Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

On December 12, 1956 the Irish Republican Army began what they called the Resistance Campaign, which would continue until February 26, 1962. For the first three years IRA forces attacked Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police stations and officers, British army bases and personnel, and government facilities in many parts of Northern Ireland. By 1960, however, strong opposition from the British and Northern Ireland governments and the collaboration of the Republic of Ireland's Cabinet limited military action to areas along the border of these two states. Disappointed, internal IRA critics complained that the campaign was meant to be more than this. Later, journalists and historians described it as the Border Campaign, and it is popularly known by this title. Many 1950s IRA activists, however, including Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, the primary author of the IRA statement “to end the Resistance Campaign,” continue to use the original name.The Resistance Campaign is important because it served as the transmitter of the ideals, goals, and tactics of 1916–23 IRA veterans to future generations of activists. Between 1916 and 1922 agitation and political action by the IRA and the political party Sinn Féin achieved independence for 26 of Ireland's 32 counties, which formed the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland), with a government in Dublin. The six counties of Northern Ireland, established ... log in or subscribe to read full text