My great grandparents came to America in the late 1910’s and the early 1920’s in order to escape the then war torn country of Ireland. The Irish were fed up with the foreign British control, which had strived to eradicate their language, religion, and way of life. They had been discriminated against by the British for centuries, and in turn formed of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1919 in order to create an independent state of Ireland.The group started with the goal to free Ireland from British control, but they would eventually move far away from their original purpose.
To very briefly summarize the rest of the history of the IRA, they fought the British out of most of Ireland, and forced the British Government to sign the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921. This of course did not include Northern Ireland, which remained a part of the United Kingdom.
This is when the IRA became radicalized. They sparked a civil war in response to the treaty, as they wanted the entire island the be under one unified Irish republic. Although they eventually lost this war, they would still remain active and continue to fight and terrorize Northern Ireland and mainland England until the 1990’s.
According to an article from The Telegraph, the IRA intensified their fight in the 1960’s and lasted until the mid 1990’s. During this time, they killed over 3,700 people, 1,800 of them being civilians. The people of Northern Ireland view this period of time as one of the worst in their history, referring to it as “the troubles.” The IRA was responsible for bombings and attacks across Northern Ireland, one of the most infamous being Bloody Friday. This is where at least 20 bombs were detonated in Belfast in just 75 minutes, leaving 9 dead and 130 injured.
Multiple attacks occurred on mainland England, including a wave of bomb attacks in October and November of 1974 which killed 28 people. They even attempted to kill the Ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet in 1984. A bombing in 1982 in Hyde park killed 11 British soldiers and wounded around 50 more people.
During the height of their power, the IRA had an estimated 1500 soldiers, and were a deadly force in Northern Ireland. The group was responsible for hundreds of bombings across Ireland and England, and more than 3,700 casualties over a 30 year span.
Fortunately, the group eventually signed a ceasefire in 1994. In 2005 the leader of the IRA released a statement asking all members to retire from the fight. The IRA still exists today, but is much less active than they were before the ceasefire. Although they were unable to unify Ireland under one republic, they still made long lasting effects across the country.
While many people over the age of 40 will probably have a memory of the IRA and their actions during “the troubles,” it is not something most millennials know about. When most people our age hear the word “terrorism”, they will think of the radical Islamic terrorist groups of today such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda.They would probably not picture one of the deadliest groups of the 1900’s to be a group of Irish Catholics. It goes against the stigma that all terrorist groups originate in the Middle East, and fight for their radical Islamic beliefs, which is what we have grown up knowing.
This outlines one of the biggest problems in our society: how many people our age fail to recognize certain groups as terrorists. We need to remember the groups like the IRA that do not fit the “typical” outline of a terrorist group in our society, but definitely qualify as one. The Global Terrorism Database defines a terrorist attack as “The threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation.” This is something we cannot forget. Terrorism has to do with a person or group’s beliefs, and their intent to harm other people. The IRA is one of the deadliest terrorist groups in history, and should be remembered as such.
References
http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/07/bombing-in-northern-ireland-stokes-fears-of-a-new-ira-resurgence/
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/ira/ira280705.htm
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-28957532
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/violence/paramilitary2.htm
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-security-bombings-idUKTRE74F31Q20110516
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/2132219.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567144/911-not-as-bad-as-IRA-says-Doris-Lessing.html
Terrorism in the 21st Century 
Thanks for discussing this, Mike. They remain one of the deadliest terrorist organizations in history, but fortunately have used the political process to enact change since the peace agreement.
LikeLike
Mike,
Thank you for this in-depth look at an organization forgotten by most to either exist or still be around. Their mission, however just it may have once been, doesn’t fit into modern society at all. Hatred against the British, against peoples for wrongs that occurred in the past do not suit any peoples well with their lives. Though successful in pushing back the British from a large portion of their home, the IRA and it’s desire to unite Ireland, though a shadow of it’s former self, still lingers in Ireland now, and may still remain seeded for some time. Their violence is a curious one, as it is both patriotic/domestic and international terrorism rolled into a singular problem. Their death toll is high for their single-minded mission, earning titles like “the troubles” or Bloody Friday, and the fact that they were more than just terrorists but soldiers in a war for freedom from Britain. Freedom they may never have.
LikeLike
Hi Mike,
This post was very interesting to read! I think our generation definitely associates the definition of terrorism as being acts from the Middle East. This seems to most likely be because of the news we see and the time we’ve grown up. I had heard of the IRA in small bits before, possibly mentioned in a history class, but I never remembered it as being such a violent terrorist group. Most of the incidents talked about I don’t remember ever hearing of. It’s weird to think how such an active group of that time can be nearly forgotten nowadays. It was interesting how you included your family’s story in the beginning too, it shows how people now may be where they are because their ancestors were affected by this group.
LikeLike
Hey Mike,
I really liked your blog, thanks for sharing. Both of my parents are Irish (but not from Northern Ireland), so this post definitely hits home.
You’re completely correct when you talk about the millennial viewpoint on terrorist organizations. When people hear the word “terrorist” they immediately assume a Middle Eastern country, or an individual of Middle Eastern decent. The media and society have conditioned individuals to think that most terrorism is targeted toward enemies of the United States, when in actuality, they’re enemies of the entire world because of the potential damage that may occur. The IRA has been a long standing terrorist organization that has been a public enemy of many countries. Although the British attempted to have a large controlling grasp on the people of the Republic of Ireland, there is no excuse for the creation of a terrorist organization. Nobody wins when innocent people are harmed and targeted.
LikeLike
Mike,
My dad’s family is from Ireland and Scotland, with a few others mixed in there. I found this article intriguing because other than the TV show Sons of Anarchy, I had never really heard much about the IRA. I can’t help but wonder why exactly they didn’t include Ireland as a whole when they signed the treaty. Do you know, when the bombings happened, was this still aimed toward their main purpose of unifying Ireland, or was this part of something else, since they strayed from their main purpose as you noted? I will have to research Bloody Friday and find out what their reasoning was behind it.
I am still in awe of how the media had warped our view of terrorism to the extent that it has. Until this class, I had no clue the amount of, for lack of a better word, racism and narrowmindedness that was involved in new reporting and the media.
LikeLike