125-656: The Christmas Raid was an attack on 23 December 1939 by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against the Irish Army and the Phoenix Park Magazine Fort —Ireland's largest munitions dump. The attack resulted in the capture of the munitions dump by the IRA and the seizure of a huge quantity of weapons. Although the operation was initially successful, two of the raiders were captured shortly after
250-621: A Kurdish suburb with a human shield of Kurdish women and children. In the Battle of the Notch , North Korean forces were claimed to have used captured U.S. soldiers as human shields while advancing. In August 1976, at the Siege of Tel al-Zaatar , Christian Lebanese militias alleged that the Palestinians at Tel al-Zaatar were using Lebanese families inside the camp as human shields. During
375-490: A guerrilla campaign. The anti-Treaty guerrilla campaign was spasmodic and ineffective. Much of it was composed of the destruction of infrastructure such as the main railway bridge linking Cork with Dublin. They also burned many public buildings and "commandeered" supplies by force, alienating many civilians. Furthermore, without the public support that had existed during the War of Independence and facing an enemy who knew them and
500-683: A left-wing IRA leader who was opposed to the Catholic nationalism of many IRA members, said disparagingly that "we don't have an IRA battalion in Belfast, we have a battalion of armed Catholics". This burst of what has sometimes been termed "social republicanism" expired in the mid-1930s. In 1931 Saor Éire had quickly collapsed due to the combination of fierce reaction from the Catholic Church, deeply hostile to anything that appeared communist, and repressive legislation immediately introduced by
625-641: A majority of the IRA. Dáil Éireann ratified the Treaty by 64 votes to 57 after a lengthy and acrimonious debate, following which President Éamon de Valera resigned. Sinn Féin split between pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty factions, and the Army did likewise. The majority of headquarters staff, many of whom were close to Michael Collins , supported the Treaty, but opinion among IRA volunteers was divided. By and large, IRA units in Munster and most of Connacht were opposed to
750-565: A number of atrocities against prisoners. This was particularly pronounced in Kerry, where the fighting was most bitter. On at least three occasions in March 1923, IRA prisoners were massacred with land mines in reprisal for the killing of Free State soldiers. Ironically, the men accused of these war crimes were mostly from the Dublin Guard, themselves IRA veterans from 1919 to 1921. By 1923,
875-499: A regular occurrence for visitors arriving and people leaving the fort. Once the officer had cleared the gate, the MP closed both gates and went back to his post. A little later, the son of the officer-in-charge appeared at the gate and was admitted. Around 2030, the gate bell rang again and the MP saw a civilian who said he had a parcel to deliver to the officer-in-charge. At his court martial, the MP testified that he answered that he would take
1000-587: A reserve battalion stationed at Portobello Barracks (now Cathal Brugha Barracks ), was responsible for supplying the guard, and the fire picket was supplied by a unit stationed in Islandbridge Barracks (now Clancy Barracks ). On the evening of the Raid, the officer responsible for the defence of the fort, the same man who had filled the post for twenty-four years, had the following at his disposal for guard duty: The guard party were warned for duty on
1125-537: A result, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) was unable to strike purely military targets due to the limitations of their bombsight , the mixing of military installations and factories with urban areas, and the widespread cottage industry in Japan's cities. This led the USAAF in early 1945 to switch from precision bombing to carpet bombing , which destroyed 67 Japanese cities with incendiary bombs , and ultimately led to
1250-481: A tactical and ideological departure from the Twomey, MacBride and Barry period. Russell eschewed the left-wing tendencies of the 1920s and 30s IRA and pushed for a more "militarist" approach. One of the first major moves by Russell was to shore up the political credibility of the IRA. As Chief of Staff, he was able to secure a powerful symbolic gesture from the "rump" of the second Dáil, that is to say, elected members of
1375-655: Is a war crime according to the 1949 Geneva Conventions , the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions , and the 1998 Rome Statute . According to law professor Eliav Lieblich, "Armed groups might be responsible for harm that they occasion to civilians under their control. But to argue that this absolves the other party from responsibility is to get both law and morality wrong." Law professor Adil Ahmad Haque states that involuntary shields "retain their legal and moral protection from intentional, unnecessary, and disproportionate harm." He argues against
SECTION 10
#17327723755491500-687: Is forbidden to compel the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country". The 1915 report says "If it be not permissible to compel a man to fire on his fellow citizens, neither can he be forced to protect the enemy and to serve as a living screen". During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , the army of Fascist Italy systematically bombed medical facilities in Ethiopia operated by various Red Cross societies. Italy accused Ethiopia of using hospitals to hide weapons and fighters. In
1625-703: The 1929 Geneva Convention and argued that there was not enough barbed wire—as a result, this plan was not implemented. Wehrmacht and later SS forces extensively used Polish civilians as human shields during Warsaw Uprising when attacking the insurgents' positions. In the Wola massacre in Poland on 7 August 1944, the Nazis forced civilian women onto the armored vehicles as human shields to enhance their effectiveness. In Belgium in May 1940, at least 86 civilians were killed by
1750-621: The 1982 Lebanon War , the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh was surrounded by Israeli forces as the last stronghold of Palestinian militants in southern Lebanon, but "Soldiers of Allah" militants commanded by the Muslim fundamentalist Haj Ibrahim refused to surrender: Their motto was "Victory or death!" Over a two-day period, Israeli forces under the leadership of Brigadier General Yitzhak Mordechai repeatedly announced "Whoever does not bear arms will not be harmed" and urged civilians in
1875-688: The Anglo-Irish Treaty . It existed in various forms until 1969, when the IRA split again into the Provisional IRA and Official IRA . The original Irish Republican Army fought a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence between 1919 and 1921. The Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921 ended this war by granting most of the island a great degree of independence, but with six counties in
