Black and Tans were members of a temporary police force that served in Ireland from 1920 to 1922. The Black and Tans were mostly British and Irish volunteers recruited to suppress the Irish Republican Army (IRA) . At that time, the IRA was fighting for Ireland’s independence from the United Kingdom . Many of the Black and Tans were former soldiers who had fought for the British Army in World War I (1914-1918). The name Black and Tans (Dúchrónaigh in Irish) is a reference to the mixed uniforms worn by the force. They often included army-issue khaki trousers and police-issue navy or dark green—“black”—coats and caps.
After many years of British conquest and occupation, Ireland officially became part of the United Kingdom in 1801. Many Irish people suffered economically and politically under British rule. Throughout the 1800’s, a number of independence movements began and ended in Ireland without success. The 1916 Easter Rising , a brief but bloody rebellion, led to a guerrilla war for independence in 1918. The IRA staged a number of attacks on police and British soldiers stationed in Ireland. In 1920, the British government created the Black and Tans to help the Royal Irish Constabulary (the RIC, Ireland’s British-backed armed police force) suppress the IRA. Another force—the Auxiliaries (Auxiliary Division)—is often grouped together with the Black and Tans. The Auxiliaries, made up of former British Army officers, also served as a paramilitary wing of the RIC.
The Black and Tans, poorly trained for police work and with little supervision, quickly gained a reputation for brutality. IRA attacks—brutal in their own right—often met with random and exceedingly harsh reprisals. In September 1920, the IRA murdered an RIC constable in the coastal town of Balbriggan. In response, Black and Tans burned and looted much of the town and killed two IRA suspects. In November, the IRA assassinated 14 suspected British agents in Dublin , the Irish capital. In response, RIC units fired into a crowd at a Gaelic football match, also killing 14 people—a day remembered as “Bloody Sunday.” Later that month, an IRA ambush killed 17 Auxiliaries in southern County Cork —a hotbed of Irish nationalism. In retaliation, combined RIC units looted and burned much of the Cork city center in December. Events such as these occurred with regularity in the Irish countryside well into 1921. Resentment of the Black and Tans turned to hatred, and IRA support grew throughout the country.
Black and Tan-related violence shocked many British leaders, including King George V , who appealed for peace. A truce ended much of the violence in July 1921. The Black and Tans—along with the RIC and the Auxiliaries—were officially disbanded in August 1922.
