IRA (Irish Republican Army) Conflictbetween Catholics and Protestants Irish War of Independence Sinn Féin (Original IRA) Modern IRA IRA and Culture IRA and FARC “The Colombia Three”
Conflict between Catholics and Protestants
Religious difference as a political tool. Catholic Church as the enemy of popular freedom. movements throughout the world. Catholicism brutally suppressed in Ireland. Institutionalised religious intolerance. Protestantism as a representation of the English presence in Northern Ireland. Catholicism as a representation of poverty, rebels, and the socialists intent on a free Ireland.
Irish War of Independence Date: January 1919 – July 1921
Irish War of Independence IRISH REPUBLIC STRENGHT: Irish Republican Army Paper strength over 100,000 (Only 15,000 served in the war, of whom roughly 3,000 at any one time). CASUALTIES: 550 – I.R.A.
Irish War of Independence UNITED KINGDOM STRENGHT: British Army 20,000Royal Irish Constabulary 9,700Black and Tans7,000Auxiliary Division 1,400 Ulster Special Constabulary 4,000 also some loyalist paramilitaries. CASUALTIES: 410 RIC, 261 British Army 43 USC
21 January 1919 Creation of the DailEireeanwhichdeclared the Independence of Ireland. Thesameday, severalIRA members acting independently at Soloheadbeg and attacked and shot two Royal Irish Constabulary officers who were escorting explosives. The IRA's main target throughout the conflict was the mainly Catholic Irish police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), which were the British government's eyes and ears in Ireland.
Violent attacks by the IRA to RIC had two effects: Firstly the RIC leave the control of the countryside in the hands of IRA. The Irish Republican Police (IRP) was founded. The Inland Revenue ceased to operate in most of Ireland. Thus, by mid 1920, the Irish Republic was a reality in the lives of many people, enforcing its own law, maintaining its own armed forces and collecting its own taxes. Strengthening of IRA and creation of support organisations as “CumannnamBan” (the IRA women's group) and “FiannaÉireean” (youth movement), who carried weapons and intelligence for IRA men and secured food and lodgings for them. The British responded to the escalatingviolence in Ireland withincreasing use of force. The “Black and Tans” TheAuxiliaries
Thisdaybeganwith the killing of 14 British agents of the Cairo Gang, by the Irish Republican Army.
Later that afternoon, British forcesopenedfireon the crowd at a football match in Dublin, killing 14 civilians.
That sameeveningwereriots in the streets and three Irish prisionerswerekilledbytheir British captorsundersuspiciouscircumstances.
The War of Independence in Ireland endedwith a truceon 11 July 1921.
It appeared as if the IRA's guerrilla campaign would continue indefinitely. More importantly, the British government was facing severe criticism at home and abroad for the actions of British forces in Ireland.
"all Irishmen to pause, to stretch out the hand of forbearance and conciliation, to forgive and to forget, and to join in making for the land they love a new era of peace, contentment, and good will”
The Anglo-Irish Treaty
British forces would withdraw from most of Ireland.
Ireland was to become a self -governing dominion of the British Empire.
British monarch would be the head of state of the Irish Free State (SaorstátÉireann).
Northern Ireland (which had been created earlier by the Government of Ireland Act) would have the option of withdrawing from the Irish Free State within one month of the Treaty coming into effect.
- Boundary Commission.
Britain, for its own security, would continue to control a limited number of ports, known as the Treaty Ports, for the Royal Navy.
The Irish Free State would assume responsibility for its part of the Imperial debt.
The Irish Civil War
In April 1922, IRA officers repudiated the treaty and the authority of the Provisional Government which had been set up to administer it. There were a number of armed confrontations between pro and anti-treaty troops before matters came to a head in late June 1922.
The Irish Civil War cost the lives of many of the leaders of the independence movement, notably the head of the Provisional Government Michael Collins and anti-treaty Republicans Harry Boland, Rory O'Connor, Liam Mellows, Liam Lynch.
