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37-601: (Redirected from Northern Campaign ) Northern campaign may refer to: Northern campaign (Irish Republican Army) , attempts by the IRA to destabilise Northern Ireland between 1942 and 1944 Northern France campaign (1944) , the campaign immediately after American troops broke out from the Normandy beachhead in World War II Northern Virginia campaign ,

74-557: A controversial but central aspect of the IRA's ceasefire was the granting of a limited visa by then United States President Bill Clinton to Cahill, in the face of opposition by John Major 's government , for the purpose of trying to win support for the new Sinn Féin peace strategy from Irish American IRA supporters. In 1998 he stood in North Antrim in the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly , but

111-526: A job at the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast. It was at the shipyards where he was said to have contracted the disease asbestosis, one of the causes of his death many years later. In 1953, Cahill had an accident on the job when he was hit on the head by scaffolding. He subsequently spent time recovering in a convalescent home. After he recovered, he travelled to Leixlip near Dublin to visit his aunt. It

148-639: A resumption of activity. Many of the escapees had crossed the border into County Donegal in Ireland and were subsequently recaptured by the Irish Army. The few others that escaped arrest sought refuge from pursuit rather than resuming their attacks. IRA northern command units in south Londonderry and south Armagh were no longer able to function as required, and contact with units in Counties Cavan and Monaghan started to wane. Bowyer-Bell states of

185-807: A series of battles fought in Virginia during 1862 in the American Civil War Northern Tavriya Campaign , a 1920 military campaign of the Russian Civil War War in the North , the northern campaign during the Spanish Civil War (1937) See also [ edit ] Northern Expedition Northern Expeditions (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

222-591: Is that I did not succeed in getting the contents of the Claudia into the hands of the freedom fighters in this country". Upon his release, Cahill again was put in charge of arms importation and to this end went to the United States. He was deported from the United States in 1984 for illegal entry (see Provisional IRA arms importation ). He served on the IRA Army Council as late as the 1990s. In

259-607: The Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998. Shortly after the agreement was made, Cahill resigned as treasurer of Sinn Féin. To honour his service, he was made honorary Sinn Féin vice-president for life. Cahill served the republican movement in Ireland all his life, as one of the longest-serving political activists in Ireland of any political party. Cahill was born above his father's small printing shop at 60 Divis Street on 19 May 1920 in West Belfast . Cahill

296-709: The Belfast Battalion. In April 1971, after the arrest and imprisonment of Billy McKee, Cahill became the commander of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade . He held this post until the introduction of internment in August of that year. It was during this period that the Provisional IRA campaign got off the ground in the city. Cahill authorised the beginning of the IRA's bombing campaign as well as attacks on British troops and

333-652: The British Army, privates". To avoid the propaganda defeat that his capture would then have entailed, Cahill fled to the Republic of Ireland , temporarily relinquishing his command of the Belfast Brigade. In March 1972, Cahill was part of an IRA delegation that held direct talks with the British Labour Party leader Harold Wilson . However, although the IRA called a three-day ceasefire for

370-469: The Catholic Young Men's Society, which campaigned on social issues with a focus on eradicating moneylenders from working-class areas of Belfast, as they often charged usurious interest rates. At the age of seventeen, Cahill then joined Na Fianna Eireann, a republican-orientated Scouting movement. Na Fianna Eireann was regarded as the "Junior Irish Republican Army". The following year, 1938, at

407-645: The IRA becoming weak and disorganised. Cahill resigned from the IRA around 1962. In August 1969, intense rioting broke out in Northern Ireland, the most violent being in Belfast. In the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 , Cahill, along with Billy McKee , tried to defend the Catholic Clonard area from attack, but was unable to prevent Bombay Street being burned by Ulster Protestant rioters. When he subsequently tried to organise

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444-779: The IRA. He liaised with the NORAID group in America and with the Libyan dictatorship of Muammar al-Gaddafi to this end. On March 29, 1973 he was arrested by the Irish Navy in Waterford, aboard the Claudia , a ship from Libya loaded with five tons of weapons. Cahill was sentenced to three years imprisonment by the Irish Special Criminal Court . Cahill stated at his trial that, "If I am guilty of any crime, it

481-658: The RUC. He based himself in a house in Andersonstown and toured the city, co-ordinating IRA activity. The day after the British Army mounted Operation Demetrius , designed to arrest the IRA's leaders, Cahill held a press conference in a school in Ballymurphy and stated that the operation had been a failure. He said, "we have lost one brigade officer, one battalion officer and the rest are volunteers, or as they say in

