Source E shows a nineteenth century protestant cartoon, showing Erin (Ireland), bound in ropes by a catholic priest. My interpretation of the image is that Ireland is bound by Catholics and the Catholics keep trying to take over and control Ireland, also if Ireland was rid of the Catholics then Ireland would be free and he protestants could rule Ireland. It also suggests that the Catholics are controlling, in which could have lead up to the troubles in Ireland. Also it suggests that the Catholics are violent and angry. Erin (Ireland’s) face is looking quiet sad it give the impression that Ireland doesn’t want to be ruled by the Catholics, but is being forced to. However the source is from a protestant and therefore may be biased, as it gives a bad impression of the Catholics. The troubles may have been sparked over the rule of Ireland.
Source F shows a map of the Gerrymander in Derry 1966. Catholics and Protestants lived in totally different areas; there were 3 wards, 2 in which were catholic leaving the Protestants 1. The Catholics and Protestants were clearly divided in everything, where they lived, schools and everyday life. As the Catholics refused to become boundary commissioners, more Protestants got the positions than Catholics, and therefore the constituencies. This could be another spark for the troubles.
Source G is a picture from a protestant textbook. It suggests that the Catholics were violent and horrible towards the Protestants, as it is showing a catholic attack. However this piece of evidence cant be reliable or accurate in my opinion, as it is taken from a protestant textbook and it gives the impression that the Catholics are nasty and horrible, and that the protestants are innocent, which is exactly what the protestants wanted the children to believe, so they would hate the Catholics too.
Source H shows RUC officers attacking a civil rights protester. This is meant to show the RUC who were in the main protestant, as being biased towards the civil rights protesters, who were mostly catholic. I think this was quite significant in leading to the troubles in Ireland.
Source I is a photograph of crowd violence as loyalists ambush civil rights marchers at Burntollet in 1969. It shows the violence and hate that they have for each other. That could be the start of the troubles, as the violence escalated.
The troubles broke out in 1969. The main reason was because there were meant to be changes put in place for the catholic minority, but they didn’t happen, so the troubles began. There was a march in Burntollet in January, and the Protestants and Catholics were still fighting, that’s when the British army stepped in. the IRA couldn’t decide what to do so they split into two groups, this caused even more fighting.
Over all there were many sparks and events that led up to the troubles in Ireland. I think there was a fair amount of evidence to explain why the troubles broke out, but in my opinion they were just little things that caused the troubles. I think sources D, E, F, and I were the most important and useful, as they gave evidence to show what led up to the troubles, sources G and H in my opinion were biased. I believe there is just about enough evidence to explain why the troubles broke out; however there were other things as well
