Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood ( Irish : Bráithreachas Phoblacht na hÉireann ), BPÉ or shorter Bráithreachas na Poblachta ; ( English : Irish Republican Brotherhood , IRB ) was founded in 1858 by James Stephens in Dublin. The IRB was in charge of the uprising of 1867, but especially the Easter uprising of 1916. It published the newspaper The Irish People .
The IRB pursued the strategy of gaining the greatest possible influence as a small secret society by deliberately infiltrating mass organizations. The Irish Volunteers in particular were targeted by this policy; the IRB succeeded in filling a large part of the important positions with its own members, while deliberately refraining from assuming the office of chairman.
At the same time and coordinated with the founding of the IRB, the Fenian Brotherhood was founded by John O'Mahony in New York, which saw itself as the American wing of the same movement. The term "Fenians" (Irish: na Fíníní ) later became a synonym for all supporters of Irish independence and is used especially in Northern Ireland to this day.
The main purpose of the American organization was to raise money and weapons for the Irish struggle for independence. In 1866 it made a name for itself with a series of raids on the British colonies in Canada. These represented an attempt to tie up British troops in North America and thus support the armed struggle in Ireland.
