Physical
force Irish republicanism as an ideology had a long history,
from the United Irishmen of the 1798 and 1803 rebellions, to the Young
Irelander Rebellion of 1848 and the Irish
Republican Brotherhood rebellion of 1867. In
addition, the methods of the IRA were to some extent inspired by
the traditions of militant agrarian Irish secret societies like the
Defenders, the Ribbonmen and the supporters
of the Irish Land League.
The acronym IRA was first used by the IRB
organization in America (also known as the Fenian Brotherhood). This "Irish Republican Army" of
the 1860s comprised the American Fenians' paramilitary forces,
organized into a number of regiments. Fenian soldiers wearing IRA
insignia fought at the Battle of Ridgeway on
2 June
1866. However
the term Irish Republican Army in its modern sense was
first used in the second decade of the 20th century for the
rebel forces of the Irish Volunteers and
the Irish Citizens Army during the Easter
Rising. It was subsequently, and most commonly, used for those
Volunteers who fought a guerrilla campaign in 1919–1921 in support
of the Irish Republic declared in 1919.
