The IRA

The Irish Republican Army — or the IRA — was a paramilitary organization that sought independence from Britain and a unified Irish republic.

The IRA was locked in a bitter battle against Britain and those who wanted to remain within the United Kingdom — a larger divide within Ireland that pitted mainly Catholic nationalists against primarily Protestant unionists. The two sides plunged Northern Ireland into a decades-long period beginning in the late 1960s known as “The Troubles” which ended in the 1990s.

• The IRA emerged in the 1919 War of Independence against Britain that ended after a truce led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921. The treaty created two governments in Ireland, one in Belfast with jurisdiction over six northeastern counties, and the other in Dublin.
• Dec. 28, 1969: IRA splits into two factions, the Provisional IRA, which remained the most prominent, and the Original IRA.
• Jan. 30, 1972: Bloody Sunday. Thirteen people were killed and 15 were wounded when the British Army’s Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights marchers.
• July 21, 1972: Bloody Friday. The IRA set off bombs in the center of Belfast that killed nine people and injured 130, of which 77 were women and children.
• Dec. 22, 1974: A month after bombing two pubs in Birmingham, England, the IRA ordered a ceasefire through Jan. 2, 1975, the result of ongoing but secret discussions between the IRA and the British that resulted in little progress.
• Aug. 31, 1994: IRA announces a “complete cessation of violence.”
• Feb. 9, 1996: The IRA bombs the Docklands area of London, ending their ceasefire.
• April 10, 1998: British and Irish governments sign the Belfast Agreement, or “Good Friday Agreement,” essentially ending The Troubles.
• July 28, 2005: The IRA tells its units to “dump arms” formally ending its armed fight against the British.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/34J9uFE