Physical force Irish republicanism

Physical force Irish republicanism is a term used by historians in Ireland to describe the recurring appearance of non-parliamentary violent insurrection in Ireland between 1798 and the present. It is often described as a rival to parliamentary nationalism which for most of the period drew the predominant amount of support from Irish nationalists.

Related Topics:
Ireland - 1798 - Irish nationalist

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Physical force Irish republicanism has usually been marked by a number of features:

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• A commitment to a radical Irish republic which stressed the rights of the Irish people as a community to independence and the ownership of Ireland rather than to individual rights, such as the rights to private property;
• The holding of a series of rebellions or campaigns, often with minimal support, but some of whom impacted upon parliamentary nationalism;
• A demand to break all links with the United Kingdom through the use of force.
• The use of secret societies to plot and organise rebellions; including the Fenians/Irish Republican Brotherhood.

The most prominent physical force rebellions and campaigns were:

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• 1798 rebellion of Wolfe Tone
• 1803 rebellion associated with Robert Emmet
• 1848 Young Irelander rebellion associated with Thomas Davis and Charles Gavan Duffy
• 1867 Fenian rebellion associated with James Stephens and Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa
• 1916 Easter Rising associated with Padraig Pearse and James Connolly
• 1919-21 Anglo-Irish War
• 1970-97 Provisional IRA campaign

The overall impact of the various rebellions and campaigns differed. Many historians and contemporary archives suggest that the 1798 rebellion triggered British determination to ensure the union of the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain, lest a rebellious Ireland, in sympathy with revolutionary France, be used as a means to attack Britain. Some historians speculate that the 1848 rebellion, through tiny in physical impact, helped weaken the strength of the parliamentary movement of the recently deceased Daniel O'Connell The Liberator, though others contend that the movement, under the politically less skilled Morgan O'Connell, was a spent force politically in any case.

Related Topics:
Kingdoms of Ireland - Great Britain - France - Britain - Daniel O'Connell - Morgan O'Connell

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The 1867 rebellion was similarly unsuccessful in a military sense, but did become a focal point in Irish revolutionary folklore, inspiring later generations of rebels.

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The 1916 Rising alone had a dramatic impact in achieving Irish independence. Though it too was a military failure, with its Government of the Irish Republic all executed, the backlash against the brutality of the British response was a factor in allowing surviving Rising leader Éamon de Valera to take over parliamentary politics in the 1918 general election. The tensions between the democratic features of the new Irish Republic proclaimed by the First Dáil, the Army of the Republic (The Irish Republican Army), and the secretive Irish Republican Brotherhood, reached a head in 1921 with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty which created an independent Irish dominion known as the Irish Free State. Allegations of bad faith, betrayal of republicanism and secret IRB plots (Michael Collins's association with the IRB, who accepted the new state's legitimacy, irked rivals Éamon de Valera and Cathal Brugha) plunged the new Irish state into civil war (1922-1923).

Related Topics:
Éamon de Valera - 1918 general election - Irish Republic - First Dáil - Irish Republican Army - Anglo-Irish Treaty - Dominion - Irish Free State - Cathal Brugha - Civil war - 1922 - 1923

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Physical force republicanism continued after 1923. Anti-Treaty republicans kept the name IRA. The movement, and its political wing, Sinn Féin went through periodic splits, most dramatically in 1969 when two IRAs emerged, the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA, along with two Sinn Féins; Official Sinn Féin and Provisional Sinn Féin. The two provisional organisations came to dominate only to split again in the mid-1980s, into the mainstream Provisional Sinn Féin (increasingly simply called Sinn Féin) and the Provisional IRA, and Republican Sinn Féin and its own small IRA.

Related Topics:
Sinn Féin - 1969 - Official IRA - Provisional IRA - Official Sinn Féin - Provisional Sinn Féin - Republican Sinn Féin

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In 2005 Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams called on the Provisional IRA to move from physical force activity to exclusively democratic means.

Related Topics:
2005 - Gerry Adams

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Other IRAs, notably the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA continued to exist along with their political wings, though with less impact than the earlier PIRA.

Related Topics:
Real IRA - Continuity IRA

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