 Griffith and Collins died in August 1922 during the early stages of the Civil War, leaving Cosgrave to lead the pro-Treaty Provisional Government in the run-up to the formal establishment of the Irish Free State.Cosgrave had also fought in the Easter Rising and had been prominent in the Government of the Irish Republic; the burden of responsibility for building the new state on solid foundations was now on Cosgrave and his colleagues.Difficult years of state-building amidst political violence characterised its time in government.