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The National Army, sometimes unofficially referred to as the Free State army, was the army of the Irish Free State (initially Southern Ireland) from January 1922 until October 1924. Its role in this period was defined by its service in the Irish Civil War, in defence of the institutions established by the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Michael Collins, was the army's first chief of staff from its establishment until his death in August 1922. The army made its first public appearance on 31 January 1922, when command of Beggars Bush Barracks was handed over from the British Army.〔G White & B O'Shea, Irish Volunteer Soldier 1913–23, Osprey 2003, pp15.〕 Its first troops were those volunteers of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the "Provisional Government of Ireland" formed thereunder. Conflict arose between the National Army and the anti-Treaty components of the IRA, which did not support the government of the Irish Free State. On 28 June 1922 the National Army commenced an artillery bombardment of anti-Treaty IRA forces who were occupying the Four Courts in Dublin, thus beginning the Irish Civil War. The National Army was greatly expanded in size to fight the civil war against the anti-Treaty IRA, in a mostly counter-insurgency campaign that was brought to a successful conclusion in May 1923. From 1 October 1924, the Army was reorganised into a smaller, better regulated force; the term "National Army" superseded by the legal establishment of the Defence Forces as the Irish Free State's military force. == History == 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. On 31 January 1922 the first unit of the new National Army, a former IRA unit of the Dublin Guard, took possession of Beggars Bush Barracks, the first British barracks to be handed to the new State. Michael Collins envisaged the new army being built around the pre-existing IRA, but over half of this organisation rejected the compromises made in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and favoured upholding the revolutionary Irish Republic that had existed from 1919 until 1921. In February 1922, the new Provisional Government began to recruit volunteers into the National Army. A force of 4,000 troops was envisaged, but with the impending Civil War, on 5 July 1922 the Provisional Government authorised raising an establishment of 35,000 men; by May 1923 this had grown to 58,000 troops. The National Army lacked the expertise necessary to train a force of that size, so approximately 20 percent of its officers and 50 percent of its soldiers were Irish ex-servicemen of the British Army and men like Martin Doyle, Emmet Dalton, W. R. E. Murphy, and Henry Kelly brought considerable combat experience.〔Cottrell, Peter: ''The Irish Civil War 1922–23'', p. 23,+ p.51, Osprey Publishing Ltd. (2008) ISBN 978-1-84603-270-7〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「National Army (Ireland)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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