How have the following three events contributed to the conflict in Northern Ireland since 1968? Internment, Bloody Sunday, and The Hunger Strikes.

In August 1971 the Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner introduced internment. Internment meant that anyone the security forces suspected of terrorism could be arrested and held in prison without being charged or put on trial. Internment was Faulkner's attempt at destroying the IRA. Internment was a tactic that had used successfully during the 1950s, largely because it had been brought into force on both sides of the border at the same time. But to Catholics Internment was very biased, every suspect that Internment was used against was either a Nationalist or a Republican, there was no attempt to arrest loyalist paramilitaries. The RUC's intelligence was very badly out of date, this meant that most people targeted were no longer active. Also none of the IRA leaders were arrested. Internment was linked to violence in a very big way. A large number of people interned were interrogated using violence or torture, this was confirmed by an official government report. As a direct response, residents on Londonderry and Belfast set up barricades with the help of IRA activists. These barricades kept out loyalist attackers these became no-go areas for everyone, which allowed the IRA to make more bombs, train more activists and increase attacks on soldiers.

Catholics were outraged with the attitude towards internment and on Sunday 30th January 1972 there was a huge protest march against internment, this was organised by the civil rights movement. This march turned into the Bloody Sunday march. The march had been banned but the citizens carried on anyway and marched through the streets. 15,000 people gathered in the centre of the city to hold the protest. There was a lot confusion about the events that followed. The soldiers said that they were fired on first and returned the fire. 13 marchers that were all apparently unarmed were killed many of them were shot in the back which shows that they were running away from the soldiers and trying to escape. There was an inquiry led by Lord Widgery that criticised the shooting of the troops but no action was taken he said that the troops were 'bordering on the reckless'. Nationalists thought that it was a cover up that the soldiers were fired on first, they thought that Bloody Sunday was a massacre. The USA was outraged by Bloody Sunday, this increased the funding for the IRA. Bloody Sunday has become to be one of the most symbolic moments of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, something that has never healed.

In October 1980 Republican prisoners in the Maze prison went on a hunger strike. They wanted to be treated like political prisoners rather than ordinary criminals. In the UK most people agreed with Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher determination of concessions. Many Nationalists even the ones that didn't support the IRA violence sympathised with the strikers and thought that Thatcher was making no effort and that she should be doing more to help. They were concerned that justice was not done and they were angry that suspects were regarded the same as other criminals that weren't given the chance to go on trial. They all felt that by staving themselves and going on a hunger strike was a humanitarian issue. They thought that the actions of the British government were cruel and unreasonable, the British policies were an attempt to crush all Nationalists. The main hunger striker was Bobby Sands was in prison for possession of explosives with an intent to use them. In April 1981 he was elected as MP of Fermanagh and South-Tyrone, he had been a member of the IRA since he was 18. The Hunger strikes showed how non-violent action could generate enormous public attention, generally positive rather than the negative publicity the bombs attracted. If Internment hadn't have been introduced then these prisoners wouldn't have gone on the hunger strikes and some of them die because of it. Bobby Sands died a few months after the election, 10 other hunger strikers died all of their funerals were spectacular full of people wanting to show respect for what these people did.

All three of these events that happened played a big role in the amount of conflict in Northern Ireland. They all brought havoc to the people involved. With the introduction of internment it brought the march against it which turned into the Bloody Sunday fight. Also because of internment the members of the IRA that were put into prison went on hunger strikes, and more people lost their lives. Even if Internment hadn't been introduced there still would be been conflict but not on such a big scale.