Why Did The IRA Campaign Last So Long Analysis
When one chronicles the twentieth century history of the country we live in there was one organisation that has kept reappearing in the records. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) from its inception in early twentieth century Ireland to its supposed ending of its campaign on the 2005 was one of the most feared paramilitary organisations known to the world of terrorism. The IRA would gain the contemption and respect of its deadly foe, the British Army who respected the fact they were fighting an intelligent terrorist organisation capable of waging a ruthless and effective military campagin. When one is studying the IRA some interesting observations come to mind when the question is posed, why did the IRA campaign last so long? From its near
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If we are to get an insightful view of why the IRA campaign lasted so long a quick glance is needed at the personalities that dominated the IRA post 1969 split. In the aftermath of 1969 in Belfast and as Ed Moloney has observed, “the need for defence was uppermost in the minds of republicans in Ballymurphy, where in November 1969, after the death in a car accident of the local IRA commander, Liam McParland, Gerry Adams took charge” . As Sean MacStiofain, the then leader of the Army - Council, has noted in his autobiography, “ the objective was to ensure that of any area came under attack, whether from Loyalist extremists or British forces, the unit would now be capable of adequate defensive action. Any national observer could see this would entail violent confrontation and the inevitable prolonging of a Republican campaign. The personalites that would dominate the Republican movement as the power of the newly born Provisisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) grew, as we will see, were to be a mixture of politically inclined people such as Adams and McGuinness and the more militaristic guided ‘military men’ such as Kevin McKenna and Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy who would lead the PIRA from the 1980s into the twenty - first century. As we will encounter it would be an analytical question to garner discussion, would it be the conflicting personalities that helped prolong the
If we are to get an insightful view of why the IRA campaign lasted so long a quick glance is needed at the personalities that dominated the IRA post 1969 split. In the aftermath of 1969 in Belfast and as Ed Moloney has observed, “the need for defence was uppermost in the minds of republicans in Ballymurphy, where in November 1969, after the death in a car accident of the local IRA commander, Liam McParland, Gerry Adams took charge” . As Sean MacStiofain, the then leader of the Army - Council, has noted in his autobiography, “ the objective was to ensure that of any area came under attack, whether from Loyalist extremists or British forces, the unit would now be capable of adequate defensive action. Any national observer could see this would entail violent confrontation and the inevitable prolonging of a Republican campaign. The personalites that would dominate the Republican movement as the power of the newly born Provisisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) grew, as we will see, were to be a mixture of politically inclined people such as Adams and McGuinness and the more militaristic guided ‘military men’ such as Kevin McKenna and Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy who would lead the PIRA from the 1980s into the twenty - first century. As we will encounter it would be an analytical question to garner discussion, would it be the conflicting personalities that helped prolong the