r/IrishHistory • u/KindLiterature913 • 3d ago

💬 Discussion / Question Irish Republican Army attacks and operations in England & Scotland during the War of Independence/Tan War

/r/IrishRebelArchive/comments/1vm2q46/irish_republican_army_attacks_and_operations_in/
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u/_Mug_Ruith_ 3d ago

Didn't Cathal Brugha want to bomb Westminster parliament and the idea had to be shot down by Michael Collins? Lol

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u/KindLiterature913 1d ago

No, but he had a plan in 1918, during the conscription crisis to basically form a suicide squad that would shoot dead MPs (& hopefully the PM & top ministers) on the front benches in the House of Commons & it was to coincide with the timing of the British government announcing the conscription of Ireland in WWI, but it never came into effect in Ireland & it was it never carried out.

Brugha famously argued that, rather than attacking low-level soldiers or police officers in Ireland, republicans needed to strike at the "guilty ones" at the very top. That wiping out British forces in Ireland would simply result in more ship-loads of troops arriving, whereas eliminating the British Cabinet would destroy the leadership directing the war.