Ireland: The Irish Republican Army (IRA)

After the first world war the leaders of europe came together to discuss the boundaries of europe. British rule decided to separate ireland into two sides. North Ireland was created when the british government of Ireland Act in 1920 divided Ireland into two areas; the Irish Free State and the Northern Ireland Roman Catholics, who made up around one-third of the population of Northern Ireland, were largely opposed to the separation. The British took over , but only after many revolts and riots against them from the people of ireland. In 1969 the IRA (Irish Republican Army) was formed. They were a Catholic Irish nationalist group that used guerrilla tactics like bombings and assassinations to oppose British rule and oppression in Ireland. Their main goal was to fight the british that took over their home. The IRA would Fight using guerilla and terrorist tactics including bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, punishment beatings, extortion, smuggling, and robberies. But over time the IRA became more of a dangerous militia then patriots defending their home.

The Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) is a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that uses sabotage, subversion, and guerilla warfare to express its opposition to the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. This agreement basically recognized that the majority of the people within Northern Ireland wished to remain a part of the United Kingdom. It also recognized that a large section of the people of Northern Ireland, and the majority of the people of the continent of Ireland wanted a united Ireland. For the most part, the Good Friday Agreement brought an end to the struggle between unionists and nationalists during the “Troubles” (an unconventional war spanning from 1968-1998 in Northern Ireland between British security forces, republican and loyalist paramilitaries, and civil rights groups). To understand how the RIRA came to be, you have to know a little about the history of the IRA. Specifically, on how the members regarded violence as a means to a unified Ireland without British involvement. “In December 1969, the IRA divided into “Official” and “Provisional” wings. Both factions were committed to a united Irish republic, but the Officials eschewed violence after 1972, whereas the Provisionals, or “Provos,” carried out various attacks and assassinations, attempting to compel the British Army to withdraw from Northern Ireland. In the wake of the Bloody Sunday shootings by the British military in January 1972, the Provos’ ranks

The Easter Uprising of 1916 was an event that happened at the tail end of a long list of events that would forever change Ireland. The Uprising or Rising, as some call it, took place mostly in Dublin but was felt throughout Ireland. The point was to gain independence from Great Britain who had ruled Ireland for the past couple hundred years. At the turn of the 19th century England believed that Ireland had too much independence and made the Act of Union. “The result was the Act of Union of 1801: the Irish parliament voted itself out of existence and England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were formally politically unified for the first time” (Hegarty 2). Around the time of the First World War, Ireland began

The majority of my research was finding scholarly articles and books that pertained to my research questions and disciplines. Throughout all of the information and sources that I gathered, I selected five articles and one book. The book “Beyond Violence: Conflict Resolution Process” by Mari Fizduff was by far the most inspiring source in my collection of evidence. (Citation) It gave keen insight into the sources of the conflict but most importantly, it presented strategies and solutions to end the violence. With my foundation evidence set in my book, my other evidence allowed me to find more specific patterns of the sources of conflict from a sociological and theological stance. “For God, Ulster or Ireland: Religious Identity and Security in Northern Ireland” by John Bell provided examples of the religious affiliations and how each conserved its own identity. The article focused on the Catholic and Protestant communities and how each contributed to the conflicts. (Citation) My additional evidence provided great background information about certain aspects and patterns that significantly benefited my main research focus.

Martin had a extreme hatred against these punishment gangs and this developed into a sense of hatred towards the IRA organization as a whole. Martin believed that the IRA should protect the Catholics of Belfast from the hardline loyalists, the UVF, and the UFF. Martin was against innocent people dying, it did not matter whether the person was loyal to the British or wanted a united Ireland. “And yet I could not understand why it was necessary for the IRA, who protested that they were the guardians of the Catholic community, to use such strong-arm tactics against their own people through their disciplinary committees, their anonymous punishment gangs and their penchant for kneecapping young, so-called ‘hoods’.” (McGartland 80-81).

