The IRA Green Book, Free Essay for You to Check

The IRA Green Book is a government manual that is a directive for conduct and induction for the new volunteers who were joining the Irish Republican Army. The printing and writing of this book have been a major issue. This is because the organization and its operations have been perceived to be illegal. Therefore, these publications have been printed and distributed secretly. For quite a while, there has been a standoff between the British and Ireland. Even after the British had moved out of the larger parts of the island, the conflict between the two still persisted. The conflicts between the Republicans and the British loyalists caused lots of lives. During these wars, both parties had to employ tact and precise moves to ensure that they were at a better position than their opponents. This is why their weapons kept on improving from time to time. (Jackson, 2006 pg. 94-97)

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Focus on the Author

Because the IRA Green Book was much more of a secret movement that only the few volunteers had a chance to get access to, the author of these materials is yet to be well defined. Most of the operations that were ongoing and conducted were done without protocol and this made the entire operation be rendered illegal. In fact, a number of high ranking officials were arrested over the same. For instance, Seamus Twomey, a high ranking member of the IRA, was detained because of his active participation in the provision of IRA. In a number of operations, his name also did come out rather clearly as an active player in the efforts of the Green Book. During the bomb campaign in the city, he also came out prominently. During the 1970s, the IRA was majorly at his hands. He was like its leader.

Political and Historical Context

The Green Book first came into existence when the struggle to which that would be able to claim ownership of Ireland was started. Furthermore, through the book, they can look at their view of violence and its result during the 1919-1921 Irish War of Independence. (Taylor, 1999)Through the IRA Green Book, some operations were set on the track, and this helped the Irish to have a standoff compared to the British. This shows that the IRA Green Book did play a significant role also in shaping the face of History bearing the fact that through the book, there was the Irish War.

The Enemy According to the IRA Green Book

According to the Green Book, the enemy was seen to be the establishment of all those who have shown interest in maintaining the status ratio in politics, media, judiciary, particular businesses and the Brit war machines. (Sarma, 2007)According to these people, they did believe that these were their enemies and they had to take care of these issues as fast as possible. They preferred to make use of the tactic of continuous escalation instead of the tactical of surgical strike. This, therefore, gave them a heads up when they decided to make use of the volunteers some of which had other lives to lead but they still had to attend to the calls of their superiors when it came to matters of national security. With wars such as that of the war of attrition, the bombing campaign and many more, we can see how the Irish were able to have an added advantage over their enemies with the availability of volunteers.

The beliefs of the IRA Green Book in relation to the British.

According to Professor Edmund Curtis, Ireland was the first country North of the Alps to produce it's own literature. This was during their war against the Danes. However, they still underwent eight hundred years of oppression where six counties were in direct control by the British. The remaining counties also had a concurrent social, cultural and economic domination. This led to them having to save their savings in England so that they could be able to get higher interest rates. Furthermore, their raw materials were being directly exported and multi national companies were brought in to run the economy. According to the Green Book, they believed that this was Africanization where very little of their country's affairs was in their control. Therefore, they led a front and this helped them because the Republican movement opposed the immersion of the North and South to the E.E.C. Ever since then, the Irish Republican Army has always been to sustain resistance and the continuous hospitality towards imperialism. They have been able to combine both the latest guerilla techniques and revolutionary thinking to be up the food chain. All the challenges, battles won, sacrifices and the war trying to get off the jaws of the British imperialism, a lot of admiration is seen over the brave acts of the Irish Republican Army. The fruits of these wars and sacrifices is nowadays evident through the main road and City Street of Ireland, in various Share holding companies, the press and the education system. The book still believes that in order to fully break off from the remaining loops, the grip from the British has to be completely done away with. The IRA believes in a democratic and socialist state.

What the IRA Green Book Stood For.

The IRA Green Book tends to highlight some things that were like the bearing stone for its operatives. Furthermore, now that the book was mostly a behind the scenes kind of thing, most of these ideas embedded in the book were always kept a secret. In fact, the volunteers always ensured that these details were never shared outside. They had sworn an oath of secrecy. In fact, these volunteers had a lot of things that they had to ensure that they had followed to the latter. For example, they had to refrain from sharing their experiences with anyone. Even their closest family members also were to be kept in the dark. Furthermore, they were also banned from excessive drinking because the enemies would try and use that opportunity to shed off as much information from them as possible in that state. They did believe that loose talk would cost a lot of lives. They, therefore, had to work hard to ensure that they had secured the secrecy of their actions. In addition to their secrecy and the way they had to ensure they had upheld it, these volunteers were also expected to follow the orders of their superiors to the latter whether they liked the superior or not. All these expectations helped the IRA when it came to the wars because they had an upper hand and tact compared to their enemies. This is why they used to win lots of battles.

The Outstanding Difference between the Two Publications.

In as much as the Green Book was seen to be like a manual for the new volunteers, it also embedded tactics of how to gain victory over the British Army, who they believed were foreign oppressors in their land and were supposed to be kicked out. The book served as a kind of a directory through which they would be able to facilitate their activities. For the two known publications, it is clear that the Green Book was majorly a military campaign kind of document. However, there still is a difference when one looks at the 1956 and the 1970s publication. These two documents though almost the same have still some differences that are outstanding. These are changes that are seen in the political and social policy and structure, military tactics and strategy and technology and tactics of their enemies. Furthermore, the 1970s document took more control of the volunteers. It gave them the chance to be mentally prepared for what they were about to go into. This time was their chance to learn and accept the terms of the IRA.

The Green Book majorly focuses on how to liberate Ireland. It resolves to use the two faces of realizing this. The first means is that of the forceful means that engages the use of firearms and explosives. This was the first choice that involved a lot of casualties and deaths. The second means came rather calmly. This was the one through which they decided to engage more on the economic standoff point of view. This is where they pushed the oppressors off and decided to make use of their available resources to realize their economic stability. During their physical standoff, the guerillas made complete use of hearsay, newspapers, leaflets, radio, etc. so that they could be able to find out whatever was going down. This helped them a big deal in staying ahead of their enemies because they were able to get the idea and act on it immediately. This is why a lot of attacks were conducted unexpectedly. CITATION CJM91 \l 1033 (Drake, 1991)Not only does the Green Book focus on the physical war but also on the high-end Marxist war whereby they get to employ other creative moves that allows them to be able to regain their freedom. This is even clear in other sectors such as business and politics.

Conclusion

Looking at the Green Book and how it played a major role in the liberation of Ireland, it is clear that its importance is one-fold true. Furthermore, it is even important that the entire operations of the Green Book were kept a secret and only the volunteers were kept aware of the same. In fact, they were made to swear an oath of secrecy of the same so that none of the information that they were told would be shared with any other person. These volunteers were also made to agree on the orders of their superiors no matter what. However, even though there was a lot of risings and fallings, it is still clear that this choice of theirs helped them move the scales of freedom. This did help the IRA during most of their battles and escapees during the liberation.

References

BA. Jackson (2006). "Provisional Irish Republican Army." Aptitude for Destruction- books.google.com. pg. 94-97.

CJM Drake. (1991). " The Provisional IRA: A Case Study." Terrorism and Political Violence.

J Horgan, M Taylor. (1999). "Playing the Green Card-financing the provisional IRA: Part 1." Terrorism and Political Violence.

K Sarma. (2007). " Defensive propaganda and IRA political control in Republican communities. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.