The Royal Irish Regiment is an infantry of the British Army that was created on 1 July 1992 as an amalgamation of the Royal Irish Rangers and the Ulster Defense Regiment; the regiment's lineage traces back to 1689, and a previous Royal Irish Regiment existed from 1684 to 1922. The regiment consisted overwhelmingly of Ulster Protestants from Northern Ireland, and the regiment served in Sierra Leone, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The regiment's motto is Faugh a Ballagh, meaning "clear the way" in Gaelic; this motto was shouted by a soldier at the 1812 Battle of Barrosa.