This bitter feeling grew stronger in the 19th century, firstly as Ireland went through a famine in the 1840’s- the British government were blamed for the starvation and emigration of two million Irish, as they did not act efficiently. The north-east of Ireland then went through an industrial revolution- which attracted many Catholics from the south to the majority Protestant North. They were given the lowest paid jobs and tended to settle in their own religious communities. This caused more bitterness between the Protestants and Catholics and led to more violence between the two.
More and more Irishmen wanted Home Rule after 1870. The Protestants, however, were against this as they feared they would become the persecuted minority in an independent Ireland. Their security and prosperity lied with the United Kingdom. But the Catholics were the exact opposite as they believed they could only achieve this by gaining some degree of independence from the United Kingdom.
But this was all put aside as the First World War started in 1914; Ireland and Britain were to fight beside each other. Units were formed from the Ulster Volunteer Force to fight in Europe, and before the end of 1915 there were 29000 volunteers. But it was not only the Protestants that were willing to join Britain, 80000 Irish Volunteers also served with the British arm, they were drawn in to fight in the cause of a Catholic country- Belgium. They were soon called the National Volunteers. Many Irish Volunteers refused to fight with Britain in the first year, as they believed the reason that the British went to war was completely unrelated to them- the enormous number of casualties convinced more people that the Irish Volunteers were right as well as the threat of conscription. This led to threats of a civil war in Ireland.
These factors were the background of the Easter Rising in 1916. The Irish Republican Brotherhood decided that they had had enough, they wanted back the Home Rule bill, and did not want to die for the British. They called themselves the rebels and seized the centre of Dublin. The result of this was the destruction of most of the city centre, hundreds of civilian casualties, Martial Law was proclaimed, leaders of the rebellion were arrested and condemned to death after trials and the rising was extremely unpopular. Gradually people in Ireland began to turn their support from Home Rule to the idea of complete independence. This was due to the English shooting 3 major rebel leaders: Patrick Pearse; Sean McDonnel and James Connoly. The support for Sinn Fein grew, and the IRA was formed. The IRA was the Irish Republican Army- a violent and armed force.
In 1918 the Great War came to an end, and immediately after an election was held. A new Irish political party named Sinn Fein (which translates as 'ourselves alone') was created. In this General election Sinn Fein was elected and claimed 73/105 seats. They had the choice to go for Home Rule, British Rule or Complete Independence. The vote was unanimous, they chose Complete Independence. This proved to be a major turning point. Sinn Fein declared Ireland an independent Republic setting up its own Parliament in Dublin, as well as Police, Government and Law Courts. Sinn Fein also made their point of refusing to take their seats at Westminster. Instead they met in Dublin and declared themselves the first Dail Eireann (Parliament of Ireland). They were committed to achieving an Irish Republic and did not co-operate with the British administration of Ireland. In 1919 Lloyd George suggested two parliaments for Ireland, with the provision they could be later merged. This gave the Dublin parliament less power than the Home Rule Bill of 1914 so it was of little interest to Sinn Fein. But it was introduced in Westminster in 1920. It proposed that the six north eastern counties (Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone) should be excluded from the Republic; they all had a Protestant majority. Ulster originally consisted of nine counties. Including Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal but they were not to be included in the new Ulster as they did not have a Protestant majority. The Ulster Unionists were not all convinced but did not oppose to the bill- so the Government of Ireland Act in December 1920 and a Government and Parliament of Northern Ireland were established within the following year.
