page_title: Military history of Ireland
section_title: Republic of Ireland/Northern Ireland
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of Ireland / Republic of Ireland/Northern Ireland
caption_attribution_description: English: Markings to alert aircraft to neutral Ireland ("Éire" English: "Ireland") during WWII on Malin Head, County Donegal
context_page_description: The military history of Ireland comprises thousands of years of armed actions in the territory encompassing the island of Ireland.
context_section_description: Until 1922 secret societies, popular risings and guerrilla warfare came in sporadic outbreaks in attempts to end the 1801 union of Ireland and Great Britain. Between 1919–1922 the War of Independence brought the negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the majority of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom to form an independent state, which immediately fell into a civil war between opposing republican factions. The northern portion of the country would form Northern Ireland becoming an autonomous part of the United Kingdom.
  After the Irish Free State gained a new constitution in 1937, the now fully sovereign nation was steered towards neutrality in the event of any war involving the United Kingdom. This neutrality continued throughout the Second World War, a period known in Ireland as The Emergency while Northern Ireland was exempted from conscription. Despite this many Irishmen from the both parts volunteered to serve in the British army during the war. In total over 100,000 Irishmen served in roughly equal numbers from north and south of the Irish border. Five Irishmen were awarded the Victoria Cross for their efforts during the war.
  The Republic of Ireland continued the policy of neutrality after the war and declined to become a member of NATO, although it has taken part in over 30 United Nations peacekeeping missions. In Northern Ireland, paramilitary groups and terrorism emerged again in the 1970s, after a relative peace for almost 50 years. A peace process in the mid-1990s ended in a cease-fire and a declaration that "the war is over".
  Irish people have also served prominently in the Spanish, French and United States military. Amongst them, the founders of the US Navy, John Barry, and Argentine Navy, William Brown.
  After coordinated terrorist attacks killed more than 130 people in France in November 2015, the French government invoked a mutual defence clause of the Treaty of Lisbon, asking for military assistance from the European Union. The Irish government agreed to deploy peacekeeping troops to Mali in order to free up French troops stationed there for deployment elsewhere.
caption: Markers spelling out "EIRE" were erected during World War II to alert belligerent aircraft that they were in neutral Ireland.
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