| | The war was a [[guerrilla]] conflict, and the main areas of combat were [[Dublin]] and the remote areas of south-west Ireland. Assassinations and atrocities were carried out by both sides. The British government notoriously set up two paramilitary formations attached to the RIC: the ''Black and Tans'', a reserve police unit recruited from British ex-servicemen and named for the mix of the dark green RIC uniforms and khaki British army uniforms that they wore, and the Police Auxiliaries (''Auxies''), recruited from ex-officers. Both the Tans and the Auxies gained a fearsome reputation for violence and indiscipline, and were implicated in the burning of the city centre of [[Cork]] in reprisal for an IRA attack. In the countryside of south-west Ireland, the IRA were able to establish some territorial control - British units could enter only in heavily-armoured columns, and were prey to ambushes - but in Dublin it was restricted to hit-and-run attacks. There were two major exceptions. On 20 November 1920, known as '[[Bloody Sunday]]', IRA gunmen killed 14 British secret service agents in the city; in reprisal, that afternoon British troops surrounded the [[Croke Park]] sports ground where a [[Gaelic Football]] match was taking place and fired into the crowd, killing 14 spectators. On 25 May 1921 a large IRA formation captured and burned the Custom House in Dublin, destroying the tax records of Ireland (and much other material besides). | | The war was a [[guerrilla]] conflict, and the main areas of combat were [[Dublin]] and the remote areas of south-west Ireland. Assassinations and atrocities were carried out by both sides. The British government notoriously set up two paramilitary formations attached to the RIC: the ''Black and Tans'', a reserve police unit recruited from British ex-servicemen and named for the mix of the dark green RIC uniforms and khaki British army uniforms that they wore, and the Police Auxiliaries (''Auxies''), recruited from ex-officers. Both the Tans and the Auxies gained a fearsome reputation for violence and indiscipline, and were implicated in the burning of the city centre of [[Cork]] in reprisal for an IRA attack. In the countryside of south-west Ireland, the IRA were able to establish some territorial control - British units could enter only in heavily-armoured columns, and were prey to ambushes - but in Dublin it was restricted to hit-and-run attacks. There were two major exceptions. On 20 November 1920, known as '[[Bloody Sunday]]', IRA gunmen killed 14 British secret service agents in the city; in reprisal, that afternoon British troops surrounded the [[Croke Park]] sports ground where a [[Gaelic Football]] match was taking place and fired into the crowd, killing 14 spectators. On 25 May 1921 a large IRA formation captured and burned the Custom House in Dublin, destroying the tax records of Ireland (and much other material besides). |
| | + | This era has been depicted in films such as [[John Ford]]'s [[The Informer]], [[Neil Jordan]]'s [[biopic]] of [[Michael Collins]], and [[The Wind that Shakes the Barley]], by [[Marxist]] director [[Ken Loach]]. |