Conflict in Northern Ireland
For centuries there has been conflict in Northern Ireland. The
disagreement
between Irish Catholics and the Irish Protestants still continues to
this
day. In this assessment I am going to examine why soldiers were sent
into
Ireland in 1969.
Between 1921 and the mid 1960s Catholics in Northern Ireland faced
many
problems. After the War Of Independence, in 1919, the country of
Ireland was
divided into two parts; The North, here there was a large Protestant
Majority, each of the six Ulster counties had their own parliament and
their
own government. The South, largely occupied by Irish Catholics, most
opposed
the idea of dividing Ireland. But in 1921 a group of Sinn Fein, and
IRA
members signed an treaty with the British, accepting the division of
Ireland. This was when what's known as 'Northern Ireland' was created,
dominated by Protestants. However, Catholics had wanted a united and
Independent Ireland, so resentment grew. "After partition, it was
hardline
Unionists who held power in the North, they were determined to keep
Ulster
British and Protestant. They tended to see all Northern Catholics as
possible traitors. As a result Catholics were discriminated against"
(1)
In the 1930s there was a worldwide economic depression, due to the
'Wall
Street Crash' in America. Both Irish Catholics and Protestants were
affected
very seriously, the economic depression lasted 20 years.
Irish Catholics faced another problem, when it came round to election
time,
most Catholics would probably vote a Catholic representative to speak
on
behalf of the Catholic people, ho...
... middle of paper ...
...ise
that
this cannot be the reason as to why troops were sent to Northern
Ireland. In
1962 the IRA abandoned it's campaign of violence because of lack of
Catholic
support. In August 1969, there is more fighting between Protestants
and
Catholics in Belfast, and the British Army moves in. It is only then
that
the IRA splits into two groups: Official and Provisional. The Bombing
campaign by the IRA started in 1970.
A more telling fact as to why British troops were sent in to Northern
Ireland in 1969 may be due to the fact that the Irish Prime Minister,
Jack
Lynch was threatening to intervene with the troubles in Northern
Ireland,
and went as far as moving Irish army units towards the border. The
British
government may have felt that matters were gradually being taken out
of
their hands.