Information AboutIrish Army |
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HISTORY The Irish Army was set up in 1922 as the Army of the new Irish Free State government under Michael Collins . Initially it was expected that the Irish Republican Army - a Guerrilla force that had fought the British in the Irish War Of Independence (1919-21) would fulfill this function. However, the bulk of the IRA opposed the Treaty that set up the state, believing that it compromised the Irish Republic which had been unilaterally declared in 1919. As a result, the new Free State authorities had to recruit a new force to put down republican resistance in the Irish Civil War (1922-23). In the early weeks of the Civil War, the Irish Army, or "National Army", as it was called, was composed of pro-Treaty IRA units, especially the "Dublin Guard", whose members had personal ties to Michael Collins. Its size is estimated at about 7000 men. However, the Free State soon recruited far more troops, the army's size mushrooming to 55,000 men and 3500 officers by the end of the Civil War in May 1923. Many of its recruits were Irishmen who had served in the British Army in the First World War . Indeed, the Free State recruited experienced soldiers from wherever it could. Two of its senior Generals in the Civil War had served in the United States Army - Emmet Dalton and "Ginger" O'Connell. The British government supplied the new army with uniforms, small arms, ammunition, artillery and armoured units, which enabled it to bring the Civil War to a fairly speedy conclusion. Dublin was taken from Anti Treaty IRA units (or "Irregulars") after a week and a half of street fighting in July 1922. The Irregulars were also dislodged from Limerick and Waterford in that month and Cork and County Kerry were secured after seaborne landings in August. The remainder of the war was a Counter-insurgency campaign against Anti-Treaty guerrillas. The National Army suffered about 800 fatalities in the Civil War, including its commander in chief, Michael Collins. Collins was succeeded by Richard Mulcahy . Following the end of the Civil War, the Irish Army was too big for a peacetime role and too expensive for the new Irish state to maintain. Richard Mulcahy, now Irish Defence Minister, had to cut it down to about 10,000 men. This nearly provoked a Mutiny among Irish Army officers in 1923-24, particularly among former IRA officers, who perceived that former British Army officers were treated better than them. The "mutiny" petered out however and the Army has never since challenged the civil power in Ireland. When deployed within Ireland since the Civil War, the Army has always been under the command of the Gardai (Ireland's unarmed police force). Ireland was neutral in the Second World War , which was named the The Emergency in Irish government circles. However, the Irish Army was greatly expanded for the duration of the War to ward off potential invasions from either the Axis or Allied powers (both of whom drew up contingency plans to invade Ireland). In 1940, the remnants of the IRA stole a large quantity of the Irish Army's reserve ammunition from its dump at the Magazine Fort in Dublin's Phoenix Park , while this was an embarrasment, most of it was recovered. For the duration of the war, in which Ireland secretly supported the Allies, IRA men were interred in the Curragh along with the belligerant powers' servicemen. However, as the War went on, more and newer equipment was purchased from Britain and the United States. Since 1945, the Irish Army has been deployed on many peace keeping missions for the United Nations . The first of these took place in the 1960s, when Irish troops were sent to the Congo . This remains the most costly enterprise for the Irish Army since the Irish Civil War , as over 25 Irish soldiers lost their lives. Subsequent missions have taken Irish troops to the Lebanon , Kosovo , Cyprus , East Timor and most recently, Liberia . The Army Ranger Wing was deployed in East Timor alongside the Australian SAS, this was the first time that the Irish Army's elite force were officially deployed opperationally outside of the state. At home, the Army has been occasionally deployed as a back up to the Gardai along the border with Northern Ireland during the civil conflict in the north known as the Troubles (1969-1998). In the early 1970s, it was suggested that the Irish Army might cross the Border to protect the Nationalist community within Northern Ireland. However this was never acted upon and the Army's most consistent role has been to try and impede the movement of Provisional IRA members across the border. One Irish Army soldier was killed in the Troubles. COMPOSITION The regular army of the Republic Of Ireland has 8,500 personnel (and a reserve army of 13,000), and is divided primarily into three Infantry brigades, each responsible for a geographical area of the country: In addition to the three brigades, there is also the Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC), which is responsible for providing professional training to Ireland's defence forces through three separate colleges:
There are also several units located at the DFTC that are not part of the brigade structure:
RANK STRUCTURE The Irish Army is Organised along Standard Military Rank and Command Structures. As there are only 3 Infantry Brigades there is a limited number of Senior Officers. FAMOUS FORMER IRISH REGIMENTS Prior to 1922 and the foundation of the Irish Free State , many Irish soldiers served with distinction in regiments of the British Army . Among the regiments that disappeared on independence included:
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