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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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IRA
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(Irish Republican Army)
Paramilitary organization formed early in 1919 to use guerrilla tactics against the British in *Ireland. It was the direct successor of a similar group formed in 1913 as the *Irish Volunteers, but others such as the *Fenians (or Irish Republican Brotherhood) were also involved, particularly in the *Easter Rising. The IRA campaign (the *Anglo-Irish War of 1919–21) resulted in the creation of the Irish Free State. Those in the IRA who accepted this solution became the nucleus of the new state's army; those who rejected it, following the policy of *Sinn Fein, were known as the Irregulars and became the opposing side in the Irish civil war of 1921–3, in which they were defeated.
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This rump of the IRA continued to support Sinn Fein (itself much reduced by parting company with its leader, *de Valera, in 1926), and it has been an illegal organization in Ireland since 1931. In 1969 the Provisional IRA and Provisional Sinn Fein split from the parent bodies on the issue of *terrorism, which the Provisional IRA (Provisionals or Provos) have carried out for prolonged periods since then in *Northern Ireland and occasionally in mainland Britain and on the Continent. Close links between the two organizations are explained as Sinn Fein being the 'political wing' of the IRA – a distinction which many find hard to accept. Both groups were involved from the late 1990s in the Northern Ireland peace process.
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