2000-742: The British mandate of Palestine , Arab civilians and rebels who were captured by the British during the Great Arab Revolt were frequently taken and placed on " pony trucks ", "on which hostages could be made to sit"; these were placed at the front of trains to deter other rebels from detonating explosives on the railways. A soldier with the Manchester Regiment described the technique: They would "go down to Acre jail and borrow say five rebels, three rebels, and you'd sit them on
2125-567: The Burke v. Lennon judgment). Many IRA members were re-interned for the rest of war; additionally, the OSA's Special Criminal Court and the EPA's military tribunal were used for non-jury trials of IRA members. Irish Republican Army (1922%E2%80%931969) The Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) of 1922–1969 was a sub-group of the original pre-1922 Irish Republican Army , characterised by its opposition to
2250-529: The Four Courts . Eventually, after two months and under British pressure, Michael Collins decided to remove them by force. Pro-Treaty forces bombarded the building, which surrendered after two days. Confused fighting raged for another five days, with anti-Treaty elements of the IRA's Dublin Brigade, under Oscar Traynor , occupying O'Connell Street until they were dislodged by artillery fire. In July 1922,
2375-668: The Great Depression on the population, to which the IRA's new social radicalism (see next section) appealed. Another important factor was the formation of the Blueshirts : a quasi- fascist organisation set up by Eoin O'Duffy, originally composed of Civil war veterans of the Free State Army. The IRA and the Blueshirts both attacked political meetings and also fought street brawls against each other. While most of
2500-596: The Irish Republic , and declared their own Army Executive to be the real government of the country until the Republic was formally established. The reasons why volunteers chose pro- and anti-Treaty positions are complex. One factor was an evaluation of the military situation. Whereas Collins, Richard Mulcahy and Eoin O'Duffy felt that the IRA could not continue to fight the British successfully, anti-Treaty officers such as Ernie O'Malley and Tom Barry felt that
2625-832: The Israeli–Palestinian conflict , with instances being widely documented in the Second Intifada , and notably recurring in the 2008–2009 Gaza War , the 2014 Gaza War and the 2023 Israel–Hamas War . The Israeli use of human shields was formally challenged in September 2004, when Justice Aharon Barak , presiding over the Israeli Supreme Court, issued a demand that the IDF desist from the practice of using Palestinians as human shields, and in October outlawed
SECTION 20
#17327723755492750-829: The Philippines , among them being a "key man" of the group. The arrests occurred after clashes in Sabah and Putrajaya, where Abu Sayyaf allegedly used children as human shields against the Philippine army. In the aftermath of Iran 's shoot down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020, Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were accused of using civilian aircraft and their passengers and crew as human shields. According to The New York Times : "They also hoped that
2875-542: The Second Dáil who remained Republicans. 7 of these former TDs transferred what authority they believed they had as representatives of the second Dáil to the IRA army council, thus, in their minds, rendering it the legitimate governing body of Ireland. The IRA felt this move gave them the authority to formally declare war on the United Kingdom , which they would almost immediately do. The IRA that emerged from
3000-557: The Shanghai International Settlement ; it is believed in what would become known as "Black Saturday", Chinese Air Force Gamma 2E bomber pilots targeted the Japanese warship, but had to release the bombs at a much lower altitude than they usually trained for due to low cloud ceiling, and did not properly reset their bomb sights, which resulted in two of the 1,100 lb bombs falling short and landing on
3125-550: The "reconstruction" of a "free and progressive Europe". The Third Reich was also praised as the "energising force" of European politics and the "guardian" of national freedom. When George Bernard Shaw retorted that the Nazis were anti-Catholic, the IRA responded that Hitler's and Mussolini's support of Franco in Spain proved their pro-Catholic credentials. By 1941, the IRA numbered fewer than 1,000 members, many of whom were imprisoned. Most of its able political organisers had left in
3250-720: The Allies and Germany. On 23 December 1939, IRA members stole almost the entire reserve ammunition store of the Irish Army from the Magazine Fort in Dublin's Phoenix Park . This became known as the " Christmas Raid " in IRA folklore. The RUC found two and a half tons of the stolen ammunition inside County Armagh on 2 January 1940. The next day the Irish Minister for Justice, Gerald Boland , at an emergency session of
3375-474: The British monarchy and introducing an elected president as head of state. The document also included a territorial claim to Northern Ireland . By the late 1930s at the latest, most Irish people disagreed with the residual Irish Republican Army's claims that it remained the legitimate 'army of the Republic'. In Northern Ireland, the IRA's main role was to try to defend the Catholic community during outbreaks of sectarian rioting. For this reason Peadar O'Donnell ,
3500-547: The Civil War resulted in long-lasting bitterness on both sides. In September special emergency legislation came into effect under which military tribunals were empowered to pass death sentences. The head of the anti-Treaty forces, Liam Lynch, responded with an announcement that Free State TDs and Senators who had voted for the legislation would be targeted. A number of members of the Oireachtas were attacked, TD Seán Hales
3625-531: The Dublin Brigade's active service unit who were to the forefront in the Free State's offensive of July–August 1922. They sided with the Free State primarily out of personal loyalty to Collins. The anti-Treaty IRA was not equipped or trained to fight conventional warfare. Despite some determined resistance to the Free State advance south of Limerick by late August, most of them had dispersed to fight
3750-808: The Dáil, introduced the Emergency Powers Bill to reinstate internment, Military Tribunal, and executions for IRA members. It was rushed through and given its third reading the next day creating the Emergency Powers Act. It was later used to execute at least six IRA volunteers in Ireland between 1940 and 1944. Peter Barnes and James McCormick , who had been arrested in England shortly following an IRA bomb that exploded in Coventry on 25 August 1939 (see 1939 Coventry bombing ), resulting in
