For which conflict did the Canadian Government award the Canada General Service Medal for attacks by an Irish Republican organization based in the United States against British army forts and custom posts in Canada?
Fenian raids Between 1866 and 1871, the Fenian raids of the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish Republican organization based in the United States, on British army forts, customs posts and other targets in Canada, were fought to bring pressure on Britain to withdraw from Ireland. They divided Catholic Irish-Canadians, many of whom were torn between loyalty to their new home and sympathy for the aims of the Fenians. The Protestant Irish were generally loyal to Britain and fought with the Orange Order against the Fenians. While the U.S. authorities arrested the men and confiscated their arms, there is speculation that some in the U.S. government had turned a blind eye to the preparations for the invasion, angered at actions that could have been construed as Canadian assistance to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. There were five Fenian raids of note and all of them ended in failure.
Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (derived from the Irish language name "Cogadh na hAon Bhliana Déag"), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms – a series of civil wars in the kingdoms of Ireland, England and Scotland (all ruled by Charles I). The conflict in Ireland essentially started by pitting the native Irish Catholics against English and Scottish Protestant colonists and their supporters, and ended with Royalists, Irish Catholics and Scottish Presbyterians fighting the ultimate winners, the English Parliament. It was both a religious and an ethnic conflict – fought over who would govern Ireland, whether it would be governed from England, which ethnic and religious group would own most of the land, and which religion would predominate in the country. It was the most destructive conflict in Irish history.