This paper traces the Irish Republican Army's development from its origins in the early 1900s as a nonviolent independence movement to its transformation into an armed organization employing violence to advance political goals. The essay examines the IRA's organizational structure, consisting of independent armies with distinct leadership, and documents major violent incidents including the 1972 Bloody Friday bombing and the 1979 assassination of Lord Mountbatten. The paper analyzes the group's 1994 ceasefire, its breakdown in 1996, and subsequent attacks, while considering both the IRA's stated rationale for violence and the civilian casualties resulting from its operations.
The Irish Republican Army, or IRA, has existed in some form since at least 1913. The IRA is known to have used violence to advance its political views and achieve recognition of its goals. The organization consists of several independent armies, each with its own leadership and military structure.
Though the IRA group emerged in the early 1900s, it was originally conceived as a nonviolent organization seeking independence from British rule. According to historical records, "The goal of the United Irishmen of the 1790s was to achieve equality and freedom for the people of Ireland. Initially choosing nonviolent means to achieve their goals, they took up arms after being met time and time again with repressive measures from the British government. Armed uprisings against British rule occurred in 1798, 1803, 1848, and 1867; yet the British government continuously denied demands for legislative independence" (Dhochartaigh, Mc Gorrian, & Oh Anluian, 1998). In 1867, following the Irish Famine, the Fenians emerged and staged a rebellion lasting only a few months. Forty-nine years passed before significant activity resumed against British rule.
Although the Irish people abandoned armed resistance for a time, they continued to assert their desire for independence through democratic means. However, British Parliament defeated independence bills in both 1886 and 1893. During this period, unionists and conservatives illegally imported arms and formed the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1913. The formation of the UVF directly preceded the emergence of the terrorist organization now known as the Irish Republican Army.
The IRA has maintained a relatively small but highly organized membership. "The IRA has always had a relatively small membership, estimated at several hundred members, organized in small, clandestine cells. Its daily operations are organized by a 7-person Army Council" (Zalman, 2010). No official records of IRA membership exist, but estimates suggest membership peaked during the 1970s at between fifteen hundred and two thousand active members. After the 1994 ceasefire announcement, membership declined sharply to only three to five hundred members (Spindlove & Simonson, 2010).
Under pressure from Protestant paramilitary groups, the IRA adopted a formal military structure employing geographically based brigades, battalions, and companies. The organization created active "cells" consisting of three to four members, each assigned code names and directed by controllers. These cells proved most effective outside Northern Ireland, where they functioned successfully as paramilitary units against British forces (Spindlove & Simonson, 2010).
The IRA encompasses three main factions: the Provisional IRA (PIRA), the Continuity IRA (CIRA), and the Real IRA (RIRA). The CIRA represents a breakaway from mainstream Republican ideology within the Provisional wing, though its existence remained largely obscure for many years. The RIRA is smaller than the PIRA but operates using similar methods and resources, following organizational patterns established by the mainstream organization (Spindlove & Simonson, 2010).
Despite its nonviolent origins, the IRA ultimately resorted to bloodshed. In 1972, an attack on Belfast resulted in twenty-two bombs detonating within thirty minutes, killing nine people and injuring one hundred and thirty. "The IRA gave warnings to the security forces via the local media before the bombs exploded—with 30 minutes' warning given for the first bomb and about 70 minutes' warning given for the last bomb. The IRA chief of staff, Seán Mac StĂofáin, claimed that the warnings for the two bombs that claimed lives were deliberately disregarded by the British for strategic policy reasons. Along with some accurate warnings given by the IRA, two more hoax warnings were called in, which impeded the evacuation of the area. As a result, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army only effectively cleared a small number of areas before the bombs went off. In addition, because of the large number of bombs in the confined area of Belfast city centre, people evacuated from the site of one bomb were accidentally moved into the vicinity of other bombs. Thirty years after the attack the IRA formally apologized for harming civilians" (Bloody Friday).
On July 16, 2002, the Provisional IRA issued an official statement of apology to An Phoblacht, which stated: "Sunday 21 July marks the 30th anniversary of an IRA operation in Belfast in 1972 which resulted in nine people being killed and many more injured. While it was not our intention to injure or kill non-combatants, the reality is that on this and on a number of other occasions, that was the consequence of our actions. It is therefore appropriate on the anniversary of this tragic event, that we address all of the deaths and injuries of non-combatants caused by us. We offer our sincere apologies and condolences to their families."
In 1979, another high-profile attack shocked the nation. "A PIRA bomb kills Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the English Queen's first cousin, members of his family and a local child off the Irish coast. On the same day the PIRA kill 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water, near Newry, County Down; in an attack described by the British government as 'a classic guerrilla attack,' they first plant one bomb, which kills 6, and then begin firing with sniper rifles at soldiers sheltered near a nearby gate where a second bomb explodes, killing 12 others. During an Irish visit Pope John Paul II calls for the PIRA campaign of violence to come to an end" (WordIQ.com).
"1994 peace agreement and its breakdown in 1996"
"IRA rationale and assessment of civilian impact"
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