3875-454: The Free State government led by W. T. Cosgrave; many more were arrested after they dumped arms and returned to civilian life. By late 1923, over 12,000 anti-Treaty IRA men were interned. The prisoners were released over the following year, with Éamon de Valera the last to leave Kilmainham Gaol in 1924. In 1924 the IRA counted 14,500 members in total, including young men aged from 19 upwards, but with just over 5,000 weapons in its dumps. By 1926
Christmas Raid - Misplaced Pages Continue
4000-402: The Free State party Cumann na nGaedheal not to respect the result and prepared for another civil war. To their surprise, Cosgrave's party peacefully gave up power and instructed the police and armed forces to obey the new government. In the first two years of Fianna Fáil government, the IRA's membership grew from a low of 1,800 to over 10,000. This can be put down to the radicalising impact of
4125-584: The German Wehrmacht in an event known as the Vinkt Massacre , when the Germans took 140 civilians and used them as shields to cross a bridge while under fire by Belgian forces. As the battle progressed, German soldiers began executing hostages. During the Battle of Okinawa and the Battle of Manila , Japanese soldiers often used civilians as human shields against American troops. When
4250-461: The Houthis are "militarising" hospitals. In September 2019, UAE media reported that Houthi rebels blocked food from reaching civilians used as human shields. In 2014, a report noted that Myanmar's army abducts civilians and forces them to act as guides and human shields. In August 2017, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has been accused of turning to civilians for "human shields" against
4375-674: The IRA Army Council declared war on the UK. The IRA Sabotage Campaign or "S-Plan" began a few days later. Under it, IRA operatives based in Britain attacked infrastructure, with a view to weakening the UK's war effort. Following the German invasion of Poland, the Irish government declared its neutrality on 2 September, along with a state of emergency for the duration of hostilities between
4500-478: The IRA a quasi-legal status that meant Gardaí were unwilling to act against them for fear of repercussions. On his victory tour, de Valera snubbed a Garda guard of honour in Skibbereen , but saluted the IRA one. By 1935 this relationship had turned to enmity on both sides. The IRA accused Fianna Fáil of "selling out" by not declaring a republic and by tolerating the continued partition of Ireland. De Valera banned
4625-538: The IRA had become a pro-fascist group. Similarly, in September 1939 upon the outbreak of World War II , socialist republican and former IRA Army council member George Gilmore wrote an appeal pleading with the IRA to dump arms until the war in Europe was over and denounced them for flirting with fascism by seeking aid from Germany. In January 1939, as the United Kingdom prepared for a possible war with Germany,
4750-455: The IRA in 1936, after they murdered a landlord's agent, Richard More O'Farrell, in a land dispute and fired shots at police during a strike of Dublin tramways workers, on top of their bank robberies. However, most of the IRA's republican constituency were reconciled to the Free State by de Valera's government, which introduced a republican constitution in 1937, abolishing the Oath of Allegiance to
4875-501: The IRA launched a campaign in Dublin to rid the city of moneylenders. It employed largely anti-Semitic rhetoric, with a large number of the known moneylenders raided being Jews. The IRA considered itself to be upholding the Republic that was declared in the 1916 Proclamation and held that the government of the Irish Free State was illegitimate. It maintained that it remained the army of that Republic, in direct continuity with
5000-403: The IRA leadership, meeting Joseph McGarrity of Clan na Gael, who pledged monetary support to Russell's cause, while in Ireland, his supporters Peadar O'Flaherty and Tom McGill travelled the country, sounding out support for Russell, and had the IRA's commanding officer in England replaced by Jimmy Joe Reynolds, who favoured a bombing campaign. Growing frustration by younger members of the IRA at
5125-469: The IRA of the War of Independence period. There were several competing organisations on the radical republican side of Irish politics during this period. In addition to the IRA, these included the hard-line elements of anti-Treaty Sinn Féin, such as Mary MacSwiney , who had not followed de Valera into constitutional politics, and the rump of the anti-Treaty members of the Second Dáil , still proclaiming themselves
Christmas Raid - Misplaced Pages Continue
5250-610: The IRA volunteers attempting to store it. The positive effect on morale that the raid had made evaporated. The Oireachtas was recalled on 3 January 1940 and in two days the government rushed through amendments to both the Emergency Powers Act (EPA; to extend its internment powers to Irish civilians) and the Offences Against the State Act (OSA; to re-establish non-emergency internment within the parameters of
5375-432: The IRA's position was stronger than it had ever been. Another factor was the role of powerful personalities; where the leader of an IRA unit—for example Sean McEoin , who sided with the Treaty in County Longford —took sides, often the remainder of his command joined him. The same was also true for anti-Treaty leaders such as Liam Lynch in Cork. In March 1922, the Anti-Treaty IRA captured the Royal Navy vessel Upnor off
5500-439: The Islamist group Boko Haram has abducted some 500 women and children to serve as human shields. In 2016, it was reported the group kidnapped schoolgirls "used as human shield[s]". Houthis have been known to use human shields in their war in Yemen at least since 2016, as from a UN report at the time. In 2018, the Houthis were accused by the Yemenite government of use of human shields Amnesty International warned that
5625-436: The Japanese were concerned about the incoming Allied air raids on their home islands as they were losing their controlled Pacific islands one by one to the Allies in the Pacific War , they scattered major military installations and factories throughout urban areas . Historians argued that this meant Japan was using its civilians as human shields to protect their legitimate military targets against Allied bombardment . As
5750-405: The Jews out of Europe, and accusations towards the Irish government of being dominated by "Jews and Freemasons ". Seamus O'Donovan denounced Britain and the United States as being "centres of Freemasonry, international financial control and Jewry". In 1939 O'Donovan became increasingly enamoured of Nazi ideology and visited Germany three times ‘to discuss potential agents, the supply of arms in
