I was hoping some of you guys wouldn't mind reading over this research paper I had to write about the IRA - make sure I didn't leave out anything important or misprepresent anything. Thanks!
The Irish Republican Army today is a terrorist organization dedicated to the reunification of Northern Ireland with the other 26 counties of Ireland and the establishment of the true 32 county Irish Republic. The IRA, as the Irish Republican Army is commonly referred to, has been engaging in this struggle for nearly a century. The term IRA also encompasses a number of groups, all of whom claim to be the rightful inheritors of the title and tradition of the original Irish Republican Army. There are several feuding groups claiming to be the true IRA operation in both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The official title of the IRA is Oglaigh na hEireann. In English this would translate to the Irish Volunteers. The title of Oglaigh na hEireann is also claimed by the defense forces of the Republic of Ireland.
The Irish-British conflict began in 1169 when Norman invaders from England attacked Ireland. The Irish resisted the English invaders and were never completely subdued until the early 17th century. In 1609, land was seized from the Irish in the province of Ulster and was given by Queen Elizabeth I to planters from England and Scotland. The planters differed from the Irish in that they were Protestant and the native Irish population was Roman Catholic.
Most of the Irish citizens in Ulster chose to stay on their land and work it as tenants instead of vacating the land they no longer owned. In 1641, the Irish revolted against their English overlords. Oliver Cromwell brutally suppressed this uprising, killing the Irish by the tens of thousands. Repressive legislation was instituted against the Irish, including the banning of the Catholic religion. In subsequent years, Catholics were discriminated against by the Protestants through a system of Protestant social, political, and economic privilege. For the Irish, life under British rule meant institutionalised discrimination, electoral gerrymandering, and human rights abuses.
Although Cromwell may have killed Irish by the tens of thousands, he did not kill off their quest for freedom. Armed uprisings against British rule occurred in 1798, 1803, 1848, and 1867. The Irish began a peaceful push for a degree of independence in the 1880s. Charles Stuart Parnell introduced a bill in Parliament for Irish home rule. This would give Ireland its own Parliament to govern itself. It would still be part of the United Kingdom, however it would be able to govern itself in regards to internal matters. Home rule bills were defeated in 1886 and 1893. The Home Rule issue, although defeated, did not go away.
Ulster Protestants, fearful of being ruled by the Irish Catholic majority, vowed to resist home rule by force. They founded the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1913 and also began importing arms to fight against home rule. Pro home rule forces founded their own militia, Oglaigh na hEireann, in November 1913 to fight for home rule. The home rule bill was passed by the British Parliament in May 1914, however its implementation was delayed due to the outbreak of World War One in August 1914. Another independent armed group was formed in Ireland at this time. James Connolly formed the Irish Citizen Army in Dublin in November 1913. It was comprised of striking union workers who had been locked out of their places of employment and who were being replaced by strike breakers. The Army was formed to enable the strikers to protect themselves from attack by police and also to combat the demoralizing effect of their enforced unemployment.
Anger at the delay in granting Home Rule led to another uprising in 1916. A small, secretive group, the Irish Republican Brotherhood orchestrated the Easter Rising in 1916. Troops from Oglaigh na hEireann and the Irish Citizen Army were used. The rising was confined to Dublin, and the city’s General Post Office saw some of the heaviest fighting. The leaders of the rising declared Irish independence and issued a declaration of the formation an Irish Republic. The rising was launched on 24 April 1916 which was Easter Monday. The rising was crushed after one week. Sixteen of the leaders of the rising and the signers of the Proclamation of the Republic were executed by a British firing squad after their surrender. James Connolly, who had been wounded through the ankle during the fighting and was unable to stand, was shot seated in a chair. Martial law was also declared after the Rising. At the time of its occurrence, the Rising was not met with a wave of public support from the Irish people. However, the execution of its leaders, the declaration of martial law, and the internment of many of its participants radicalised the Irish people. The British government also threatened to conscript Irishmen into its army to fight in World War One. People no longer supported the moderate nationalist policies of the Irish Parliamentary Party, which was the party responsible for the introduction of Home Rule. They no longer wanted to be part of the United Kingdom, but wanted to be independent. They turned away from the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party and increasingly to the more radical Sinn Fein.
In the elections of 1918, Sinn Fein’s position was that if their representatives were elected, they would not take their seats in the British Parliament. Instead, they would form their own Irish Parliament and work towards Irish independence. Sinn Fein upheld its campaign promises, and in January 1919 had the first meeting of the Irish Parliament (Dail Eireann) in Dublin. Dail Eireann proclaimed an Irish Republic, established a provisional constitution, appealed for international recognition and support, and stated that the Irish Republic would be governed by “Liberty, Equality, and Justice”.
The Anglo-Irish war was initiated by a small number of young and determined Irish Volunteers, who after January 1919 were known as the Irish Republican Army. They knew they could not defeat the British toe to toe on a traditional battlefield. Instead they were organized into small, independent units that launched guerrilla attacks on the numerically superior British forces. After the attack, the insurgents melted back into the civilian population.
