Irish Liberation Army: description, functions, numbers

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

In the UK for many years there has been a nationalist organization whose goal is to recognize the independence and independence of Northern Ireland. The paramilitary group, which does not shun terror, has its representatives even in the British Parliament.

Foundation and origin

The Irish Liberation Army was founded after the merger of the Citizens' Army and the Irish Volunteers in 1919. The latter were the armed units of Sinn Féin, an organization that was not originally a political party in the full sense of the word, descending from Arthur Griffith's nationalist party of the same name, as well as the heirs of the organization of the Fenians - Irish petty-bourgeois republican revolutionaries.

After the conclusion of an agreement between the governments of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Irish Liberation Army (aka the Irish Republican Army, IRA) split. A significant part of it took the side of the Irishfree state, others turned their weapons against former allies. However, the former turned out to be stronger and continued to develop their business, while those who did not obey soon went underground.

Irish Liberation Army Anthem - Celtic song Ev Sistr.

War of Irish Independence

The Irish Republic was first proclaimed in 1916 after the Easter Rising in Dublin. Then a new leadership was elected, and the IRA, recognized as a national army, was obliged to obey the parliament. In practice, the management of paramilitary volunteer units was very difficult.

The Irish Liberation Army (pictured below) took part in the War of Independence against Britain. The most intense fighting continued from the end of autumn 1920 to the middle of summer 1921. In general, IRA involvement can be divided into three phases:

Reorganization of the army. Formally, there were about 100 thousand people in the IRA, but a maximum of 15 thousand took part in the partisan movement. The most famous "Squad", operating in Dublin, killed intelligence officers, carried out raids on the barracks.
IRA military attacks on fortified barracks and (subsequently) on British columns. The escalation of the conflict by the UK: the introduction of martial law in parts of the country, the deployment of additional police forces and soldiers.
This phase is characterized by an increase in the British contingent, which led to a change in tacticspartisan actions. IRA soldiers attacked patrols, ambushed the roads, killed representatives of objectionable religion, and then retreated to the mountains.

IRA involvement in communal conflict

The Irish Liberation Army has shifted its focus from Dublin to Northern Ireland. In 1969, the tactics of urban guerrilla began to be actively used - this is a set of methods for conducting guerrilla warfare in urban conditions, which was used, in particular, during the conflict in Iraq and the North Caucasus. In addition, the organization has split into a number of separate cells, and some of these groups have turned to terrorist methods of war.

To resolve the conflict on August 14, 1969, London sent troops to the rebellious region. The escalation came after Bloody Sunday, when the British gunned down an unarmed civil rights demonstration in Northern Ireland. As a result of the action, 18 people died.

At the end of May 1972, the Irish Liberation Army announced a cessation of active hostilities. But the British government refused to talk to the terrorists, so the militants resumed their attacks.

These attacks are not like what ISIS usually organizes. Representatives of the organization warned about the danger by phone 90 minutes before the explosion of a car filled with explosives. This simultaneously served as a demonstration of the strength of the organization, and reduced the number of victims. The main targets of the IRA were soldiers of the British army,police and court officials.

Reconciliation between the UK and the Republic of Ireland

The truce was concluded in 1985. Under an agreement between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the latter received the status of a consultant in resolving various issues relating to Northern Ireland. As a result of further negotiations, a “Declaration” was signed, which consolidated the principles of non-violence and suggested the possibility of forming a local parliament. Unfortunately, the implementation of the agreements was frozen due to new terrorist attacks.

In the summer of 1994, the IRA again announced the cessation of operations, but after the British proposed disarmament, the leaders of the organization refused their obligations. In 1998, the leaders of the governments of Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed an agreement to transfer to local authorities and hold a referendum that would determine the status of the region. Negotiations were disrupted after another terrorist attack on September 10, 1998, which killed 29 people.

A new round of negotiations began in 2005. A 2006 report by the Monitoring Commission, which constantly monitors the situation in Northern Ireland, noted that the IRA has undergone significant changes. Most of the structures of the organization were dissolved, the number of others was reduced. According to the commission's experts, the Irish Liberation Army is no longer planning terrorist attacks.

Political wing of the IRA

Sinn Féin is a political offshoot of the IRA. The name of the party in direct translation from Irish means "We ourselves." In 1969, the party (due to an internal split in the Irish Liberation Army) split into "provisional" and "official". This was facilitated by the escalation of violence in the region. The "official" wing of the party leans towards Marxism and is called the "Workers' Party of Sinn Féin". By the way, some of the most "red" in the world are not only representatives of the party itself, but also fans of the Celtic football team, who have volumes of Marx and banned books on the history of the IRA on their shelves. The Irish Liberation Army and its football club (formally a club in Glasgow, Scotland, but not in spirit) are not connected in any way, except for the basic ideas.

Splits within the liberation army

The "Provisional" Irish Liberation Army was formed in 1969 as a result of disagreements over how to respond to the escalating violence. The "official" IRA held on to most of the structures in the cities of Northern Ireland, with the exception of Belfast and Londonderry. "Successionary" was formed as a result of contradictions in the Irish Liberation Army. The country (Great Britain) faced difficulties, since now it was necessary to negotiate not with one IRA, but with several, and even often entering into armed conflict with each other. In addition, there was also a "genuine" IRA, which immediately after separating from the "provisional" began to terror. Their last attack took place on October 5, 2010.

Arms supply

The main supplier of weapons and fundingorganization was Libya. Particularly large arms shipments were made in the 1970s and 1980s. One UK newspaper at the time even wrote that for a quarter of a century, virtually every bomb collected by the IRA contained explosives from a batch landed in 1986. In addition to Libya, funding was provided by the Irish Americans, mainly by the organization NORAID, which lay low after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

The Soviet Union, the CIA, Cuba, Colombia, Hezbollah, a paramilitary organization from Libya, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Defense League, a volunteer paramilitary group in Estonia.

IRA actions: attacks and shelling

One of the most famous IRA actions was Bloody Friday. A series of explosions in Belfast resulted in the death of nine people, the number of wounded was one hundred and thirty residents of the city. On February 4, 1974, a bomb exploded on a bus carrying British troops. In 1982, IRA members detonated bombs during a parade in two parks. Twenty-two soldiers were killed in the explosions, more than fifty were injured, but one civilian was not injured.

In 1983, there were several explosions near the London supermarket, which were prepared by the same organization. The assassination attempt by IRA soldiers on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took place in 1984. In 1994, members of the organization fired at Heathrow Airport in London frommortars, and in 2000 fired several shots on the eighth floor of the British Secret Intelligence Service.

Irish Liberation Army in movies

Northern Ireland's longstanding conflicts are reflected in popular culture. In 1971, the Italian film A Fistful of Dynamite was released on the big screens, in 1980 - The Long Good Friday, in 1990 - Behind the Veil of Secrecy, in 1996 - The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, where the protagonist gets into the very thick of the uprising on Easter. The IRA is also mentioned in computer games, for example, in Far Cry 2 or GTA IV, in animated series - the first episode of the twentieth season of The Simpsons.