518-535: The age of 18, Cahill joined the local Clonard -based 'C' Company of the Belfast Brigade of the Irish Republican Army . By 1942, Cahill was serving as second in command. That year, during an anniversary march by the IRA for the Easter Rising, Cahill got into a shootout with five other IRA men against four Royal Ulster Constabulary Officers. Several men were wounded and Constable Patrick Murphy

555-571: The border area between Northern Ireland and Ireland, around 320 members and suspected members of the IRA, including Hugh McActeer, were arrested across Northern Ireland. One historian, Bowyer-Bell, reports a total of 60 armed attacks by the IRA in the three months up to December 1942, carried out by the remaining fifty to sixty IRA members still at large. In the first few months of 1943, jail breaks at Crumlin Road and Derry gaols saw 23 IRA members, including McAteer, escape. This however failed to inspire

592-521: The campaign. Cahill was arrested and interned in January 1957 with several other republicans. In the same year, Cahill's first son was born and was named Thomas, after Tom Williams. Cahill was released from internment in April 1961. Following his release from prison, Cahill was disappointed at the direction of the IRA. They had given up armed struggle, and desired seats in elections. Failed campaigns led to

629-424: The chief of staff in 1972, but was arrested the following year when a ship importing weapons was intercepted. After his release, he continued to serve on the IRA Army Council and lead all financial dealings for Sinn Féin . In the 1990s, the IRA and Sinn Féin began to work on seeking peace. Cahill served on the council that called a cessation on 21 July 1997. Cahill attended several of the talks that finally led to

666-550: The defence of the Ballymurphy area, he was initially chased away by its Catholic residents. The 1969 Northern Ireland riots displaced 1,800 families from their homes. It was a humiliation for the IRA and made evident that they could not protect their people. The slogan 'IRA: I Ran Away' was painted on walls all over Belfast. The riots were said to be the beginning of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Later that year, Cahill

703-669: The execution date after the verdict. An appeal campaign began and 207,000 signatures were collected. The United States State Department and the Vatican also supported the campaign. As a result, the men's sentences were changed to life in prison, except for Tom Williams who was executed. The IRA declared a formal ceasefire in 1945. Afterwards, republican prisoners began to be released. Cahill, Perry, Oliver, Cordner and Simpson, who had all been sentenced to life in prison, became free men in October 1949. Following his release from prison, Cahill got

740-673: The fact their neighbour had essentially defeated the IRA, and the Irish Minister of Justice , Gerald Boland , was heard to boast during the period that "the IRA was dead and he had killed it". Following the initial raid in September, the RUC and Irish Special Branch stepped up their efforts against the IRA. A series of arms finds and arrests were made. The Secret Army – The IRA J Bowyer Bell 1997 3rd Edition, ISBN   1-85371-813-0 Joe Cahill Joe Cahill ( Irish : Seosamh Ó Cathail ; 19 May 1920 – 23 July 2004)

777-573: The first few months of the campaign, a few attacks against the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Strabane , Dungannon , and Belfast , resulted in the death of two RUC constables and the wounding of two others. Six IRA members, including Joe Cahill , were arrested during the Belfast incident and sentenced to death for the murder of one of the constables. A petition signed by around two hundred thousand people calling for mercy

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814-606: The house you would naturally read them. I suppose from that point of view there was a certain amount of indoctrination." His father was involved with the Irish National Volunteers and would print republican material at his print shop. Joseph Senior applied to be a part of the Irish Republican Army but was asked to remain in the print business as his way of assisting the republican movement. He was arrested in 1932 for printing illegal material, but

851-513: The late 1970s and early 1980s, he argued against proposals for Sinn Féin to stand in elections. However, in 1985, he spoke at the party's Ard Fheis in favour of republicans contesting elections and taking seats in the Dublin parliament, the Dáil . In his later years as honorary life vice-president of Sinn Féin, Cahill was a strong supporter of Gerry Adams and the Good Friday Agreement . In 1994,

888-571: The late-1943 to mid-1943 period that the local commanding officers preferred to avoid arrest, and that anything associated with the IRA such as parades, training, and even meetings ended with fear of internment at Curragh. By the end of World War II in 1945, the northern command of the IRA, largely as a result of the stern response from the Irish government, had been reduced to a few wanted men with Northern Ireland entirely free from IRA activity. The Northern Ireland government couldn't publicly acknowledge