Now that the state of Northern Ireland was made of a Protestant majority (two thirds) and a Catholic minority (one third), it became a state which was run by Protestants for themselves. To kick start the problems the IRA conducted a violent campaign against the new state in the year 1920’s. The Unionists, of course, suspected the parliament in Dublin to be supporting this so they set up a special force, the B-Specials, to help the police deal with the IRA. Furthermore, there was immense segregation, not only because of the separate religious views did they go to different churches but also pubs and schools- and this was only the start of it all. In 1926, Lord Londonderry attempted to end this segregation in education but once he resigned his plans were blocked. These are some of the factors that enhanced the segregation:
- Catholics refusal to enter political life gave definite power to the Protestants- making sure they were still in control;
- There was a worldwide economic depression as which made jobs scarce and this competition for jobs led to increased violence;
- The Catholic minority felt isolated;
- Elections were fixed to always give Protestant majorities, this was called Gerry Mandering;
- Overall, Catholics got the worst and lowest paid jobs; poorest housing; and fewer opportunities than Protestants. They were also the first to be made redundant if need be.
But as we advanced into the 1960’s there was a growth of Civil Rights movements, by those who were oppressed for basic civil and human rights. Such as the Black’s Civil Rights movement in the USA, this was led by Martin Luther King- they wanted equality with whites in jobs and education. Nelson Mandela led the demand in South Africa to put an end to apartheid or race discrimination. Many communist countries granted the right to vote and freedom of expression and religion now. Catholics in Northern Ireland could now identify with Black Americans, despite the improvement in the 50’s and 60’s there was still glaring inequality and discrimination in Northern Ireland. They saw improvement in Civil Rights movements everywhere but in Northern Ireland. In February 1967, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was formed. It ignored the religious segregation and its demands were:
- One-man-one-vote in local elections;
- The removal of gerrymandered boundaries;
- Laws against discrimination by local government and the provision of machinery to deal with complaints;
- Allocation of public housing on a points system;
- Repeal of the Special Powers Act;
- Disbanding on the B- Specials.
The aims of these demands were:
- To defend the basic freedoms of all citizens;
- To protect the rights of the individual;
- To highlight all possible abuses of power;
- To demand guarantees for freedom of speech, assembly and association (belonging to a trade union);
- To inform the public of their lawful rights.
In particular the aim was to end all discrimination. The Civil Rights movement was a peaceful one but it led to violence in 1968 and ’69. There were a couple tactics that were used in this peaceful protest that led to this.
Austin Currie carried out a sit-in in a Protestant’s council house (Miss Emily Beattie) in 1968. This was a protest over unfair allocation, which led to the police throwing out the MP (Austin Currie). Marches were also held as a form of protest, the first march was in August 1968, but was stopped by the police from entering the town that it was marching to in the first place. Violence in Londonderry was caused by the march in Londonderry in October 1968. This got to the centre of Londonderry where it was attacked by the police. Northern Ireland was shown to be an oppressive and intolerant state as the events could be broadcasted across the world. The Northern Ireland government gave some concessions as a result and the Civil Rights movement agreed to suspend its activities. But then the People’s Democracy was set up.
It was made up of Catholic students in university from Belfast, the three main leaders of this People’s Democracy were: Eamon McCann, Michael Farrell and Bernadette Devlin. Devlin was quite open about their aims and a three day march was organised from Belfast to Londonderry. They were constantly re-directed as the police would not let them into certain towns. On the third day they were ambushed by a loyalist mob. The RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) escort, who were there to prevent conflict, did little to protect the marchers. Some of the mob even included off-duty police. RUC officers and B-Specials invaded the Catholic Bogside area, causing havoc and singing Protestant songs. The result of this march was rioting in Londonderry that night.
A second march this time at Burntolett Bridge, in January 1969 by Catholics for Civil Rights from Londonderry to Belfast was attacked by Protestants throwing missiles at the marchers. The RUC failed to protect the Catholics. This resulted in rioting and barricading of the Bogside area of Derry. Which resulted in the RUC entering the Bogside by breaking down the barricading and ambushing the Catholics. The riots resulted in Terrence O’Neill’s forced resignation as Ulster Prime Minister and he was replaced by James Chichester-Clark, as he had lost the support of his own MPs. The new Prime Minister O’Neill’s cousin and a middle-of-the-road Unionist- like O’Neill.
