Third Tipperary Brigade

The 3rd Tipperary Brigade (Irish: Tríú Briogáid Thiobraid Árainn) was one of the most active of approximately 80 such units that constituted the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence. The Brigade was based in southern Tipperary and conducted its activities mainly in mid-Munster.

In December 1918 and January 1919, in a tin hut on a dairy farm in Greenane, Tipperary, members of the brigade planned what was to be the first act of the Irish War of Independence, the Soloheadbeg Ambush. In the early part of the war, four members of the brigade were the most wanted men in Ireland. The 'Big Four', as they were referred to in Ireland in 1919 were Seán Treacy, Dan Breen, Séamus Robinson and Seán Hogan. Raids, ambushes and ongoing military activities by the Brigade Battalions and flying columns made South Tipperary ungovernable for the British in 1920 and 1921, with the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) confined to what barracks remained occupied and the British Army only venturing out in large convoys.

The period between the Easter Rising of 1916 and the start of the Irish War of Independence in January 1919, was one of growing tensions between the nationalist element of the Irish population and those in authority, particularly the RIC and British authorities. These tensions were set against the backdrop of increased membership of nationalist volunteer organizations across the country and meetings and open drilling of volunteer companies coupled with the jailing of a large number of political prisoners, raids on houses of political activists by the RIC and incidents such as the death of hunger striker Thomas Ashe. 1918 saw the political stakes raised with the Military Service Bill coming into effect making conscription in Ireland legal and the proclamation issued banning nationalist organizations such as Sinn Féin, the Irish Volunteers, the Gaelic League and Cumann na mBan.The response to these measures was a significant upswing in anti British sentiment, emphasized by the overwhelming victory by Sinn Féin in the 1918 General Election and the anti-conscription rallies. While some in the nationalist movement were satisfied with political victories there was an element that argued that the only way Ireland would ever obtain freedom was through a military confrontation with the British and particularly those who served British interests in Ireland.

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