What are the IRA and what were their troubles?

Question

I have to do some basic research for my english h/w about the troubles Ireland have suffered
e.g.
-potato famin
-ira
i have tried searching for the ira on the internet (google etc.) but i was not helped.
please can somebody help me gain some background knowledge.
thanks.

Answer 1

Gday Bexy. Let's get this bit straight first. IRA is short for 'Irish Republican Army'. If you look that up on Wikipedia you'll see a very complicated story, but the gist of it is that that the IRA has been around since the 1920's when the modern State of Ireland was created (amid war with England and Civil War in Ireland). The IRA was a group that did not agree with the governments (the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland) that were created or their borders and continued to fight through the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's (primarilly against Northern Ireland) in order to create a single Irish State. They did not achieve much during this period.

'The Troubles' is the name given (by the Irish) to the riots in 1968 in Northern Ireland and the subsequent (long) period of civil disturbance that at times came close to war in Northern Ireland. The trigger for the upsurge in violence was the Civil Rights Movement - the same impulse that saw rights for African Americans championed in the United States. In fact in many ways the success of the US movement (the passing of the Civil Rights Act legislation) inspired the Catholics in Northern Ireland to seek greater rights. Catholics in Northern Ireland (a Protestant State) felt that they were being discriminated against.

The Government of Northern Ireland used police to suppress marches and rioting by Catholics, resulting in escalating violence that culminated in the British using Army troops (much as the US used Reserve Guards at Kent State University) that led (as it did in Ohio) with protesters being killed. At that point the Irish Republican Army broke in two, with the 'Provisional IRA' (or the 'Provos') declaring virtual war on the British and the Northern Irish State. The Original IRA declared a truce with the British in 1972 and sunk out of sight thereafter. So the IRA you see talk about now is the 'Provisional IRA' and its political wing Sinn Fein.

A fairly balanced story about the 'beginning' of The Troubles is linked below.

If you want a sense of how tough Ireland has been over the last 100 years (including the potato famine) consider that if you travel across Ireland you'll see 'ghost towns' - abandoned during the famine and never resettled. The effect of the faminne was to reduce Ireland's population by millions, through death and emigration. Both Australia and the USA received a huge number of Irish looking for a better life.

Answer 2

The Irish Republican Army has had a long standing struggle against the British for want of Catholic independence and is associated with the politics of Shin Fain, look for stories of Michael Collens.

As for the Potato Famine the irony is that potato's were brought to Ireland by explores of North America, but bacteria effected the potato's growth in Ireland and so crops failed and starvation set in!

Answer 3

The IRA, or Irish Republican Army, was formed in response to English landowners who mistreated their Irish tenants. The English took over the land and put heavy taxes on the Irish, and if they didn't or couldn't pay, the English would often just demolish their homes and throw them out in the street. They often would raise the taxes so high that they knew the Irish couldn't pay them.

Potatoes were the main subsistance crop for the Irish. Even in a good year, though, the harvest was just enough to keep the taxes paid and their families fed. In the early to mid-1800's, though, the potato harvest failed due to a blight. Since what was left wasn't enough to feed the families, many lost their homes, and many also immigrated to the U.S.

Answer 4

Well, it ain't exactly "their" troubles. It was "the" troubles, the kind of term Irish would use for a virtual civil war, or two of them. Well you know there were many many Irish rebellions against Saxon rule, but the one that took started Easter Week in 1916; it failed of course, as all the previous had, but the Brits, preoccupied by some other war that was then going on, had the bad sense to shoot some of the leaders.

And then the double bad sense to bring in thugs (locally denominated Black & Tans, after a beverage) to suppress the hard feelings. Well, outside of Carson country, Britain was hardpressed and had to make a deal.

On the Irish side, it was poor Michael Collins who had to make it, giving most of Ireland semi-sovereignty. So began the second part of the troubles, and it hasn't quite finished.

Answer 5

The Irish Republican Army was formed in 1916 as resistance to British rule and occupation, it fought a gurreila war and eventually achieved independance for todays Irish republic in 1922, it continued to exist on a status of war upuntil the early 1970's when it was replaced by the provisinal IRA.

Answer 6

IRA stands for Irish Republican Army, so if you type that into your search bar you'll find more information. (Otherwise, you might be finding info on the International Rifle Association instead.)

Answer 7

You could not have searched very hard for when I typed IRA into my Google search bar it came up with over 62 million answers! This seems a good site, though, without bias:-http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/2435/
(note, btw, that it's Sinn Fein and not as spelt in another answer)