List of wars involving the Republic of Ireland explained

This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Ireland and its predecessor states, since the Irish War of Independence. Since the 1930s, the state has had a policy of neutrality and has only been involved in conflicts as part of United Nations peacekeeping missions.

There have been many wars on the island of Ireland throughout history. Before independence, all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom and Irish soldiers fought in many foreign wars as part of the British military. Irish soldiers also fought in conflicts as part of other armies.

List

style=rowspan="1" width=200px	Conflict	style=rowspan="1" width=180px	Combatant 1	style=rowspan="1" width=180px	Combatant 2	style=rowspan="1" width=200px	Result
Irish War of Independence (1919–1921)	Irish Republic[1]		Victory Anglo-Irish Treaty:[2] Dominion status for 26 counties of Southern Ireland as the Irish Free State 6 counties of Northern Ireland remain part of UK United Kingdom retains the Ports of Berehaven, Spike Island and Lough Swilly
Irish Civil War (1922–1923)	National Army[3]	Irish Republican Army	Victory Confirmation of the Irish Free State Defeat of Anti-Treaty forces
Congo Crisis (1960–1964)	ONUC [4] [5] Others		Victory Debellation of the State of Katanga
Cyprus conflict (1964–present)	UNFICYP [6] [7] Others	Turkey---- Cyprus Greece	Ongoing
The Troubles (1968–1998)	Irish Defence Forces[8] Gardaí	paramilitaries Saor Éire (1967–75)[9] Provisional IRA(1969–97) Official IRA(1969–72)[10] INLA (1974–98)[11] [12] CIRA (1994–)[13] RIRA (1997–)[14] ---- paramilitaries UVF(1966–94)[15] UDA/UFF(1971–94)[16] RHC(1972–94)[17] UR (1986–) LVF (1996–)[18]	Stalemate Good Friday Agreement[19] Principle of consent accepted by all major parties involved Devolved powers to the local Northern Ireland Assembly Ceasefire and decommissioning of weapons from paramilitary groups Withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland Reform of the local police force[20]
Lebanese Civil War and South Lebanon conflict (1978–present)	UNIFIL [21] Others	South Lebanon Army ---- Hezbollah Amal PFLP-GC	Ongoing
Somali Civil War (1992–1995)	UNOSOM II [22] Others	United Somali Congress	Victory UN humanitarian mandate fulfilled About 100,000 lives were saved by outside resistance Civil war is ongoing
Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001)	United Nations peacekeeping force [23] Kosovo Force	FR Yugoslavia	Victory Stabilisation of the Balkans On-going Active Irish Presence
East Timorese Crisis (1999–2000)	UNTAET [24] Others	Pro-Indonesia militia	Victory Defeat of pro-Indonesian militia Stabilisation of East Timor
Chadian Civil War (2008–2010)	EUFOR Chad/CAR MINURCAT [25] Others	Rebel groups
Syrian Civil War in the Golan Heights (2013–2018)	United Nations peacekeeping force Others	Syrian opposition---- Al-Nusra Front----

See also

• List of conflicts in Ireland
• List of wars involving the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
• List of Irish military casualties overseas

Notes and References

1. Book: Cottrell, Peter . The Anglo-Irish War, The Troubles, 1913–23 . Osprey Publishing . 2006 . 978-1-84603-023-9 . 28.
2. Web site: The Signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921 . 2024-10-05 . National Museum of Ireland . en.
3. News: Gannon . Darragh . McGarry . Fearghal . Century Ireland - Introducing Ireland 1922: Independence, Partition, Civil War . 5 October 2024 . RTÉ.
4. Web site: Military Archives The 60th anniversary of the Battle of Jadotville… . 2024-10-05 . Military Archives . en.
5. Web site: Military Archives Cyprus Unit Histories . 2024-10-05 . Military Archives . en.
6. News: O'Kelly . Kevin . 12 May 1964 . Peace Keeping In Cyprus . 5 October 2024 . RTÉ News . RTÉ Archives.
7. Web site: Past Missions . 2024-10-05 . www.military.ie . en.
8. News: McGreevy . Ronan . 2 January 2022 . Gardaí confirm Provisional IRA killed garda and soldier during Don Tidey kidnap . 5 October 2024 . The Irish Times.
9. News: 21 April 2001 . Garda Fallon first on the force killed in modern Troubles . 5 October 2024 . The Irish Times.
10. News: 8 November 2007 . INLA Chief of Staff was shot by Official IRA in 1977 . 5 October 2024 . Irish Independent.
11. News: Cusack . Jim . 6 June 1997 . INLA warns gardai after shot robber dies . 5 October 2024 . The Irish Times.
12. News: Morris . Allison . 5 September 2017 . Named: Man arrested over 1987 INLA feud murders . 5 October 2024 . Irish News.
13. News: MacDermott . Diarmaid . 8 July 2003 . Bail for Continuity IRA bomb find accused . 5 October 2024 . The Irish Times.
14. News: Lally . Conor . 20 December 2018 . Gardaí exonerated over shooting dead of Real IRA raider MacLochlainn . 5 October 2024 . The Irish Times.
15. News: McGreevy . Ronan . 17 May 2024 . Dublin-Monaghan bombings: ‘When I looked out into the street, I knew all normality was gone. It was like hell on Earth’ . 5 October 2024 . The Irish Times.
16. News: Clarke . Ric . 19 December 1991 . IRA bomb rocks center of Belfast, UFF starts Dublin firebomb blitz . 5 October 2024 . UPI.
17. Web site: November 2004 . Interim Report on the Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin Bombings of 1972 and 1973. . 5 October 2024 . Houses of the Oireachtas . 135 . dublinmonaghanbombings.org.
18. News: 24 February 1998 . Cross-border alert as LVF threatens further attacks . 5 October 2024 . Irish Independent.
19. News: 3 April 2023 . Good Friday Agreement: What is it? . 5 October 2024 . BBC News.
20. News: 4 November 2001 . 'New era' as NI police change name . 5 October 2024 . BBC News.
21. News: Moore . Aoife . 25 September 2024 . No plans to remove Irish peacekeepers from Lebanon . 5 October 2024 . BBC News.
22. News: Lavery . Don . 28 February 2010 . Irish troops will train Somali soldiers . subscription . https://archive.today/20241005160330/https://www.independent.ie/world-news/irish-troops-will-train-somali-soldiers/26636291.html . 5 October 2024 . 5 October 2024 . Irish Independent.
23. News: O'Brien . Joe . 15 December 2003 . Keeping The Peace . 5 October 2024 . RTÉ News . RTÉ Archives.
24. News: 16 October 2002 . Last Irish soldiers to leave East Timor today . 5 October 2024 . Irish Examiner.
25. News: 4 March 2008 . Irish troops safe in Bosnia, insists O'Dea . 5 October 2024 . Irish Examiner . The minister also confirmed that there was no threat to Irish troops serving in Chad after an EU peacekeeping jeep that encroached into Sudan was attacked..