5875-546: The Jummas near the military camps. Saddam Hussein systematically used human shields in Iraq . According to a CIA report, he used the tactics at least since 1988. One of the most well-known uses of human shields occurred in Iraq in 1990, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait that precipitated the Gulf War of 1990–1991 . Saddam Hussein 's government detained hundreds of citizens of Western countries who were in Iraq for use as human shields in an attempt to deter nations from participating in military operations against
6000-428: The North in order to escape internment or worse at the hands of the Northern authorities. Over 500 of them ended up in the National Army during the civil war. The IRA had been expanded hugely in 1922, from perhaps 15,000 men before the truce with the British in July 1921, to over 72,000 by November 1922. Veterans of the War of Independence derisively termed the new recruits "truceileers". These were to divide in broadly
6125-432: The Rearguard": In de Valera's words, " Further sacrifice of life would now be vain and continuance of the struggle in arms unwise in the national interest and prejudicial to the future of our cause. Military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the Republic. Other means must be sought to safeguard the nation's right. " By this time, thousands of republicans were already prisoners of
6250-411: The Spanish Republic and subsequently banned members for joining the Connolly Column. Frank Ryan was perhaps the most prominent Irish participant. (At the same time, IRA opponent and Greenshirts leader Eoin O'Duffy organised the Irish Brigade to go to Spain to fight on the opposing side, with Francisco Franco 's Nationalists.) The IRA was banned once again in 1935, as were the Blueshirts. Moss Twomey
6375-407: The Treaty, while those in favour predominated in the Midlands, Leinster and Ulster . The pro-Treaty volunteers formed the nucleus of the new National Army . Anti-Treaty officers called an army convention in March 1922, attended by their supporters, which reaffirmed their opposition to the Treaty. They repudiated the authority of the Dáil , claiming that its members had broken their oath to defend
SECTION 50
#17327723755496500-534: The UK for work had a notable effect on IRA manpower. The Gardaí described the assassination as "a well and coolly thought-out outrage, well-planned and daringly executed". Seán MacBride was disliked by many members of the IRA who were distrustful of his inclination for politics, and he soon came in to open conflict with the IRA's Quartermaster-General, Seán Russell , who prepared a bombing campaign in England in spite of MacBride's disapproval. MacBride had Russell court-martialed for misappropriating IRA funds, resulting in
6625-407: The US. Freddy Guevara , an opposition deputy, branded cowardly the actions of adding civilian personnel and the reserve to carry out military exercises and face a possible US attack. In April 2020, it was reported that Nicolas Maduro had imprisoned hundreds of opposition members to use as human shields in a potential US invasion. Human shields have been used by the Israeli Defense Forces during
6750-525: The adjacent International Settlement (one failing to explode) and killing at least 950 Chinese civilians, foreigners and refugees. After World War II, it was claimed by SS general Gottlob Berger that there was a plan, proposed by the Luftwaffe and approved by Adolf Hitler , to set up special POW camps for captured airmen of the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces in large German cities, to act as human shields against their bombing raids . Berger realized that this would contravene
6875-450: The anti-Treaty IRA units held most of the south and west of Ireland. However, the Republicans, under a new chief of staff, Liam Lynch, soon lost most of the territory they initially controlled. While the anti-Treaty side had a numerical advantage at the very start of the war, they were soon both outnumbered and outgunned. The Free State's National Army was quickly expanded to over 38,000 by the end of 1922 and to 55,000 men and 3,000 officers by
7000-406: The authorities that could identify them. By this time, an alarm had been raised at Islandbridge Barracks after a lorry failed to stop when driving through the gate. It was 2250 by the time a party of soldiers was dispatched from Portobello Barracks to investigate what was happening at the fort. They managed to capture two of the raiders, who were seen hiding near the fort's entrance. In the meantime,
7125-442: The bonnet, so the guy up in the hill could see an Arab on the truck so he wouldn't blow it… If [the rebel] was unlucky the truck coming up behind would hit him. But nobody bothered to pick the bits up. They were left." The practice began on 24 September 1936 when Brigadier J. F. Evetts reacted to Palestinian rebel attacks against British positions in Nablus by forcing the city mayor, Suleiman Abdul Razzaq Tuqan , to sit exposed on
7250-400: The camp to evacuate, but few did. Three delegations of prominent Sidon figures were sent to persuade Haj Ibrahim's fighters that "their cause was hopeless, and whoever was willing to lay down his arms would be allowed to leave the camp unharmed." None of the delegations were successful; the first was prevented from approaching the fighters by "a spray of bullets", while the third "returned with
7375-399: The camp. According to 1982 Newsweek photo, Israeli soldiers were attacked by PLO fighters disguised as hospital patients. During the Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict in the 1970s, an account tells that throughout the conflict, the military burned the homes of the Jummas , carried out mass killings and rape of Jumma women, and placed Bengali settlers as human shields on the land of
7500-462: The charge as part of its 'infowar' on social media, to explain the high ratio of civilian vs military casualties in its conflict with Gaza. In Operation Cast Lead 100 Gazans died for every Israeli, and the civilian ratio was 400 Gazans to 1 Israeli. Israeli spokesmen explained the difference by alleging that Hamas used civilians as shields. It has been argued that no evidence has come to light proving these claims. Amnesty International investigated
7625-409: The coast of Cobh, County Cork, which was carrying arms. On the outbreak of civil war in June 1922, the government of the Irish Free State issued directives to newspapers that its Army was to be called "The National Army", and that its opponents were to be called "Irregulars" and were not to be associated with the IRA of 1919–1921. This attitude hardened as the Civil War went on, and especially after
SECTION 60
#17327723755497750-448: The country. A number of these hostages were filmed meeting Hussein, and kept with him to deter any targeted attacks, whilst others were held in or near military and industrial targets. He used both Westerners and Iraqi civilians. In 1991, during the operations in the Gulf War, the U.S. submitted a report to the UN Security Council denouncing Iraq for having "intentionally placed civilians at risk through its behavior". The report cited
