IRA

Irish Republican Army. Founded in 1919, term first used in 1860.

Irish-Republican, paramilitary, to some extent terrorist organisation, that emerged when parts of the Irish Volunteers (led by Michael Collins) merged with the Irish Citizen Army.

The prohibition of the autonomous Irish parliament with Eamon de Valera as president on 22 August 1919 was one of the reasons, that led to the Irish War of Independence. The IRA fought to end British rule, until a truce was set 11 July 1921. On 6 December a delegation including Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty that established the south of the country as Irish Free State while Northern Island stayed part of Great Britain.

What followed was a Civil War between supporters and opponents of the Treaty. The vast majority of the IRA was against the Treaty and answered with various acts of violence against British politicians. Arthur Griffith, founder of the Sinn Féin party, that had been in close relations with the IRA, was murdered on 12 August, and Michael Collins on 22 August. The IRA had been operating from the underground since the end of the Civil War.

The IRA then split into a traditionalist and anticapitalist wing. It was the traditionalist wing that commited various attacks in Ireland. To force Great Britain to leave Northern Ireland, attacks in Northern Ireland followed. In 1936 the IRA was declared illegal.

During the Second World War, the IRA tried to cooperate with Germany to weaken Great Britain. Many members were executed or imprisoned.

It was not until 1967 that the IRA gained new importance, when the conflict in Northern Ireland got worse. In 1969 the IRA fractured into the Official Irish Republican Army and the Provisional Irish Republican Army. While the Provisional IRA wanted to fight for a united Ireland through violent means, the Official IRA pursued a peaceful strategy.

A date of importance is 30 January 1972, which became known as Bloody Sunday. The British army shot 14 unarmed protesters in Derry. On 24 March British Prime Minister Edward Heath suspended the Parliament in Northern Ireland and declared it to be under direct rule from London again. A truce made with both the Official and Provisional IRA was broken on 21 July again, when the Provisional IRA killed eleven people in a bomb attack.

Decades of violent attacks followed, until complete disarming of the IRA was declared on 28 July 2005. However, splinter groups still operate from the underground and last attacks were known in Belfast and Craigavon in March 2009.

Sources:

"Irish Republican Army". The New York Times. 10 March 2009 <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/irish_republican_army/index.html>

Von Kalben, Beatrix.Chronik der IRA. 22 January 2010 <http://www.planet-wissen.de/politik_geschichte/verbrechen/ira/ira_chronik.jsp>

"IRA". irish-net. 2007-2011 <http://irish-net.de/Entdecke-Irland/Nordirland/IRA-Irish-Republican-Army/>