Irish Republican Army (IRA) is an organization that has sought to unite Northern Ireland, a political division of the United Kingdom, with the independent country of Ireland. For much of its history, the IRA used military and terrorist tactics to pursue its goals. But in 2005, it announced a formal end to its armed campaign and stated that it would use “exclusively peaceful means” to seek political change. The IRA’s political wing is called Sinn Féin.
Beginnings.
The IRA was formed in 1919 as an unofficial military force that aimed to gain independence for Ireland. At that time, present-day Ireland and Northern Ireland made up a single country ruled as part of the United Kingdom. Most of the people in what is now Northern Ireland were Protestants, and most of the people in what is now Ireland were Roman Catholics. The British government had proposed that Ireland take control of its own domestic affairs while still remaining part of the United Kingdom. However, most of the Protestants in the northeastern province of Ulster opposed the proposal because they did not want to be a minority in a Roman Catholic nation.
In 1919, the IRA began a guerrilla war for independence from British rule. The group targeted the police and military in Ireland with ambushes and sudden raids. In 1920, the British government passed the Government of Ireland Act, which divided Ireland into two states, each with limited powers of self-government. The act separated six Ulster counties from the rest of Ireland, and those counties became Northern Ireland.
The southern Catholic majority rejected the Government of Ireland Act and demanded a single, united Irish republic. The guerrilla war continued until July 1921, when British and Irish leaders declared a truce and agreed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The treaty, signed on Dec. 6, 1921, and approved by the Irish Parliament on Jan. 7, 1922, made southern Ireland a dominion—that is, a self-governing country owing allegiance to the British monarch. The dominion was called the Irish Free State.
Division in the IRA.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty split the IRA. One group, led by Michael Collins, accepted the treaty and became part of the army of the Irish Free State. The other group, led by Eamon de Valera, became known as the Irregulars. This group rejected the treaty because it did not provide complete independence and union with Northern Ireland. Early in 1922, civil war broke out. The Irregulars were defeated in 1923, but they continued as an underground organization.
In 1937, the Irish Free State adopted a new constitution and changed its name to Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. In 1949, Éire renounced its dominion status and declared itself an independent republic. Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom. From 1956 to 1962, the IRA periodically raided British installations in Northern Ireland in an effort to pressure the British and Irish governments and to bring about the reunion of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This campaign, called Operation Harvest, was considered a failure because it did not stimulate Irish nationalism in Northern Ireland.
In the late 1960’s, Catholics in Northern Ireland began to protest against discrimination by the Protestant government. Fighting broke out between Catholics and Protestants, and the IRA sided with the Catholics. The United Kingdom sent troops to restore order, and the IRA and British soldiers were soon fighting each other.
Violence and peace.
During 1969 and 1970, a deep split developed within the IRA over strategy and tactics. One group, known as the Official IRA, gradually moved to nonviolent socialism. The dominant group, called the Provisional IRA, adopted terrorist methods, including ambushes, assassinations, and bombings in Ireland and in the United Kingdom. Violence continued for decades, but the status of Northern Ireland did not change.
In 1994, the IRA declared a cease-fire. The truce broke down in 1996, but the group called a new cease-fire in 1997. That year, Northern Ireland’s political parties, including Sinn Féin, engaged in peace talks. In 1998, the parties agreed to share power and to use peaceful means to resolve political differences. A small group that called itself the Real IRA split from the main organization in 1997 because it feared that compromise would weaken the movement toward Irish unity. The Real IRA continued violent attacks, but these acts only served to isolate the group.
In 2005, the main body of the IRA announced that it would stop using violence and put its weapons “beyond use.” For more information on the peace agreement, see Northern Ireland (The Good Friday Agreement) .
See also Ireland, History of ; Northern Ireland (History) ; Sinn Féin .
