Why Did The PIRA Failure

Throughout their campaign for a free Northern Ireland, public support for the actions of the PIRA varied. Certain actions of the PIRA both garnered support for them, and caused a loss of that same support. Initially, the PIRA had support from the majority of the Catholic population of Northern Ireland, as they had been largely discriminated against by the Protestant/unionist government, and British military (Brian, 2000). However, the events of bloody Sunday triggered a major shift in support towards the PIRA, as both Catholics and Protestants were outraged at the events that had occurred (BBC, 2017). The PIRA received a large influx of new recruits, as protests broke out across Ireland, and around the world (Conway, 2010). Additionally, anti-British

The expressed goal of the PIRA was to establish a united Irish socialist republic by routing the British from Northern Ireland, however, the PIRA failed to do so (Horgan & Taylor, 1997; English, 2004). In fact, not only did the PIRA fail in their campaign, but their actions set back their goal of getting Britain to withdraw from Northern Ireland (Evans, 2017). To achieve a unified Irish Republic, the PIRA had to unify the population, which consisted of both Protestants and Catholic (Drake, 1991). However, their actions only exasperated hostility between Catholics and Protestants, as Protestants were often painted as perpetrators of persecution by the PIRA, and were regularly attacked by them (Evans, 2017; English, 2004). Additionally, another reason the PIRA failed in their goal was due to their military strategy. The leaders of the PIRA insisted on fighting a ‘long war’, and while that tactic may have worked in Vietnam, the PIRA failed to realise that the Northern Vietnamese had a large amount of international support from countries like that of China, while they did not (Ranstrop & Brun, 2013). This led to the weight of the conflict being carried by people who weren’t prepared to engage in this form of conflict, as many had drug dependencies, mental illnesses, or came from broken homes (Ranstorp & Brun, 2013). As a result, the PIRA were not able to effectively close out their war with the British, instead having to opt for an accord with them (English, 2004). However, the PIRA’s campaign was not an absolute failure, as it brought about the Good Friday Agreement. The Good Friday Agreement was put into place to help end the conflict between the British and the PIRA, and brought in new mechanisms, such as cross-community voting, that gave Irish nationalists a fair say in key legislation (O’Kelly, Doyle & Boland, 2010). Although