Editing Bloody Sunday (1920) (section)

==Background==
{{Campaignbox Irish War of Independence|state=collapsed}}
Bloody Sunday was one of the most significant events to take place during the Irish War of Independence, which followed the [[Irish Declaration of Independence|declaration]] of an [[Irish Republic]] and the founding of its parliament, [[Dáil Éireann]]. The [[Irish Republican Army (1917–22)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) waged a [[guerrilla war]] against British forces: the [[Royal Irish Constabulary]] and the British Army, who were tasked with suppressing it.<ref>{{cite web |last=Murphy |first=William |title=The Gaelic Athletic Association in Dublin during the Irish Revolution, 1913–1923 |url=http://www.dublinheritage.ie/media/gaa_and_irish_revolution_text.html |url-status=dead |website=dublinheritage.ie |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412100138/http://www.dublinheritage.ie/media/gaa_and_irish_revolution_text.html |archive-date=12 April 2015}}</ref>

In response to increasing IRA activity, the British government began bolstering the RIC with recruits from Britain, who became known as "[[Black and Tans]]" due to their mixture of dark green RIC police and khaki military uniforms. It also formed an RIC paramilitary unit, the [[Auxiliary Division]] (or "Auxiliaries"). Both groups soon became notorious for their brutal treatment of the civilian population. In Dublin, the conflict largely took the form of assassinations and reprisals on both sides.{{sfn|Carey|de Búrca|2003|pp=10–16}}

The events on the morning of 21 November were an effort by the IRA in Dublin, under [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] and [[Richard Mulcahy]], to destroy the British intelligence network in the city.{{sfn|Carey|de Búrca|2003|pp=10–16}}

===Collins's plan===
[[File:Michael Collins.jpg|thumb|Michael Collins in 1919]]
Michael Collins was the IRA's Chief of Intelligence and Finance Minister of the Irish Republic. Since 1919 he had operated a clandestine "[[The Squad (IRA unit)|Squad]]" of IRA members in Dublin (a.k.a. "The Twelve Apostles"), who were tasked with assassinating prominent RIC officers and British agents, including suspected informers.{{sfn|Dwyer|2005|p=190}}

By late 1920, British Intelligence in Dublin had established an extensive network of spies and informers around the city. This included eighteen British Intelligence agents known as the "[[Cairo Gang]]"; a nickname which came from their patronage of the Cairo Café on [[Grafton Street]] and from their service in British military intelligence in [[Sultanate of Egypt|Egypt]] and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] during the [[World War I|First World War]].{{sfn|Smith|1996}}{{sfn|Sheffy|1998}} Mulcahy, the IRA Chief of Staff, described it as, "a very dangerous and cleverly placed spy organisation".{{sfn|Hopkinson|2004|p=89}}

In early November 1920, some prominent IRA members in Dublin were almost captured. On 10 November, Mulcahy narrowly evaded capture in a raid, but British forces seized documents which included names and addresses of 200 IRA members.{{sfn|Dwyer|2005|p=165}} Shortly after, Collins ordered the assassination of British agents in the city, judging that if this was not done, the IRA's organisation in the capital would be in grave danger. The IRA also believed that British forces were implementing a coordinated policy of assassination of leading republicans.{{sfn|Bowden|1974|p=252}}

[[Dick McKee]] was put in charge of planning the operation. The addresses of the British agents were discovered from a variety of sources, including sympathetic maids and other servants, careless talk from some of the British,{{sfn|Gillis|2020}} and an IRA informant in the RIC (Sergeant Mannix) based in [[Donnybrook, Dublin|Donnybrook]] barracks. Collins's plan had initially been to kill more than 50 suspected British intelligence officers and informers, but the list was reduced to thirty-five on the insistence of [[Cathal Brugha]], the Minister for Defence for the Irish Republic, reportedly on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence against some of those named. The number was eventually lowered again, to 20.{{sfn|Dwyer|2005|p=190}}

On the night of 20 November, the leaders of the assassination teams, which included the Squad and members of the IRA's Dublin Brigade, were briefed on their targets, which included twenty agents at eight different locations in Dublin.{{sfn|Hopkinson|2004|p=89}} Two of those who attended the meeting—[[Dick McKee]] and [[Peadar Clancy]]—were arrested in a raid a few hours later, and Collins narrowly evaded capture in another raid.{{sfn|Dwyer|2005|p=172}}