The main target of the insurgency was the Royal Irish Constabulary. Assassination campaigns were undertaken against this increasingly unpopular police force and against British intelligence officers in Ireland. These assassinations not only resulted in the acquisition of arms for the out-gunned rebels, they also forced the authorities into increasingly harsher reprisals which led to increased support from the populace for Irish independence. The British were hesitant to deploy troops to Ireland to end the fighting. It viewed the IRA’s actions as terrorism, not warfare, and a police response was required, not a military one.
The Irish-British conflict began in 1169 when Norman invaders from England attacked Ireland. The Irish resisted the English invaders and were never completely subdued until the early 17th century. In 1609, land was seized from the Irish in the province of Ulster and was given by Queen Elizabeth I to planters from England and Scotland. The planters differed from the Irish in that they were Protestant and the native Irish population was Roman Catholic.
Most of the Irish citizens in Ulster chose to stay on their land and work it as tenants instead of vacating the land they no longer owned. In 1641, the Irish revolted against their English overlords. Oliver Cromwell brutally suppressed this uprising, killing the Irish by the tens of thousands. Repressive legislation was instituted against the Irish, including the banning of the Catholic religion. In subsequent years, Catholics were discriminated against by the Protestants through a system of Protestant social, political, and economic privilege. For the Irish, life under British rule meant institutionalised discrimination, electoral gerrymandering, and human rights abuses.
Although Cromwell may have killed Irish by the tens of thousands, he did not kill off their quest for freedom. Armed uprisings against British rule occurred in 1798, 1803, 1848, and 1867. The Irish began a peaceful push for a degree of independence in the 1880s. Charles Stuart Parnell introduced a bill in Parliament for Irish home rule. This would give Ireland its own Parliament to govern itself. It would still be part of the United Kingdom, however it would be able to govern itself in regards to internal matters. Home rule bills were defeated in 1886 and 1893. The Home Rule issue, although defeated, did not go away.
Ulster Protestants, fearful of being ruled by the Irish Catholic majority, vowed to resist home rule by force. They founded the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1913 and also began importing arms to fight against home rule. Pro home rule forces founded their own militia, Oglaigh na hEireann, in November 1913 to fight for home rule. The home rule bill was passed by the British Parliament in May 1914, however its implementation was delayed due to the outbreak of World War One in August 1914. Another independent armed group was formed in Ireland at this time. James Connolly formed the Irish Citizen Army in Dublin in November 1913. It was comprised of striking union workers who had been locked out of their places of employment and who were being replaced by strike breakers. The Army was formed to enable the strikers to protect themselves from attack by police and also to combat the demoralizing effect of their enforced unemployment.
Anger at the delay in granting Home Rule led to another uprising in 1916. A small, secretive group, the Irish Republican Brotherhood orchestrated the Easter Rising in 1916. Troops from Oglaigh na hEireann and the Irish Citizen Army were used. The rising was confined to Dublin, and the city’s General Post Office saw some of the heaviest fighting. The leaders of the rising declared Irish independence and issued a declaration of the formation an Irish Republic. The rising was launched on 24 April 1916 which was Easter Monday. The rising was crushed after one week. Sixteen of the leaders of the rising and the signers of the Proclamation of the Republic were executed by a British firing squad after their surrender. James Connolly, who had been wounded through the ankle during the fighting and was unable to stand, was shot seated in a chair. Martial law was also declared after the Rising. At the time of its occurrence, the Rising was not met with a wave of public support from the Irish people. However, the execution of its leaders, the declaration of martial law, and the internment of many of its participants radicalised the Irish people. The British government also threatened to conscript Irishmen into its army to fight in World War One. People no longer supported the moderate nationalist policies of the Irish Parliamentary Party, which was the party responsible for the introduction of Home Rule. They no longer wanted to be part of the United Kingdom, but wanted to be independent. They turned away from the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party and increasingly to the more radical Sinn Fein.
In the elections of 1918, Sinn Fein’s position was that if their representatives were elected, they would not take their seats in the British Parliament. Instead, they would form their own Irish Parliament and work towards Irish independence. Sinn Fein upheld its campaign promises, and in January 1919 had the first meeting of the Irish Parliament (Dail Eireann) in Dublin. Dail Eireann proclaimed an Irish Republic, established a provisional constitution, appealed for international recognition and support, and stated that the Irish Republic would be governed by “Liberty, Equality, and Justice”.
The Anglo-Irish war was initiated by a small number of young and determined Irish Volunteers, who after January 1919 were known as the Irish Republican Army. They knew they could not defeat the British toe to toe on a traditional battlefield. Instead they were organized into small, independent units that launched guerrilla attacks on the numerically superior British forces. After the attack, the insurgents melted back into the civilian population.
The main target of the insurgency was the Royal Irish Constabulary. Assassination campaigns were undertaken against this increasingly unpopular police force and against British intelligence officers in Ireland. These assassinations not only resulted in the acquisition of arms for the out-gunned rebels, they also forced the authorities into increasingly harsher reprisals which led to increased support from the populace for Irish independence. The British were hesitant to deploy troops to Ireland to end the fighting. It viewed the IRA’s actions as terrorism, not warfare, and a police response was required, not a military one.
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