Dan Breen was sometimes known as the 'Thug with Blood on His Hands' because of his involvement in the ambush and killing of two RIC policemen at Soloheadbeg – a political and historical controversy widely regarded as the act that started the War of Independence. Alongside his comrades in the Third Tipperary Brigade of the IRA, Dan Breen became one of the most infamous and controversial IRA leaders of his generation. With the Civil War over, Breen went to prohibition America, and ran a speakeasy. He returned to Ireland to become a politician, and was the first Republican to enter the Free State parliament. For more than thirty years he represented Tipperary, becoming its most popular and longest serving legislator. Dan Breen and the IRA analyses Breen's involvement in the War of Independence and the Civil War, his role within Fianna Fail, his turbulent relationship with De Valera, and his alleged Nazi sympathies.J