NORTHERN IRELAND
historical context:
🥚 1916 Easter Uprising: Republican supporters attacked British troops
💥 1919-1921 Anglo-Irish War, known as the Irish War of Independence
📜 The 1921 Treaty left the six counties of Northern Ireland with a
predominately Protestant Population - the Protestants dominated the
separate Parliament (Stormont) set up in 1921.
political parties:
Nationalists/Republicans: Unionist/Loyalists:
SDLP Official Unionists
IRA DUP
INLA UVF
Sinn Fein
Paramilitary - volunteer militia
🎈 Note: the mainstream and unionist groups always condemned the
violence.
NORTHERN IRELAND 1
, 1960s:
🚨 By the mid-1960s, Protestants had monopolized the best housing,
schools and jobs, leading Catholics to believe that there were
systematic biases against them. There were also accusations that the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (Northern Irish Police force) was biased
against Catholics
✊🏻 1964: Civil Rights Movement begins - leading to increased tensions as
the unionists feared a new violent campaign by the IRA and so set up
their own paramilitary groups in response.
🇮🇪 1967: Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) - was
founded mostly by students and condemned political corruption and
called for a fair distribution of resources across the whole population.
the start of the troubles:
🪧 October 1968: Civil rights marches held by Catholic nationalists to
protest against discrimination. They were attacked by Protestant
loyalists, Catholics complained that the police failed to protect them.
This is viewed as the start of the troubles.
battle of bogside
NORTHERN IRELAND 2
, 🚔 Loyalists Apprentice Boys went ahead with their annual march in
Derry and were attacked by Catholic nationalists in Bogside, a
Catholic area. The police tried to storm the Bogside but were held
back by rioting. Thousands of Bogside residents beat back the RUC
with a half of stones and petrol bombs.
RUC officers were seen on TV beating Catholics, resulting in mass
rioting. The RUC used CS gas (tear gas), the first time it had be
deployed by the British police.
Reverend Ian Paisley also emerged as the leader of unyielding, anti-
Catholic unionism
🪖 August 1969: the Wilson government (Foreign Secretary Callaghan)
sends in the troops in an attempt to keep peace.
Initially welcomed by the Catholics as Bogside was encircled by
protective barbed wire. However, the IRA regrouped, targeting British
troops as the representatives of a hated Imperialist government.
1970s:
1970-1974 timeline
NORTHERN IRELAND 3
, 🪖 03/1971: Provisional IRA thought to be responsible for the deaths of
British Soldiers + 4000 shipyard workers march to demand
internment of IRA leaders.
08/1971: 300 people interned
12/1971: McGurk’s bar - 15 killed by UVF bomb
01/1972: Bloody Sunday
02/1972: Aldershot Barracks in England - 7 killed by IRA bomb
12/1972: Irish parliament bombing
12/1973: Sunningdale Conference
02/1974: M62 army coach - 12 kliled by IRA bomb
💼 In 1971, Heath supported the Ulster Unionists Part leader, Brian
Faulkner, in his polices of night-time curfews and internment
(indefinitely detain without trial) (in an attempt to quell growing
sectarian violence)
⛓️ as a consequence of the internment:
1971-75: 95% of those interned were Catholic
Claimed by IRA commanders to be “among the best recruiting
tools the IRA had”
Increased tension
Increased Catholic belief in their persecution
Strained relations between government relations with the Irish
government
Chaos in Stormont.
NORTHERN IRELAND 4
historical context:
🥚 1916 Easter Uprising: Republican supporters attacked British troops
💥 1919-1921 Anglo-Irish War, known as the Irish War of Independence
📜 The 1921 Treaty left the six counties of Northern Ireland with a
predominately Protestant Population - the Protestants dominated the
separate Parliament (Stormont) set up in 1921.
political parties:
Nationalists/Republicans: Unionist/Loyalists:
SDLP Official Unionists
IRA DUP
INLA UVF
Sinn Fein
Paramilitary - volunteer militia
🎈 Note: the mainstream and unionist groups always condemned the
violence.
NORTHERN IRELAND 1
, 1960s:
🚨 By the mid-1960s, Protestants had monopolized the best housing,
schools and jobs, leading Catholics to believe that there were
systematic biases against them. There were also accusations that the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (Northern Irish Police force) was biased
against Catholics
✊🏻 1964: Civil Rights Movement begins - leading to increased tensions as
the unionists feared a new violent campaign by the IRA and so set up
their own paramilitary groups in response.
🇮🇪 1967: Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) - was
founded mostly by students and condemned political corruption and
called for a fair distribution of resources across the whole population.
the start of the troubles:
🪧 October 1968: Civil rights marches held by Catholic nationalists to
protest against discrimination. They were attacked by Protestant
loyalists, Catholics complained that the police failed to protect them.
This is viewed as the start of the troubles.
battle of bogside
NORTHERN IRELAND 2
, 🚔 Loyalists Apprentice Boys went ahead with their annual march in
Derry and were attacked by Catholic nationalists in Bogside, a
Catholic area. The police tried to storm the Bogside but were held
back by rioting. Thousands of Bogside residents beat back the RUC
with a half of stones and petrol bombs.
RUC officers were seen on TV beating Catholics, resulting in mass
rioting. The RUC used CS gas (tear gas), the first time it had be
deployed by the British police.
Reverend Ian Paisley also emerged as the leader of unyielding, anti-
Catholic unionism
🪖 August 1969: the Wilson government (Foreign Secretary Callaghan)
sends in the troops in an attempt to keep peace.
Initially welcomed by the Catholics as Bogside was encircled by
protective barbed wire. However, the IRA regrouped, targeting British
troops as the representatives of a hated Imperialist government.
1970s:
1970-1974 timeline
NORTHERN IRELAND 3
, 🪖 03/1971: Provisional IRA thought to be responsible for the deaths of
British Soldiers + 4000 shipyard workers march to demand
internment of IRA leaders.
08/1971: 300 people interned
12/1971: McGurk’s bar - 15 killed by UVF bomb
01/1972: Bloody Sunday
02/1972: Aldershot Barracks in England - 7 killed by IRA bomb
12/1972: Irish parliament bombing
12/1973: Sunningdale Conference
02/1974: M62 army coach - 12 kliled by IRA bomb
💼 In 1971, Heath supported the Ulster Unionists Part leader, Brian
Faulkner, in his polices of night-time curfews and internment
(indefinitely detain without trial) (in an attempt to quell growing
sectarian violence)
⛓️ as a consequence of the internment:
1971-75: 95% of those interned were Catholic
Claimed by IRA commanders to be “among the best recruiting
tools the IRA had”
Increased tension
Increased Catholic belief in their persecution
Strained relations between government relations with the Irish
government
Chaos in Stormont.
NORTHERN IRELAND 4