As summer marching season approached, tension was rising. There was a riot following a march in Dungiven in July, which resulted in the first death in renewed Troubles. The Londonderry Apprentice Boys’ march approached, the people of the Catholic Bogside area of Londonderry, rightfully, feared the worst. There was already a long track record of violence between loyalist and republican gangs after the march would have passed the walls of the city where marchers could look down on the Bogside and Creggan. The Bogside was again barricaded, due to how much violence was expected to occur. Robert Porter, the Home Affairs Minister for Northern Ireland, had the power to ban marches. John Homme, the Nationalish leader, asked Robert Porter to band the Apprentice Boy’s march, but was refused as Robert Porter was a Unionist and was for the Apprentice Boys’ march taking place. As the Apprentice Boys marched past the perimeter of the Catholic Bogside, sectarian clashes occurred. The RUC intervened and tried to break down the barricade that was protecting the Catholics on Rossville Street, assisted by an angry Protestant mob. They charged at the nationalists forcing them into William Street. Within hours the riots had turned into what was described as a "Community in revolt". Police were stoned and petrol bombed as they forced their way in riot gear into the Bogside. After 2 days of similar events the Police were exhausted that they Catholics had used to defend themselves with. The riot had turned into a battle, this has become known as the Battle of the Bogside. As this was televised people around the world could now see the reality of what was going on in Northern Ireland.
On Thursday 14th August, the Prime James Chichester-Clark asked the British Prime Minister (Harold Wilson) to send British troops to Derry, as the RUC had failed to control the situation. He did not know that British troops were in fact on standby as they feared that the Catholics would be massacred. Later that day, British troops arrived to take over for the Police and restore law and order. The Battle of the Bogside ended with intervention from Britain troops. 5 Catholics and One Protestant were killed on the 14th of August 1969. As the Battle of the Bogside went on, similar events were also going on in Belfast, a demonstration against police brutality was in Londonderry occurred here. Police were called out, and Catholics came out onto the streets provoking Protestants to attack. The police lost control of the situation, and six Catholics died overnight as 150 homes were burnt down. The following day, British troops went into Belfast.
The Protestants did not welcome the British troops, which was ironic as they were they Unionists and had pledged allegiance to the crown- but were now against its act. The Catholics however embraced the arrival of the British troops; even though they were from a Protestant country and Unionists- they protected the Catholics from further attacks. The British Government now made the Downing Street Declaration, which insisted on reforms of Northern Ireland, the following measures were included:
- The B-Specials were abolished;
- The RUC were brought under control of the British army;
- A fair system of allocation of house was set up;
- Gerrymandering in elections was ended;
- Government grants were given to industry in Ulster to reduce unemployment.
If you compare these measures to what the Catholics demanded in their Civil Rights movement, they are very similar. But the Catholics now insisted that these measures did not go far enough- perhaps because how immense the levels of bitterness and hatred had grown to. The Protestants were not pleased with these measures as they saw the British government as traitors to them, and not really on the same side as them as they would have expected to have been on.
The Catholics then began to see the troops as another way of the Britain to control Catholics in Ulster rather than as protectors. Some of these Catholics turned to Dublin for help- Jack Lynch (who was Prime Minister of the Irish Republic) called for United Nations troops to be sent in as they would be the most neutral, rather than British or Irish troops invading the Ulster.
As the RUC and British army had failed to protect the Catholics, they had begun to turn to the IRA, who were much more extreme and believed in using violence.
The Westminster government saw the reasons of the British troops going into the Ulster as, to reform the police force and B-specials (and to put them under army control), to put an end to discrimination in housing and gerrymandering of local authorities and invest grants in Northern Ireland to decrease the unemployment problem. I personally think that the main reason that they troops were sent into the Ulster was to calm the situation before a civil war broke out- and many more people were killed. The riots and battles were getting far too out of hand, and there was no neutral party in Northern Ireland before the troops arrived. And even now that the troops had arrived there was no saying whether they were actually biased to Protestants or Catholics either.