Irish Republican Army (IRA)

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) refers to a number of paramilitary groups operating primarily within Ireland with the goal of a unified country under Irish rule. Although perhaps best known for terrorist activities in the late 20th century, the IRA is part of Ireland's long history of armed insurgence against the British.

The Irish Republican Army name was first used in the 1860s as one acronym for the Fenian Brotherhood's paramilitary forces in America. The Fenian Brotherhood was one of the many groups who have worked for Irish independence. Soldiers with an IRA insignia fought at the battle of Ridgeway in 1866. However, that group faded and had no relation to the later groups.

The next notable chapter of Irish armed insurgence was in 1916 when the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army occupied some of the government buildings in Dublin (including the General Post Office on O'Connell Street) as well as pockets of the Irish countryside. Although this rebellion lasted less than a week, many of the men and women involved in the uprising would later form the basis for the first modern version of the IRA. In addition, the men and women interned and executed in the wake of the rebellion have served as martyrs and heroes for many generations of IRA members.

Then, in 1919, when Home Rule (or Ireland's ability to govern itself) had been promised but delayed by World War I, the Sinn Fein party (which in Gaelic means “we ourselves”) under the leadership of Eamon de Valera, won 73 seats out of a possible 135. This landslide victory was in part due to Lloyd George's April 1918 move to make conscription to the British Army legal in Ireland. Although no Irish were actually drafted, the voters were ready to change the government.

However, these elected representatives, some of who were actually in jail for their political activities, did not go to Westminster to take up their seats in the British Parliament. Instead, the representatives met in Dublin and declared themselves the Dail, or the first Irish Parliament. On January 21, they ratified the Irish Republic as a separate country from England and declared themselves the sole power to make laws in Ireland.

Meanwhile, men drawn from the ranks of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers (the groups responsible for the Easter 1916 uprising) initiated a series of guerrilla attacks on British forces within Ireland. These also began on January 21, 1919, with the killing of two British constables guarding a gelignite mine. During the course of the next 2 years, these troops carried out stealth operations in a bloody and often vicious war between Irish volunteers and British troops. England brought in two groups known especially for their toughness, the Black and Tans (veterans from World War I identified by the black and tan uniforms they wore) and the Auxiliary Division of Constabulary known as the “Auxies.”

During this phase of the IRA's history, it is estimated they had no more than 15,000 men armed with only rifles, revolvers, and shotguns. They faced a British Force of 43,000 men and significantly better artillery. However, the IRA had the support of the countryside population into whom they could blend at will.

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