7875-423: The country. The remainder of anti-Treaty IRA arms were shotguns (3,000 of which were confiscated after the Civil War) and other civilian weapons. Public support for the Treaty settlement and the new Irish Free State was reflected in the victory of the pro-Treaty side in general elections in 1922 and 1923. Anti-Treaty forces controversially seized a number of public buildings in Dublin in April 1922, most notably
8000-551: The countryside intimately, the anti-Treaty forces found that they could not sustain a guerrilla war such as that fought against Britain. Only in County Kerry was a relatively effective campaign fought, with the IRA units re-taking Kenmare and other towns from the Free State on several occasions. The IRA's relative popularity in this area had much to do with the brutality of the occupying Free State troops. Other areas of guerrilla activity included County Cork , western County Mayo , County Wexford and several other localities. Despite
8125-430: The day of the truce". In Kerry's case (which saw more Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) men killed than anywhere else outside Dublin and Tipperary), this was far from true; however, some areas such as County Sligo and County Wexford did see considerably more action in the Civil War than in the War of Independence. Other IRA men such as Florence O'Donoghue formed a group called the "neutral IRA", which tried to reconcile
8250-562: The deaths of several uninvolved English civilians, were executed on 7 February 1940. Republican publication An Phoblacht did not deny their mission in England and IRA membership but maintains that they were not involved with the Coventry bombing. In July 1940 the IRA issued an open letter stating that if "German forces should land in Ireland, they will land...as friends and liberators of the Irish people". Readers were informed that Germany desired neither "territory nor...economic penetration" in Ireland but simply wanted Ireland to play its part in
8375-419: The debacle of the Republican Congress would be inspired primarily by a conservative, strictly nationalist political outlook and was increasingly influenced by radical right-wing ideas based on Catholic social teaching such as corporatism , distributism and even the fascist ideology of Ailtirí na hAiséirghe , which sent books, journals and posters to IRA internees imprisoned in the Curragh . Tarlach Ó hUid ,
8500-424: The defeat of the anti-Treaty IRA seemed assured. It controlled no territory and its guerrilla campaign had little public support. The civil war petered out in mid-1923 after the death in action of IRA chief-of-staff Liam Lynch. Shortly afterward, on 24 May 1923, the anti-Treaty forces received an order, issued by Frank Aiken , their chief-of-staff, to "dump arms". Éamon de Valera supported this in his speech "Legion of
8625-430: The duty officer at Portobello had raised the general alarm. Around midnight, a new guard was ordered posted at the Magazine Fort and orders were issued for the arrest of the old guard. A total of 1,084,000 rounds of ammunition had been taken and removed in thirteen lorries with no casualties or hindrance. Over the next three to four days a massive nationwide hunt was launched to find the stolen items. On 1 January 1940 it
8750-412: The editor of the IRA newspaper War News , and Gearóid Ó Broin, a member of the IRA Army Council, became members of Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, and the IRA Adjutant-General, Tomás Ó Dubhghaill , expressed his approval of the party in a letter to its leader Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin . Anti-Semitic sentiments also began to be expressed, including satisfaction at the 'cleansing fires' of the Wehrmacht driving
8875-407: The end of the war; one of its sources of recruits was Irish ex-servicemen from the British Army . Additionally, the British met its requests for arms, ammunition, armoured cars, artillery and aeroplanes. By August 1922, the Free State had re-taken all the major towns and territory held by republicans. The Free State's best troops were the Dublin Guard : a unit composed of former IRA men, mostly from
9000-490: The evening of 22 December and given precise instructions as to their duties for the next morning. Around 2000 hrs that night, according to the statements of the guards, the officer commanding left his post to go into the city. To do this the MP guarding the gates had to switch on the outer lights illuminating the entrance, open the inner gate, then open the outer gate. This was against standard operating procedure , but seemed to be
9125-444: The event of war, [and to collect] radio sets and courier communication.' In 1942 he wrote an article arguing that Ireland's future lay in an alliance with a victorious Germany. The IRA began to reconcile with their erstwhile opponent Eoin O'Duffy, who met in the summer of 1939 with several IRA figures and Eduard Hempel . A year later, IRA officers approached O'Duffy and asked him to join the organisation. While O'Duffy did not take up
9250-458: The fighting was conducted with fists or boots, at least one Blueshirt and one IRA man were shot dead in these clashes. IRA leaders saw in these events the beginnings of a republican revolution and the overthrow of the Free State. They were to be disappointed. Initially, de Valera's Fianna Fáil government was friendly towards the IRA, legalising the organisation and freeing all their prisoners who had been interned by Cumann na nGaedhael. This afforded
9375-410: The fighting". Amnesty International investigated claims made by Israel in the 2008–2009 Gaza War and the 2014 Gaza War that Hamas employed human shields, and said that "storing munitions in civilian buildings or launching attacks from the vicinity of civilian buildings" and public statements directing civilians to stay at home do not amount to using human shields. During the 2003 Invasion of Iraq ,
9500-449: The fire picket troops. At this point, all the troops attached to the fort and the gatekeeper were held prisoner until around 2220 hrs that evening and made no attempt to resist their captors. During this time, the captives heard 'many' heavy lorries coming and going from the depot. At 2220 hrs the IRA locked the prisoners in the 'C' Magazine area, which the raiders had completely emptied of weaponry. They were warned not to give away details to
9625-501: The following examples of such behavior: In the aftermath of the 1998 United States embassy bombings , Osama bin Laden stressed that he would have committed the attacks even if his own children were being used as human shields. Shortly after the cease-fire between Croat and Serb forces, the Army of Republika Srpska launched an assault against the safe area of Goražde , heavily shelling
9750-562: The former British administration), with Peadar O'Donnell establishing the Anti-Tribute League in 1928. Many Communist Party of Ireland members were also members of the IRA at this time. Political initiatives such as Saor Éire , begun in 1931, were promoted by left-wing IRA members such as George Gilmore , Peadar O'Donnell and Frank Ryan . IRA members also helped establish the "Friends of Soviet Russia", from which they later expelled Communist Party members when relations between
