrilla phase. The article maps the geographical spread of the executions and analyzes their diffusion in terms of a number of general and Irish-specific theories of civil war violence. Because the civil war originated in elite differences over a treaty, and because the two sides of the conflict had been so personally close at the elite level, historians have tended to explain the executions in terms of elite psychology. Yet while the initial development of the policy reflected the centralization of power by the protreaty elite, in terms of timing, strategic rationale, and location territorial perspectives on civil war explain much more about their diffusion in 1923.

中文翻译：

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爱尔兰内战期间国家处决的地理分布，1922-23

爱尔兰内战期间对 81 名爱尔兰共和军男子的国家处决长期以来一直是爱尔兰社会中一个痛苦的、几乎是禁忌的话题。本文提供了有关这些处决的地理视角。虽然该政策的起源可以追溯到精英部门，但处决的地理分布，尤其是在 1923 年，反映了内战的地理环境，以及在游击阶段在地方一级传播国家权力的需要。这篇文章描绘了处决的地理分布，并根据一些关于内战暴力的一般性和爱尔兰特有的理论分析了它们的传播。因为内战起源于精英对条约的分歧，而且冲突的双方在精英层面上的个人关系如此密切，历史学家倾向于用精英心理学来解释处决。然而，虽然该政策的最初发展反映了条约精英的权力集中，但就内战的时机、战略理由和位置而言，领土视角更多地解释了它们在 1923 年的扩散。