Republican violence in Northern Ireland: a comparative case study of County Tyrone

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ireland has a long history of political violence emanating from Irish republicans’ desire to be free from British rule. The focus of this article is on the use of such political violence in one particular area, namely County Tyrone using a comparative analysis to interrogate republican violence during the Anglo-Irish War (1919–1921) and the period known as the Troubles (1969–1997). Drawing upon archival sources, interviews with ex-security force members and republicans with direct experience of the conflict in County Tyrone and the extant literature, the article examines whether successive generations of republicans drew upon or deviated from established templates of political violence. In doing so, it considers the practical and lethal effect of the exchange of memories, grievance, justifications, tactics and patterns of past episodes of violence. By comparing and analysing differences in the political violence employed by successive generations of republicans, similar strategies and tactics are identified. These include the use of guerrilla warfare, attacks on security forces, the local economy and infrastructure, the creation of security force-free zones and the fostering of sectarian and representative violence. The research has contemporary relevance to improve our understanding, challenge misinterpretations and myths of past events and legacies in County Tyrone.