9875-473: The government. Left-wing IRA members, including Peadar O'Donnell, Frank Ryan and George Gilmore, frustrated with the failure of the IRA to achieve either "The Republic" or socialist revolution, left in 1934 to set up a new party, the Republican Congress . This, in turn, was ultimately a failure, partly because conservative elements in the IRA leadership opposed it and forced its supporters to leave
10000-408: The gun was pointed in his face, had run in the other direction crying for help. At that point, another man appeared from inside the fort and disarmed him. The two hostages were then forced to act as human shields for the two intruders to the guardroom where the remaining soldiers were caught by surprise and surrendered without a fight. Whilst this was happening a second IRA team overcame and disarmed
10125-574: The hopes of gaining Soviet finance and weaponry. A secret pact was agreed, whereby the IRA would spy on the United States and the United Kingdom and pass information to Red Army military intelligence in New York City and London in return for £500 a month. The pact was originally approved by Frank Aiken, who left soon after to co-found Fianna Fáil with De Valera, before being succeeded by Andrew Cooney and Moss Twomey, who kept up
10250-593: The incidents which resulted in the largest number of civilian casualties, finding that these casualties were not the result of human shielding. During the 2023 Israel–Hamas War , the European Union and US President Joe Biden condemned the use of human shields by organizations such as Hamas . Janina Dill, a laws of war professor at University of Oxford , stated, "Even if Hamas uses civilians as human shields, those civilians are entitled to full protection under international law unless they directly participate in
10375-459: The killing of Michael Collins in an ambush in August 1922. Collins wrote to W. T. Cosgrave on 25 July 1922 that those on the anti-Treaty side were "misguided, but practically all of them are sincere". However, the subsequent government attitude under Cosgrave was that the anti-Treaty side were rebels against the lawful government, and were not entitled to recognition as legitimate combatants. Some of
10500-426: The latter's demotion within the organisation. When the next army convention was called, MacBride was ousted and Tom Barry elected Chief of Staff. Barry began preparations for a large-scale invasion of Northern Ireland, establishing camps where hundreds of IRA men were trained, creating detailed maps containing the locations of army and police barracks, and importing Thompsons with the help of Clan na Gael . However,
10625-424: The limitations of the anti-Treaty IRA's campaign, they still inflicted more fatalities on Free State troops (about 800) in the eleven-month civil war than they had on British Crown forces, who lost about 600 killed in the almost three-year-long War of Independence (1919–1921). The disparity is no doubt due to the Free State troops' relative paucity of training and equipment compared with British forces. The conduct of
10750-481: The mid- to late-1930s and its "natural constituency" had been appropriated by Fianna Fáil. Human shield A human shield is a non-combatant (or a group of non-combatants) who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it. The concept of human shields as a resistance measure was created by Mahatma Gandhi as a weapon of resistance. Forcing protected persons to serve as human shields
10875-569: The most harrowing tale of all": "Militiamen were shooting civilians who tried to escape. In one particularly grisly incident, three children were shot because their father had suggested calling an end to the fighting." After a delegation of Palestinian POWs , "headed by a PLO officer who was prepared to give the defenders his professional assessment of Ein Hilweh's grave military situation", and an offer by Mordechai to "meet personally with" Haj Ibrahim were also rebuffed, "a team of psychologists ...
11000-411: The most prominent type of shield in contemporary discourse". They say that the proximate shielding accusation has been used by States to cover-up war crimes against civilian populations and that human rights organizations frequently fail to question this charge which they claim is being improperly used to justify civilian deaths. Article 23 of the 1907 Hague Convention (IV) states that "A belligerent
11125-481: The navy, air service and army" to Red Army intelligence. In 1926, after failing to persuade Sinn Féin to participate in the political institutions of the Free State, de Valera formed a new political party, called Fianna Fáil , and many Sinn Féin members left to support him. De Valera would in 1932 become President of the Executive Council , at the head of the first Fianna Fáil government. Also in 1926,
11250-462: The next day. IRA men assassinated Free State minister Kevin O'Higgins in 1927 in revenge for his perceived responsibility for executions in the Civil War. A total of four Gardaí were killed by the IRA in the period 1926–1936. In 1932 Gardaí shot two IRA leaders, George Gilmore and Thomas Ryan, in Kilrush , County Clare . When de Valera's Fianna Fáil party won the 1932 election, the IRA expected
11375-531: The north staying within the United Kingdom as the new jurisdiction of Northern Ireland . The IRA units in the other 26 counties (that were to become the Irish Free State ) split between supporters and opponents of the Treaty. The anti-Treatyites, sometimes referred to by Free State forces as "Irregulars", continued to use the name "Irish Republican Army" (IRA) or in Irish Óglaigh na hÉireann , as did
11500-425: The number of members had shrunk to 5,042. By 1930 the IRA possessed fewer than 2,000 members and only 859 rifles, indicating the decline in its military potential. The casualties of the anti-Treaty IRA in the Civil War have never been accurately counted, but are thought to have been considerably more than the 800 or so deaths suffered by the Free State Army, perhaps two or three times as numerous. Significantly however,
11625-664: The offer, he was later invited to join Moss Twomey and Andrew Cooney in protesting the basing of American troops in Northern Ireland. In 1940, prominent members and supporters of the IRA established Córas na Poblachta , which, among its objectives, called for the "destruction of the Masonic Order in Ireland" and the "reversal of the cultural conquest of our country by England", not excluding "the employment of compulsion" to that end. Many far-right figures joined
11750-468: The officers of the new Irish Army , led by Liam Tobin , formed an association called the "Old IRA" to distinguish themselves from the anti-Treaty fighters. Some pro-Treaty IRA officers, such as Eoin O'Duffy, alleged that the "Irregulars" had not fought the British in the War of Independence . O'Duffy claimed that the Kerry IRA's sole contribution in 1919–21 was "the shooting of an unfortunate soldier on