The Irish Republican Army was the first to fight the British in the 19th century (Irish War of Independence). However, for many centuries the Irish when though many hardship such as has foreign domination. By the 20th century the British and Ireland struggle with divisions. There were people who wanted to remain in Britain while others wanted their independence (Ireland and Republican). Soon after there was a solution. In the 1850s, the Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was formed. However, in 1921 the IRA was founded. They had gain so many training and weapon that they were label as a terrorist organization. They would carry out bombing as well as assassinations to oppose the rule of Britain. Sinn Féin along with the British government later signed

The alleged origin of the Irish Republican Army could be traced back to the Easter Rising of 1916 (Alonso, 2001; Arena & Arrigo, 2004; Filardo-Llamas, 2013; Hart, 1997; Page & Smith, 2000). Radical nationalists, who were part of a group called the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), took the opportunity to take up arms against the British during the war in Europe (Filardo-Llamas, 2013). The Irish Republican Brotherhood was the precursor of the modern IRA. They were a secret society who was

In 1969, the more traditionalist republican members split off into the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin. The Provisional IRA operated mostly in Northern Ireland, using violence against the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army, and British institutions and economic targets. They also killed members of the Irish Army and the Garda Síochána, which was against one of their standing orders.

The Protestants wanted to remain a part of Britain but the Catholics wanted to become independent and separate form Ireland. This abhorrence between Catholics and Protestants resulted in

Despite the inherent divide between the Protestant British and Catholic Irish, Ireland was relatively peaceful for the next century, other than a rebellion led by Theobald Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen in 1798. 30,000 people were killed in this rebellion, which laid the groundwork for the separatist republicanism to come and caused the Act of Union of 1800 to be passed, closing the Irish Parliament in Dublin and giving Protestant London full control over Catholic Ireland.

Ireland began to have civil rights activists that they had been protesting against discrimination against Catholics and the Irish nationalists by the government of Northern Ireland. As for the civil rights movement called for people to vote to see whether the end of discrimination would come to an end. There also where an overwhelmingly protestant police force who were always known for being hard on the Catholics. However Irish people continued to emigrate during the 1950’s and 1960’s. As the 1970’s came around Irish economy grew by 4%. (“Global World Warrior”).

The Troubles was a time period of revolt and discrimination in Northern Ireland that lasted from the late 1960s until 1998, beginning with direct British involvement in Northern Ireland and formally ending with the Good Friday Agreement. However, it can be argued that the tension that persisted during The Troubles still exists today. The Troubles stemmed from the dissolution of a long period of peaceful tension between two political groups, the Nationalists and Unionists and by extension two major ethnic groups Irish-Catholic and British-Protestant. The Nationalists were predominantly Catholic and shared their religion with the Irish as such the Nationalists wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of Ireland and felt that Northern Ireland was an affront to their Irish heritage. However, they were a minority in Northern Ireland being about 33% of the population. Alternatively, the Unionists which were predominantly Protestant and were mostly immigrants or children of immigrants from England wanted Northern Ireland to properly establish itself as part of the United Kingdom and saw the Nationalists and Catholics as backwards people against the flow of progress. The Protestant portion of the population was a majority in Northern Ireland and through the Unionist party they established complete control, although not completely through their own efforts which were to simply overwhelm the Catholic minority. The Unionists also came to power because Nationalists became apathetic

During WWII, the “Irregulars” sought after assistance from Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. Once the Nazi’s were unable to help any further and the withdrawal of Ireland from the British Commonwealth in 1949, the IRA started to use religion as a catalyst to re-invigorate their cause, pitting Roman Catholic against Protestants. After years of fighting, the IRA had an evolution or adaptation. They split into two factions, the “Officials”, part of the political party Sinn Fein and the “Provisionals” or “Provos”. The Officials used politics to fight the Brits. While the Provos believed that violence was the only means to get the job done. They used bombings, assassinations, and ambushes in their campaign for freedom. The Provos later evolved into cells to deter infiltration from the British. For years they brought the fight to the British in Northern Ireland and England. The Provos then evolved again into organized crime. They were involved in extortion, racketeering, and arms dealing. Evolution or adaptation was a major part of why the IRA was able to keep the fight going for as long as they did against a much wealthier, well equipped adversary. They were able to make natural adaptations by both IRA parties and the Provos made direct adaptations to their tactics and operational structure through the

This event sparked up many more protests around Ireland and was immediately given worldwide attention. The IRA later on, also exploded 20 bombs killing even more civilians and British troops. Thankfully in September 2005, the IRA disarmed and this

Out of the 200,000 Irish Volunteers that joined the British army, 60,000 died. Not all of the Irish Volunteers joined the British army. The 11,000 that refused became known as the Sinn Fèin volunteers. The 1916 rebellion came from this group. Eoin Mc Neill was the leader but he didn’t want to start a rebellion.