925-637: The leadership. This action took 9 out of the 13 units of the IRA in Belfast into the Provisional IRA. The remnants of the pre-split IRA became known as the Official IRA . The Provisional IRA was created and an executive council of 12 men was elected. Of the executive members, seven, one of whom was Joe Cahill. were elected to serve as the Provisional Army Council. Cahill also served as the second-in-command to Billy McKee, OC of

962-474: The occupation of Irish soil with the arrival of American soldiers in Northern Ireland as part of the war effort against Nazi Germany . This influx of foreign soldiers encouraged the northern command of the IRA, under the auspices of newly appointed IRA Chief of Staff Hugh McAteer , to reorganise and on 25 March 1942 agree a new campaign against the British military and war effort in Northern Ireland. Over

999-485: The talks, no permanent end to violence was agreed upon. Upon his return to Ireland, Cahill was arrested in Dublin by Gardaí and charged with IRA membership. He went on hunger strike for twenty-three days and was subsequently released due to lack of evidence. In November 1972, Cahill became the IRA's chief of staff and held this position until his arrest the following year. Cahill was then put in charge of importing arms for

1036-585: The title Northern campaign . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northern_campaign&oldid=983290492 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Northern campaign (Irish Republican Army) [REDACTED] Northern Ireland [REDACTED] Ireland The Northern campaign

1073-571: Was a key figure in founding the Provisional Irish Republican Army . Angry at the failure of the IRA (led in Belfast by Billy McMillen ) to defend Catholic areas during the communal rioting, Cahill and McKee stated in September 1969 that they would no longer be taking orders from the IRA leadership in Dublin , or from McMillen. In December 1969, they declared their allegiance to the Provisional IRA, which had split away from

1110-625: Was a prominent figure in the Irish republican movement in Northern Ireland and former chief of staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He joined a junior-republican movement, Na Fianna Eireann, in 1937 and the following year, joined the Irish Republican Army. In 1969, Cahill was a key figure in the founding of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. During his time in the Provisional IRA, Cahill helped import weapons and raise financial support. He served as

1147-589: Was a series of attacks by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) Northern Command between September 1942 and December 1944 against the security forces in Northern Ireland . The action taken by the Northern Irish and the Irish governments as a result of these attacks shattered the IRA and resulted in the former being free from IRA activity by the end of World War II . In December 1956 the IRA began its Border Campaign which lasted until February 1962. The Taoiseach of Ireland , Éamon de Valera , complained about

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1184-574: Was acquitted for any crimes. Cahill's childhood was marked by hardship and his family was very poor. Cahill's grandparents were neighbours of the Scottish-born Irish socialist and Easter Rising leader James Connolly, who co-founded the Irish Citizens Army. Cahill was educated at St. Mary's Christian Brothers' School , then located on Barrack Street. At age 14 he left school to assist in the print shop. Soon after, he joined

1221-418: Was gathered by those calling for a reprieve, and several days before the date of the executions, all but one was commuted. The sole IRA member executed was Tom Williams who was hanged at Crumlim Road gaol , Belfast, on 2 September 1942, resulting in the IRA intensifying their attacks. After the bombing of Randalstown RUC station, and more gunfire attacks against the RUC in parts of West Belfast and across

1258-514: Was killed. Cahill and four of the other men spent time in prison in Belfast, where they were interrogated daily. Tom Williams , the sixth IRA man to be charged, spent time in the Royal Victoria Hospital due to his injuries. It was there that he made a statement taking full responsibility for killing Constable Patrick Murphy. All six men were found guilty and sentenced to death in August 1942. The men's legal team managed to suspend

1295-421: Was the first child of eleven siblings born to Joseph and Josephine Cahill. Both of his parents supported republicanism. Cahill spoke of his family's interest in Irish culture and history: "I was always taught to attend to things that were Irish. For instance, do Irish dancing. Do Irish things, a lot. In the house there would be lots of Irish history books. You wouldn't be forced to read them, but because they were in

1332-546: Was there that he met Annie Magee. Joe and Annie were married on 2 April 1956 in St John's Church on the Falls Road in Belfast. Together they had seven children. Annie was said to be his best friend. The IRA launched a new campaign in 1956. The IRA border campaign attacked ten targets in Northern Ireland, damaging bridges, courthouses and border roads. By 1957, three RUC officers and seven republicans had been killed during

1369-543: Was unsuccessful, coming tenth with 4.07% of the people's votes. Cahill died at age 84 in Belfast. He had been diagnosed with asbestosis , which he probably developed while working at the Harland & Wolff shipyards in his twenties. He and several other former shipyard workers later sued the company for their exposure to the dangerous substances but only won minimal compensation. An Irish republican flute band in Glasgow

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