11875-420: The only legitimate Irish parliament. For most of this period, the IRA's relations with Sinn Féin were poor (IRA members were even forbidden to join the party), despite the reconciliation attempt represented by the 1929 Comhairle na Poblachta . The IRA intervened in a number of strikes during this period, and IRA members campaigned against the payment of land annuities (in respect of the buying-out of landlords by
12000-730: The organisation in Northern Ireland, which originally supported the pro-Treaty side (if not the Treaty). Óglaigh na hÉireann was also adopted as the name of the pro-Treaty National Army , and it remains the official legal title of the Irish Defence Forces . The signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty by the Irish delegation in London caused an angry reaction among the less compromising elements in Sinn Féin and among
12125-491: The organisation's inactivity under Fitzpatrick's leadership led to Seán Russell's election as Chief of Staff at a General Army Convention of the IRA in April 1938, in spite of Barry's protests against the idea of a bombing campaign and Russell himself being forbidden to attend the convention. Barry and many leading members of the IRA opposed to the campaign subsequently resigned. Russell's tenure as Chief of Staff would signal both
12250-681: The organisation. The Congress itself also split and collapsed after its first general meeting in 1935. In 1936–37, a number of ex-IRA men were among the Irish fighters (later to become known as the Connolly Column ) who joined the largely socialist International Brigades to fight for the Second Spanish Republic against the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War . The IRA did not show any support for
12375-434: The parcel and bent down to unbolt the gate, and when he stood up straight again he saw the muzzle of a revolver pointed in his face. The unidentified man told the MP to open the gate fully and put his hands up. At this point the IRA team appeared from both inside and outside the fort, confiscating the weapons of the sentry and MP. The sentry on guard at the time testified in contrast that the MP had left both gates open and, when
12500-545: The party, including Ó Cuinneagáin, who lead the party's youth wing, Aicéin, until its independence was terminated in 1942, while Córas na Poblachta took on a strongly anti-Semitic and pro-German character. The IRA's ideological shift was noted by other organisations at the time. In 1940, the Communist Party of Ireland , which had been close to the IRA in the 1930s, published an article in its official newspaper for Northern Ireland The Red Hand that openly questioned if
12625-628: The plan was cancelled just days before it was scheduled to be executed as a result of revelations that the plans had been leaked, becoming common knowledge in Dublin, and that the Belfast Brigade had been infiltrated by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Afterwards, Tom Barry resigned as Chief of Staff, being succeeded by Mick Fitzpatrick . Seán Russell left Ireland for the United States without permission from
12750-547: The position for almost a decade and became the longest-lasting Chief of Staff of this iteration of the IRA. Under his reign, he cautiously opened the IRA up to left-wing influences in order to contrast it against the emerging right-wing stance of the Cumann na nGaedheal government. In summer of 1925, the anti-treaty IRA had sent a delegation led by Pa Murray to the Soviet Union for a personal meeting with Joseph Stalin , in
12875-656: The position of the United States Department of Defense (as well as the United Kingdom and some scholars) that attackers may discount or disregard collateral harm in determining proportionality and states that these views are "legally baseless and morally unsound". Authors Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini, elaborating on their book, Human Shields: A History of People in the Line of Fire , discuss "proximate shields", humans as shields merely due to proximity to belligerents and assert that this type has become "by far
13000-403: The presence of passenger jets could act as a deterrent against an American attack on the airport or the nearby military base, effectively turning planeloads of unsuspecting travelers into human shields." Canada 's Minister of Transport Marc Garneau also questioned why Iran let civilian aircraft in its airspace, and suggested Iran intended to use the civilian aircraft as human shields. In 2015,
13125-522: The procedure. The independent human rights NGOs B'tselem and Amnesty International have stated that ample evidence exists in conflicts after that date that Israel has employed Palestinians as human shields. According to B'tselem, the practice goes back to 1967. In 2010, two Israeli soldiers were convicted of using for using a Palestinian boy during the 2008–2009 Gaza War . The charge has been leveled against Palestinian groups frequently by numerous observers. Neve Gordon has noted how Israel has used
13250-527: The raid and, in the following days, most of the stolen military equipment was recovered and several IRA volunteers were arrested. The Dublin Magazine Fort was built in 1735. The fort is in the west of the city, north of the River Liffey within Phoenix Park. The building is located in the south-eastern part of the park, close by a wooded ridge, and has a commanding view of the surrounding area. It
13375-455: The raid was possible, felt he should take the risk. The Christmas season was chosen as the perfect time for the operation, as security was expected to be even more lax than usual. However, the people operating the arms dumps had not expected the sheer amount of weaponry taken during the raid. Many IRA members had been interned under the Offences against the State Act 1939 on the outbreak of
13500-656: The roof of a garrison building under fire, as a 'high-value human shield'. Tuqan returned his Order of the British Empire commendation in protest. On 14 August 1937, in what would become the first major battle of World War II in Asia between China and the occupying forces of the Empire of Japan at the Battle of Shanghai , the Imperial Japanese Navy berthed their flagship Izumo in front of
13625-629: The run, trying to evade capture by the Garda Síochána (Irish police). The stated reason for a raid on the Fort being ordered was that, although the IRA had many Thompson submachine guns (imported with the help of Clan na Gael over the preceding decade), the .45 ACP ammunition used in these guns was not easily available in continental Europe. It so happened that the Irish Army also used the Thompson and had large supplies of ammunition. Permission
