---
product_id: 27377485
title: "Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA"
brand: "richard english"
price: "410 Lei"
currency: RON
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.ro/products/27377485-armed-struggle-the-history-of-the-ira
store_origin: RO
region: Romania
---

# Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA

**Brand:** richard english
**Price:** 410 Lei
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA by richard english
- **How much does it cost?** 410 Lei with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
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## Description

Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA

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![Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51l8Tuk6OlL.jpg)
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Republic By The Gun
  

*by M***Y on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 5, 2007*

Richard English, a lecturer at Queen's University Belfast, writes dispassionately about the history and ideology of the Irish Republican Army. While the book primarily focuses on the Northern Ireland Troubles (1968-1998), English includes a short but essential history of the IRA's origins and its role as the carrier of the physical force torch. English makes some salient observations about how the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and the brutal reaction of the RUC and the B-Specials to it, precipitated a split in the IRA and the birth of the Provisionals. ARMED STRUGGLE is neither primer nor hagiography and at all times English maintains a scholarly tone and approach. Ultimately, he sees the IRA as both a visceral and political animal, attracting a wide range of volunteers, some idealistic and intellectual, others motivated by family history or personal grievance. He also recognizes the allure of this secretive organization with its promise of adventure for working-class men who face a future of numbing banality.The book is written for an informed reader, someone willing to wrestle with the mind-bending paradoxes of the Troubles. Fittingly, the decision by the Adams leadership to pursue the Peace Process and the ramifications of 1998's Good Friday Agreement receive a good deal of attention. The Catholic dimension of the IRA, however, is all but ignored here. English admits that others, like Padraig O'Malley in his fine BITING AT THE GRAVE, more satisfactorily examine how the IRA uses martyrdom - during the 1981 hunger strike in particular - as a weapon in its fight against British imperialism. The IRA's vigilantism and its regular use of punishment shootings and beatings as forms of social control is not comprehensively detailed in this history of the organization. The focus rarely shifts from those watershed moments in the IRA's war with the British Army that drive the narrative of Northern Ireland's recent history. The long conclusion of ARMED STRUGGLE offers a satisfying appraisal of the IRA. English ends by writing, "I myself am - in the end - not really persuaded by the IRA's argument that their violence was necessary or beneficial. But nor am I satisfied with the depiction of the IRA which casually or myopically condemns them."

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Armed Struggle
  

*by G***. on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 5, 2013*

One of the world's most sophisticated guerrilla movements, the Provisional IRA conducted a variety of operations within Northern Ireland for decades. Unlike many other "national liberation movements", the PIRA operated in an industrially-developed, "First World" nation. What was the nature of this organization, how did it gain supporters, what were it's grievances and how legitimate were they?Richard English attempts to answer some of these questions in this excellent book on the PIRA. He dedicates some of the book to previous incarnations of the Irish armed movement (the first-generation IRA struggle against the British after WW1; the falling out between the IRA and the newly-founded Irish state which ultimately led to the Irish Civil War; the IRA activity during WW2; and the IRA "border campaign" of the 1950's) but most of the book is devoted to describing the PIRA and some subsequent split offs like the Irish National Liberation Army, and the Official IRA, which the PIRA was actually a split-off of but eventually overshadowed in significance. Coverage is dedicated to all the significant periods of PIRA history: the Civil Rights movement & the Troubles which they were born out of, the "prison war", and the protracted and difficult peace process. Trace elements of the PIRA still remain (like the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA) still remain in Northern Ireland, and sectarian tension and strife remain high, with Irish and Protestant neighborhoods just as divided and bitter as they were in years past, but at least the violent tit-for-tat between the PIRA and loyalist/UK military forces came to an end, after the loss of almost 4,000 lives and many more bombings, violence and terror enforced by both sides. English's book does an excellent job describing the situation and how it got to that point, why the PIRA believed the things they did and acted the way they did, etc. Highly recommended.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Clear and concise
  

*by P***L on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 18, 2022*

This book clearly and concisely depicts the truth behind Ireland's struggles with England and the loyalists. I highly recommend this book.

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*Product available on Desertcart Romania*
*Store origin: RO*
*Last updated: 2026-02-13*