page_title: Physical force Irish republicanism
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Physical force Irish republicanism / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Irish nationalist political activist Patrick Pearse. Français&#160;: Retrat de Patrick Pearse Gaeilge: Portráid oide, file, scríbhneoir agus gníomhaire polaitiúil Éireannach, Pádraig Mac Piarais
context_page_description: Physical force Irish republicanism is the recurring appearance of a 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 more support from Irish nationalists.
context_section_description: It was the Volunteers of 1782 which would launch a paramilitary tradition in Irish politics; a tradition, whether nationalist or unionist, that has continued to shape Irish political activity with the ethos of "the force of argument had been trumped by the argument of force". Irish republicanism an offspring of the Volunteers of 1782, owes much to influences of both the American and French revolutions.
  The United Irishmen of 1798 were a mass movement, largely led by liberal Protestants, who desired to "break the connection with England" and found a non-sectarian Irish Republic.  To this end, they secured French military aid and launched their own rebellion. Robert Emmet's abortive rebellion of 1803 was essentially an aftershock of the 1798 rebellion.  It was confined to a skirmish in Dublin, after which Emmet was hanged.
  The Young Ireland rebellion of 1848 was launched in frustration with the failure of Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association movement to secure the repeal of the Union, or self-government for Ireland.  The Young Irelanders had previously supported O'Connell until he cancelled plans for a mass rally under British threat of force.  The 1848 rebellion was a failure, launched during the Great Irish Famine, it did not address any of the social and economic questions of the day, and weaken the strength of the parliamentary movement of the recently deceased Daniel O'Connell.
  The 1867 rebellion of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was the culmination of several years of agitation by this secret, oath-bound organisation.  The IRB, or Fenians, planned a national insurrection and the foundation of an Irish Republic with the aid of radicalised Irish units in the British Army.  Although the Fenians had some success in infiltrating army units and had a considerable presence in parts of Ireland, the British took steps to remove seditious army units from Ireland and the rebellion was launched against the better judgement of the IRB leadership on the urgings of the American-based Fenian Brotherhood.  It was unsuccessful in a military sense with only isolated skirmishes taking place but did become a focal point in Irish revolutionary folklore, inspiring later generations of rebels. Clan na Gael later conducted several bombing attacks in England and attempted to free their imprisoned allies. One such raid resulted in the hanging of three IRB men, known as the "Manchester Martyrs", for the killing of a policeman.
  The 1916 Easter Rising was launched by the IRB, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army.  It had a dramatic impact in achieving Irish independence:  Arthur Griffith continued his "doctrinaire commitment" to terror bombings as IRB policy.  Though support for the insurgents was small, the execution of fifteen people by firing squad, the imprisonment or internment of hundreds more, and the imposition of martial law caused a profound shift in public opinion towards the republican cause in Ireland. It allowed the surviving rising leader Éamon de Valera to win a majority for the anti-occupation Sinn Féin party in the 1918 general election, which became the defining moment of the physical force doctrine.
  Sinn Féin then declared the Irish Republic to be in existence.  Its parliament, the First Dáil first met in January 1919, and the British declared it an illegal assembly shortly afterwards.  At around the same time, the Volunteers, now organised as the Irish Republican Army began a guerrilla war, the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), against the British Government in Ireland.  By July 1921, the campaign had brought the British Government to the conclusion that it would have to negotiate with the Dáil to end the violence.
  The war was ended with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which created an independent Irish dominion known as the Irish Free State for 26 of Ireland's 32 counties.  The remaining 6 were to remain in the UK as Northern Ireland.  The Treaty was narrowly passed in the Dáil in January 1922.
  While the leadership of the IRA, Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy, in the forefront in accepting th
caption: Patrick Pearse
  "President of the Provisional Government", leader of the 1916 Rising
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