IRA Army Council Declare War on England

First publication of the newspaper Irish Freedom

William Butler Yeats, Irish poet, dies

IRA Army Council and Republican survivors of 2nd Dáil Éireann declare war on England

In 1939, the political and security landscape in Ireland was quite different from previous periods of conflict. World War II had begun, and the IRA’s activities were not focused on declaring war on England but rather on issues related to Irish republicanism, the partition of Ireland, and other political concerns.