13750-558: The same ratio as the veterans; however, most of them did not take part in the Irish Civil War . At the beginning of the Civil War, the Free State had about 8,000 fighters, mostly pro-Treaty IRA volunteers. The anti-Treaty side could muster about 15,000 men but it could not arm them all. At the start of the war, they had just under 7,000 rifles, a few machine guns and a handful of armoured cars taken from British garrisons (who were under orders not to fire on IRA units) as they evacuated
13875-466: The secret IRA-Soviet espionage relationship until around 1930–31. While Twomey was not an ideological Marxist-Leninist (although there were some communists in the IRA at this time, such as Peadar O'Donnell); he saw the arrangement as purely utilitarian and regarded the Soviets as "shifty" and "out to exploit us." Some republicans argued that they had lost the Civil War because they had not appealed to
14000-498: The social unrest in the country and had lacked any social or economic programme, which allowed communists to gain influence. Nevertheless, the IRA passed specifications of British "submarine detection sonar and aeroplane engines for bombers, military journals and manuals, and gas masks" to the Soviets and the IRA's man in the U.S., "Mr. Jones", passed "reports of the army's chemical weapons service, state-of-the-art gas masks, machine-gun and aeroplane engine specifications, and reports from
14125-549: The town and surrounding villages. Protests and exhortations from the UN Security Council were ineffective, and on 10 and 11 April 1994, NATO launched air strikes against Bosnian Serb positions. In retaliation, Bosnian Serb forces captured UN personnel within their areas of operation and used them as human shields at sites expected to be bombed. In a similar situation to what had happened in Sarajevo , an ultimatum
14250-582: The two factions. Meanwhile, the IRA in Northern Ireland maintained its links with Michael Collins; the only Northern IRA leader to join the anti-Treaty side was Belfast commander Joe McKelvey . The Northern IRA launched a renewed military offensive in May 1922, in which it was aided covertly by both the National Army and the anti-Treaty IRA. This was interrupted by the outbreak of the Irish civil war . Many Northern IRA men then had to flee
14375-531: The two organisations deteriorated. In the years after the Civil War, many republicans viewed the Free State, with its censorship of newspapers and extensive coercive legislation, as a sham democracy, in the service of British imperialism. The IRA remained prepared to take over the country by insurrection, after which it expected to have to fight the British again. In November 1926 it seized 11 Garda Síochána barracks, shooting dead two Gardaí. The Free State immediately used its Special Powers Act to intern 110 IRA men
14500-617: The use of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . Indian revolutionary Mahatma Gandhi is credited with creating the concept of human shield as a tool of resistance. In 1960s Algeria , during the Algerian War , France used civilians as hostages and human shields in its fight against the National Liberation Army . In 1963, a Ba'athist tank unit in Kirkuk covered its assault on
14625-501: The war had not been brought to an end by any kind of agreement between the two sides. The IRA of the post-Civil War era would never accept the Free State as a legitimate Irish government and would continue to oppose its existence. The period immediately following the Irish Civil War saw the IRA swing towards the political left, manifest in the election of Moss Twomey to the position of chief of staff. Twomey would go on to hold
14750-624: The war, but released in December when the Supreme Court ruled in State (Burke) v. Lennon that the relevant section of the 1939 act violated the constitution . Some of those released participated in the raid. The Magazine Fort did not have its own guard troops. These were supplied from infantry units stationed in the Command area. That particular night, the 7th (Dublin) Infantry Battalion,
14875-423: Was flown to Sidon to advise the command on how to deal with such irrational behavior." However, "the best advice the psychologists could offer was to organize yet another but considerably larger delegation comprising some forty or so people and including women and children"; Haj Ibrahim responded to the fifth delegation with "exactly the same three words"; triggering a bloody battle in which Israeli troops finally took
15000-483: Was imprisoned and was succeeded as chief of staff by Seán MacBride . De Valera's government increasingly followed a strict anti-IRA policy. In 1936 Vice-Admiral Henry Somerville was assassinated in his West Cork home by IRA gunmen for recruiting many local Irishmen, including IRA members and even a captain in the Drimoleague IRA company, into the British military which combined with other members immigrating to
15125-784: Was issued, and by the 24th, most of the Serb troops had complied. According to various accounts, including that of the American ambassador to the U.N., the Taliban used women and children from their own population as human shields against coalition forces in 2006, 2007, and 2008, during the war in Afghanistan . According to Human Rights Watch 2004 report, the Lord's Resistance Army used children as human shields, porters, and laborers. In 2018, several Abu Sayyaf militants were arrested in
15250-421: Was killed and the property of parliamentarians burnt. In addition IRA men around the country burned many of the stately homes of the old Protestant Anglo-Irish landed class—a policy motivated by both class antagonism and nationalist resentment against a class traditionally seen as "pro-British". The Free State Government, for its part, officially executed 77 anti-Treaty prisoners. Government forces also carried out
15375-593: Was occupied by the British Army during the period of British rule , and after independence was utilised by the Irish Army to store their stocks of arms and ammunition. The IRA was still involved with the Sabotage Campaign at the time of the raid, with a lot of units either interned, on the run, in Britain, or recently deported from Britain. A number of members of the Army Council were also on
15500-418: Was reported that almost three-quarters of the ammunition had been recovered, a total of 850,000 rounds. In addition, some IRA volunteers were caught storing the ammunition, and were arrested. The raid had turned into another disaster for the IRA to contend with. The volume of material stolen, and the massive hunt to recover it that followed, turned up all the stolen ammunition and weapons plus more, along with
15625-489: Was sought to steal ammunition, either from the Magazine Fort or nearby Islandbridge Barracks . Acting Chief of Staff in Seán Russell 's absence, Stephen Hayes , gave the order. A raid on the Fort was not a new idea—it had been floated initially in 1937, but IRA Chief of Staff Mick Fitzpatrick had dismissed the idea as unworkable, because there would be nowhere to store the stolen ammunition. Hayes, on hearing that
#548451