Terrorism: What is the Anglo-Irish Conflict?

The Anglo-Irish Conflict is essentially the fight for independence, on religious grounds, to politically take control of the split-up Ireland.  This conflict has lasted for centuries between the Irish terrorists and the British.  After the assassination of Michael Collins in 1922, the Republic of Ireland outlawed the IRA.  The IRA was split into different factions, but it remained active underground for nearly fifty years.  The Irish Republican Army was moderately “quiet” until the British sent soldiers to stop rioting in Northern Ireland after a failed Catholic civil rights movement became violent.  White (2006) states that:

Young soldiers saw loyalists waving the British flag and Irish Catholics waving the flag of the Irish Republic.  They sided with the loyalists against the Republicans and brutally repressed the Catholics.  Ironically, this caused the rebirth of the IRA (pp. 25-26).

Reference

White, J.R. (2006). Terrorism and Homeland Security. (5^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth.

You might also like:

• Terrorism: Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Russian Revolution
• Terrorism: What are the Origins of Terrorism in Ireland?
• Terrorism: IRA Terrorist Attacks Between 1970 and 1990
• Terrorism: Does Theory of Urban Terrorism Apply to Ireland?
• Modern Terrorists More Violent Than Terrorists in the Past?
• Terrorism: Contributing Factors
• Terrorism: Schmid and the Definitional Dilemma Solution