Editing British Army (section)

==== The Troubles ====
Although there have been permanent garrisons in Northern Ireland throughout its history, the British Army was deployed as a peacekeeping force from 1969 to 2007 in [[Operation Banner]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6276416.stm|title=Army paper says IRA not defeated|work=BBC News|date=6 July 2007|access-date=21 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111180357/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6276416.stm|archive-date=11 January 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Initially, this was (in the wake of [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]] attacks on nationalist communities in [[Derry]]<ref>[[Kenneth Bloomfield|Bloomfield, K]] Stormont in Crisis (Belfast 1994) p. 114.</ref> and [[Belfast]])<ref>[[Public Record Office of Northern Ireland|PRONI]]: Cabinet conclusions file CAB/4/1460</ref> to prevent further loyalist attacks on Catholic communities; it developed into support of the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC) and its successor, the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] (PSNI) against the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (PIRA).{{sfn|McKernan|2005|p=17}} Under the 1998 [[Good Friday Agreement]], there was a gradual reduction in the number of soldiers deployed.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/859388.stm Army dismantles NI post] BBC News, 31 July 2000</ref> In 2005, after the PIRA declared a ceasefire, the British Army dismantled posts, withdrew many troops and restored troop levels to those of a peacetime garrison.<ref>[http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php Army To Dismantle Tower Block Post] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080912070458/http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php |date=12 September 2008 }} Skyscrapernews, 2 August 2005</ref>

Operation Banner ended at midnight on 31 July 2007 after about 38 years of continuous deployment, the longest in British Army history.<ref name="analysis">{{cite web|url=http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/misc/opbanner.pdf|title=Operation Banner: An analysis of military operations in Northern Ireland|year=2006|publisher=[[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]]|access-date=21 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227094451/http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/misc/opbanner.pdf|archive-date=27 February 2008}}</ref> According to an internal document released in 2007, the British Army had failed to defeat the IRA but made it impossible for them to win by violence. Operation Helvetic replaced Operation Banner in 2007, maintaining fewer service personnel in a more-benign environment.<ref name="analysis" /><ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6276416.stm|title=Army paper says IRA not defeated|date=6 July 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=21 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111180357/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6276416.stm|archive-date=11 January 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Of the 300,000 troops who served in Northern Ireland since 1969, there were 763 British military personnel killed<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11743727 Remembrance Day: Where they fell] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928140734/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11743727 |date=28 September 2018 }} BBC News, 13 November 2010</ref> and 306 killed by the British military, mostly civilians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/index.html|title=Tabulations (Tables) of Basic Variables|publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk|access-date=28 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513081528/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/index.html|archive-date=13 May 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> An estimated 100 soldiers committed suicide during Operation Banner or soon afterwards and a similar number died in accidents. A total of 6,116 were wounded.<ref>{{cite news |last=Harding |first=Thomas |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1482975/Troop-deaths-in-Ulster-higher-than-thought.html |title=Troop deaths in Ulster 'higher than thought' |newspaper=Telegraph |date=7 February 2005 |access-date=10 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921112055/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1482975/Troop-deaths-in-Ulster-higher-than-thought.html |archive-date=21 September 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

'''Sierra Leone'''
{{Main|British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War}}
The British Army deployed to Sierra Leone for [[Operation Palliser]] in 1999, under United Nations resolutions, to aid the government in quelling violent uprisings by militiamen. British troops also provided support during the 2014 [[West African Ebola virus epidemic]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=4 January 2017|title=Sierra Leone profile – Timeline|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094419|url-status=live|access-date=17 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509114751/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094419|archive-date=9 May 2017}}</ref>