100 Years Ago Today (31 January 1922), the Irish National Army, Ireland’s first independent army, was founded. Here is what the uniform looked like at the beginning:

15 comments

  1. The man pictured is Commandant Hetherington. The National Army was constituted from the revolutionary Irish Republican Army (IRA), which emerged from the successful Irish War of Independence fought as a guerrilla campaign against the British Army and Royal Irish Constabulary.

    The National Army’s first test was fighting the anti-Treaty IRA men in the Irish Civil War; this endeavor was successful and the civil war ended in 1923. Soon afterward the Irish National Army was disbanded and replaced by the Defence Forces, the current armed forces of Ireland.

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    For more information on little-known history and other 1920s events, consult the 100YearsAgoLive Project, a Twitter program that reports events from exactly 100 years ago as if they’re happening in real time. It is meant to stoke an interest in history by making it accessible to the everyday reader:

    https://twitter.com/100YearsAgoLive

    The project also has an Instagram account; each day, it features the most poignant photo from 100 years ago today:

    https://instagram.com/100yearsagolive?igshid=qn8ci8s17744

  4. OP it remained very similar up until the early 60’s when after sending soldiers into the Congo of all places wearing bulls wool and largely equipped with bolt action rifles did they change. Same thing with Chad given a rainforest uniform for the desert

  11. Going to ponce about in my jodhpurs and swagger stick, and later I might tie Little Nell to the train tracks. NYAH!

  13. Everything that fella is wearing was either paid for or supplied by the British. I am kept awake at night due to Free Staters and their nonsensical idea of independence.

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