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Irish Republican Army
Irish military organization
Category:
History & Society
- Also called:
- Provisional Irish Republican Army
- Role In:
- the Troubles
- Date:
- January 1919 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- guerrilla warfare
- terrorism
Irish Republican Army (IRA), republican paramilitary organization seeking the establishment of a republic, the end of British rule in Northern Ireland, and the reunification of Ireland. The IRA was created in 1919 as a successor to the Irish Volunteers, a militant nationalist organization founded in 1913. The IRA’s purpose was to use armed force to render British rule in Ireland ineffective and thus to assist in achieving the broader objective of an independent republic, which was pursued at the political level by Sinn Féin, the Irish nationalist party. From its inception, however, the IRA operated independently of political control and ...(100 of 1243 words)