The ["Old"] (1916-1920s)
Irish Republican Army first emerged as the army of the Irish Republic that had been declared at the Easter Rising of 1916 and affirmed by the First Dail in January 1919. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizens Army which had existed in the second decade of the twentieth century and which had played a part in the Easter Rising. (...)
The rebellion was largely centered on Dublin. The leaders seized the Dublin General Post Office (GPO), raising a green flag bearing the legend 'Irish Republic', and proclaiming independence for Ireland. (...) opinion [shifting] even more in favor of the Republicans in 1917-18 with the Conscription Crisis. (...) The Irish Republican Army which fought in this conflict is often referred to as the Old IRA to distinguish it from later, different, organisations that have since used the same name.
The first shots in the
Irish War of Independence were fired in Soloheadbeg, Tipperary, (...) the conflict soon [escalating] into guerrilla warfare by what were then known as the Flying Columns in remote areas. Attacks on particularly remote Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks continued throughout 1919 and 1920, forcing the police to consolidate defensively in the larger towns, effectively placing large areas of the countryside in the hands of the Republicans. (...) In response, the British sent hundreds of World War I veterans. (...)
Under the terms of the Anglo-Irish agreement of 6 December 1921, which ended the war (1919-1921), (...) [while most ranks of] the army of the Republic, joined the new national army of the Irish Free State.
): This IS an infantry regular of the Official Army of the Republic Of Ireland (Éire), not a terrorist unit...
