The Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972

The Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972

In this essay I am going to try to explain what happened after ‘Bloody

Sunday’ and why there are such different interpretations of the event.

I am going to look at 4 different sources; 2 newspaper reports, an ITN

news report and also a video of a BBC documentary. I will also use my

own knowledge to interpret the sources. After the event an enquiry

known as the, ‘Widgery Report’ came to a verdict that the army was not

to blame for what happened where as Nationalists see the verdict as

wrong and believe this is a reason which has stopped independence in

Ulster. On the 29th January 1998 the Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered

another enquiry into ‘Bloody Sunday’ which is still on going to the

present day and is the ‘Saville Report’.

The troubles in Ulster had hit an all time high in 1969 and after that

marches and parades were usually an excuse for violence and rioting

between Catholics and Protestants. Therefore on August 9th 1971 all

marches in Northern Ireland were banned under the Special Powers Act

1922. At dawn on that same day British soldiers entered a number of

Catholic homes and took away suspected IRA men, which of hundreds were

put in internal camps. A march was then organised on January 30th 1972

by a Catholic group, although it was illegal they said so was

interning. The final decision was to allow the march to go ahead but

to contain it within the Bogside and Creggan estate to prevent rioting

in the city centre. What they didn’t know is that what was going to

happen that day would change Ulster and cause a lot of debate for

years to come.

13,000 people were taking part in the march and the IRA agreed to

remove weapons from the area; trouble wasn’t expected as people were

in good moods and there was no tension in the air. The army were to be

at the march and were to follow orders which were to arrest the