The original Irish Republican Army formed by 1917 from those Irish Volunteers who refused to enlist in the British Army during World War I. It was the army of the Irish Republic, declared by Dáil Éireann in 1919.
The original Irish Republican Army formed by 1917 from those Irish Volunteers who refused to enlist in the British Army during World War I, members of the Irish Citizen Army and others. During the Irish War of Independence it was the army of the Irish Republic, declared by Dáil Éireann in 1919.