History Glossary

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RAF
the Royal Air Force, set up in the 1920s as a separate organisation, after aircraft had been used successfully against the Kurds in Iraq (then a British possession).

Ratification
approval given to an agreement. For example, the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 was ratified by Dáil Éireann in January 1922. This was a ratification with a small majority

Redmond, John
born in 1856, he was an Irish Nationalist MP from 1880 and sided with Parnell when the party split in 1890. He led the reunited Irish Parliamentary Party until his death in 1918. He put all his faith in the Liberal government, trusting it would give Ireland Home Rule.

Regiment
part of an army division.

Republic
a state which is not ruled by a monarch. Ancient Rome was a republic ruled by senators before it became an empire. Irish republicans declared a republic in 1916 and fought for that ideal between 1919 and 1921. The Republic of Ireland did not come into being until 1949.

Republican
someone who seeks to set up a republic. Irish republicans include: the United Irishmen in 1798; the young Irelanders in 1848; the Irish Repubican Brotherhood founded in 1858; the Irish Citizen Army 1913-1916; Sinn Féin 1917-21; and the IRA set up in 1920.

Royal Dublin Fusiliers
a famous Irish regiment which fought with distinction in the Boer War and in the First World War.

Royal Irish Constabulary
the oldest police force in the United Kingdom. It began as the Peace Preservation Force in 1814, became the Irish Constabulary in 1822, and got the title Royal Irish Constabulary after it put down the Fenian rising in 1867 without military help. An armed force, it bore the brunt of attacks by the IRA between 1919 and 1921. It was stood down in 1922 and replaced by the Garda Síochana in the Irish Free State and by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland.

Royal Irish Rifles
a famous Irish regiment. Seven battalions were in the 36th (Ulster) Division in the First World War – 8th from east Belfast; 9th from west Belfast; 10th from south Belfast; 15th from north Belfast; 11th from south Antrim; 12th from mid Antrim and 13th from Co. Down.