Different Historical Interpretations of Bloody Sunday
On January 30th 1972, civil rights activists were involved in a
protest march against internment through Londonderry. British
paratroopers, who were deployed on the streets, shot and killed 13 of
the marchers and wounded others. Many people have different views on
what happened and why.
The main conflicting views are those of the paratroopers and their
supporters and the views of the marchers and the friends and family of
those killed. Source A is a newspaper report form the Daily Mail in
September 1999. It is a report on new evidence released from the
second enquiry into Bloody Sunday, led by Lord Saville. The headline
reads "PARAS IN BLOODY SUNDAY EVIDENCE STORM". This headline states
the situation that the report is based on. The report includes the
opinions of different people on the new evidence. The new evidence
suggests that the original tests, which confirmed that some of the
protesters shot had been handling firearms or explosives, may have
been contaminated. It concluded that, "there is no credible evidence
that any of the 14 people killed by the army in Londonderry in January
1972 had been handling firearms." The premature release of this
evidence "incensed" the paratroopers and their supporters. The
paratroopers have always claimed that every person shot appeared to be
armed and that "nail bombs and acid bombs" were thrown at them. The
Widgery Enquiry cleared them of any criminal charge, but this new
evidence could pave the way to charges being brought against them. The
conservative MP representing the constituency where the Paras are
based said "I had little fait...
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...l carriers and cleared
away the barricades. Also, Daniel Porter received this information
from off-duty soldiers in a pub. This evidence does not support or
discredit either the soldiers or the Protesters side of the story. It
is possible that Mr Porter came forward with this evidence in an
attempt to get media attention.
In conclusion, what actually happened on Bloody Sunday is interpreted
differently by different people, and always will be. Nobody can be
completely sure what actually happened, as many things happened in
different places and nobody was watching them all at the same time.
The opinion of people living in Londonderry may be influenced by
outside influences like IRA presence, and the views of the
Paratroopers and the Government may be influenced by an attempt to
defend themselves from repercussions.
Accidents do happen, as shown with the Boston Massacre. The crowds were getting rowdy, made then British soldiers panic, and they opened up fire.
that are said like that might not always add up to make sense with an
American and Southern version (Jones 263). He proposed that it was the existence of this
The bombings and marches in Birmingham Alabama were major concerns for all civil rights leaders. During the 50’s and 60’s, civil rights leaders fought against injustice in different ways. Some civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and Jessie Jackson fought against injustice with a pen. In 1963 Martin Luther King wrote a letter titled, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, and Jessie Jackson wrote, “Jets of Water Blast Civil Rights Demonstrators, Birmingham, 1963.” Martin Luther King and Jessie Jackson are two civil rights leaders of different generations, but with similar views concerning the Birmingham bombings.
caused Union officials to call it an outright massacre. Was it a massacre or a result of
Protests occurred the next day, Friday, May 1, across United States college campuses where anti-war viewpoints ran high. At Kent State University, many speeches against the war and the Nixon administration were given. Satrom, the Mayor was fearful that local forces would be insufficient to meet the amount of protesters, and he called the Governor's office to make an official request for assistance from the Ohio National Guard for the protest on Monday. At noon on Monday May 4th, General Canterbury of the National Guard made the decision to order the protesters to clear out. A Kent State police officer standing by the Guard made an announcement using a bullhorn. When the protesters did not clear out, they drove across the Commons and started to tell eve...
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In the Bogside area of Derry, there was a tragic incident known as Bloody Sunday or the Bogside Massacre for sometimes. Twenty-eight unarmed civilians were shot down by equipped British soldiers when protesting internment without trial introduced to deal with the escalating level of violence peacefully.(Gillespie). As a reaction to the tragedy, Bano in an Irish band called U2 wrote a protest song called Sunday Bloody Sunday, in which he asked for the peaceful future without conflicts. Repeating “how long must we sing this song?” among the whole lyric, this protest song Bano wrote utilized a peaceful way to depict the scenes of Bloody Sunday, the loathing for the horrible massacre, and their beautiful expects for the future filling with hopes.
The Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972 Introduction ------------ The Bloody Sunday was undoubtedly a very traumatic event for the Irish people. Fourteen Irish men did not deserve to die and this was the most horrific attack that took place during the troubles. Feelings of bitterness between nationalists and unionists still last today because of it. The Irish people demanded an explanation on why Bloody Sunday happened and were given the Widgery Inquiry not long after the event.
Bass, Jack. “Documenting the Orangeburg Massacre.” Nieman Reports. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, Fall 2003. Accessed November 21, 2013 http://neiman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=100992
...in down on the square. People in the crowd collapse like levees in a flood” (p.214). The bullets “rain down” onto the people which meant it was basically a free for all; the soldiers just fired like it’s a casual thing to do. They don’t even feel sorry about the all the people they are killing. The people there had job, friends, families, and a life, but the soldiers were following orders. I felt a sense of rage, and anger when I read this. I question if the soldiers have any moral because they had a choice of obeying or disobeying their orders.
Whitehouse goes on to saying that a soldier got knocked down by a chunk of wood that a man got it from under his coat. Based on most against Preston and some for Preston testimonies like the Benjamin Burdick against testimony, he said that he saw” stick thrown at the Soldiers” not a big chunk of wood that would knock a soldier out. Whitehouse testimony was most likely to distract the jury from the other strong testimonies that were made against Preston, so they might think that there is something that they are misinterpreted from the other testimonies. These testimonies show evidence that Preston ordered his soldiers to fire at people who some of them were innocents who were just there to fulfill their curiosity of the situation to murder them. The Boston Massacre created a new attitude in people that was not there before. It created more hatred toward the British forces living with them and taking their money from them. It also made us understand that the American Revolution is coming because the people will not wait until another massacre to happen to kill more people of their own, they want the British to
In the roaring twenties, the life of organized crimes was at its peak. What was the greatest mob hit ever pulled off in history? Well I'll tell you. It all happened on Valentines Day, the morning of February 14th, 1929. This incident was call, "The St. Valentines Day Massacre". The man behind this infamous crime was none other than, the infamous Al "Scarface" Capone. Al Capone was the all time greatest mobster of all time. The idea of organized crime fascinates me in so many ways. Capone was the only person to have pulled off such a crime. Al Capone was top gangster in Chicago and was one of the greatest members of the Italian Mafia and George "Bugs" Moran was the leader of the Irish/German mafia and he was the main target behind this hit. He targeted Capone because Al Capones had a bounty on his head, $60,000,000, and found George Moran as a threat. George was Capone's biggest threat of all. He needed to take him out quickly. (Al Capone, True Crime Story). Writing this paper will let me learn a lot more about this massacre. There is one question I would like answered, "Why hadn't Moran's crew made an attempt to fight back?" (Al Capone, True Crime Story). Moran's men had a long history of being violent with others. This is one question that we will never know. My most used source on this essay will be internet information and a book. I feel these sources will give me the most amount of information. Using a magazine will too but it was very hard to find a 20's magazine article.
...lice or lawyers used their integrity. The police skirted around the law and use evidence that the witnesses said was not correct. They had a description of the suspect that did not match Bloodsworth but, they went after him as well. They also used eyewitness testimony that could have been contaminated.
What do you think of when you hear the words Valentine's Day? Probably love, hearts,