Total casualties have never been determined but were perhaps higher than those in the earlier fighting against the British. The civil war ended in mid-1923 in defeat for the anti-treaty side.
Sinn Féin (Original IRA)
Sinn Féin “Ourselves”
Also known as the original IRA or the “old IRA”.
Military organization descended from the Irish Volunteers.
In 1919, involved the re-organization of the Irish Volunteers as a guerrilla army
From January to July 1920, involved attacks on the fortified police barracks located in the towns.
From August 1920 to July 1921, IRA moved away from attacking well defended barracks and instead using ambush tactics.
Campaign against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence from 1919–1921.
The original IRA is formed in 1922 after the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty.
Anglo-Irish treaty divided the IRA.
Subdivisions The original IRA (in later years, known as the "Old" IRA), recognised by the First Dáilas the legitimate army of the Irish Republic in April 1921, split into pro-Treaty forces and anti-Treaty forces after the Treaty. The Irish Republican Army (1922-1969) - the anti-treaty IRA which fought and lost the civil war and which thereafter refused to recognise either the Irish Free State or Northern Ireland. It existed for over 40 years before splitting in 1969. The Official IRA (OIRA), the remainder of the IRA after the 1969 split with the Provisionals; led by CathalGoulding and primarily Marxist in its political orientation. It is now inactive in the military sense, while its political wing, Official Sinn Fein, became the Workers Party of Ireland. The Provisional IRA (PIRA), which broke from the OIRA in 1969 over the latter's failing to protect Catholic communities in Northern Ireland. Though strongly opposed to the OIRA's Marxism, it also has a left-wing orientation and increasing political activity. Since the decline of the OIRA, the term 'IRA' is now used exclusively to denote this particular group. The Continuity IRA (CIRA), broke from the PIRA in 1986 because the latter ended its policy on abstentionism. The 'Real' IRA (RIRA), a 1997 breakaway from the PIRA consisting of members opposed to the peace process.
IRA and Culture
The SAM’s Song
The Wind that Shakes the Barley The British director Ken Loach produces “The Wind That Shakes the Barley”, a movie that shows some episodes of the Anglo-Irish war and the civil war in Ireland. Ireland 1920: workers from field and country unite to form volunteer guerrilla armies to face the ruthless "Black and Tan" squads that are being shipped from Britain to block Ireland's bid for independence. Driven by a deep sense of duty and a love for his country, Damien abandons his burgeoning career as a doctor and joins his brother, Teddy, in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom.
In the Name of the Father DirectedbyJim Sheridan. Story of Gerry Conlon, purported ringleader of the Guildford Four, a group of three Irishmen and one English woman wrongly imprisoned for the 1974 IRA bombing of a pub in Guildford, England, that left five people dead. Conlon's father Guiseppe was subsequently imprisoned along with six other Conlon relatives who became known as the Maguire Seven.
Michael Collins Neil Jordan's depiction of the controversial life and death of Michael Collins, the 'Lion of Ireland', who led the IRA against British rule and founded the Irish Free State (Eire) in 1921. Written by Dawn M. Barclift. After the disastrous defeat of Irish rebels by superior British forces during the Easter Week rebellion of 1916, Michael Collins develops new strategies for the independence of Ireland. His tactics include what is now recognized as urban guerrilla tactics and organized assassinations of G-Men, those Irish who work as informers for the British, and later members of British intelligence .
U2 (Sunday Bloody Sunday) …Broken bottles under children’s feetBodies strewn across the dead end streetBut I wont heed the battle callIt puts my back upPuts my back up against the wallSunday, bloody sundaySunday, bloody sundaySunday, bloody sunday (sunday bloody sunday...)(allright lets go!).
IRA and FARC
The Colombia Three The Colombia Three are three individuals – Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley – who are currently living in the Republic of Ireland, having fled from Colombia, where they were sentenced to prison terms of seventeen years for training FARC rebels.