Eventually British troops were called in to help them out of the situation, as it was too much for them to handle. The troops helped to bring law and order to the Irish troubled areas. There are several factors that may have caused the riots and the troops to be called in. The factors can be put into two categories, long-term factors and short-term factors.
In Ireland the two main different religions ‘Catholic’ and ‘Protestant’ didn’t get on because of the unfairness of the way Catholics were treated a system named ‘Home Rule’ to help give Catholics civil rights just like Protestants received. Ireland at this time was still a part of the U.K. but also partly independent because Britain weren’t doing enough as they were concentrating on their own problems such as WWI and WWII. The Irish men went to help the British and the Home Rule started to collapse because the British weren’t doing all they could to enforce it although this was happening many Irish troops still supported Britain throughout the wars. During this time extremists staged the rebellion or ‘The Easter Rising’ and because it was during the middle of a war and a religious festival it had a big impact. The rebellion was held in Dublin on Easter Monday 1916 but was put down by British troops. This situation became a long-term factor in the causes of future problems in Ireland when the British Government decided to execute the leaders; they spread the executions over a number of days so as to make an example of the men. This changed the public’s opinion; they did not support the rebellion but still regarded the leaders as martyrs eventually the executions led to the hatred of the British Government. As a result a vote in 1918 elected Sinn Fein and the Home Rule was finished.
Another long-term and significant event causing British troops to be called was the War of Independence, which led to a partition. The War of Independence involved private armies who carried out shootings and bombings. To fight back the British Government used ‘Black and Tans’ and ‘Axillaries’ against the armies. Both parties were ruthless against them but shooting, bombings and general violent actions were still being carried out, in desperation the British Government decided on a partition. Six counties with the least Catholics became Northern Ireland, which stayed a part of Britain, and the rest of Ireland became a free state under the Government of Ireland act. The result of the act was that the Catholic Minority became afraid as Protestants dominated them.
Sectarian Discrimination became a huge factor in Northern Ireland between 1922 and the 1960’s, Catholics were treated unfairly and the breakdown of the home rule didn’t help the situation. They were treated unfairly for jobs, housing, politics, police and the justice system. A persons religion was taken into account when applying for a job, Catholics found it difficult to get jobs especially if it involved the Government positions, as they were thought not to be loyal to the state, they were more likely to be unemployed. This meant that they were less wealthy than the Protestants and so had trouble finding housing they could afford. Even though Catholics were more in need of housing than Protestants, Protestants still got priority. This was because Unionist controlled councils allocated housing and religion was yet again taken into account. In 1946 a ‘Representation of the people act’ was put into motion which gave a vote rate to payers, a home owner got a vote but if they had their own business to then they got another vote (multiple voting) as many home owners and wealthy people were Protestant then they had an unfair advantage. This meant that many local elections were fixed (gerrymandering). Many jobs were taken by Protestants this included positions in the police force. Few Catholics would join the ‘B Specials’ and the part time Special Constabulary was exclusively Protestant, this made the justice system unfair and biased. The Government had a right to arrest and obtain people without a trial it was said not to be a deliberate plan to depress the Catholic minority but a response to the campaign of violence by the IRA against Northern Ireland.
These long-term factors all add to the problems of Ireland and are all partly responsible for the breakdown in law and the rise in violence causing British troops to be called in.
As well as long-term factors there are also short-term factors. In the 1960’s a civil rights campaign was a short-term factor. The campaign demanded changes in Northern Ireland and was a challenge to the Protestant domination; because of this the Catholics became even more disillusioned. A civil rights association was set up as a non-sectarian organisation to help out. Catholics, middle classes, Protestant liberals, Labour and trade unionists supported it. They demanded civil rights and planned U.S. style marches (much like Martin Luther King’s) to get their point across peacefully. The first march was held in August 1968 in Londonderry. Police escorted the march and it was even shown on T.V. This caused a lot of widespread anger and triggered a lot of violence.
The policies of Captain O’Neill’s Government between 1963 and 1969 were a factor also. It was thought that the policies of his Government were too liberal and well meaning and too slow to change things. His economic policies were thought to benefit Protestants and not the poor Catholic areas. Many people disagreed with what he was saying and didn’t feel he was being fair to their religion be it Catholic or Protestant.
There was a lot of violence in Northern Ireland from January 1969 this would be a factor because the Irish Government would find it too large and widespread to cope with. In January 1969 the area of Bumtoillet Bridge was attacked, off duty police intervened along with B Specials, the escort did very little. On the 12th August 1969 fierce fighting broke out after the apprentice boys parade. The Irish PM, Jack Lynch threatened to intervene Protestants felt threatened by this.
The Irish Government decided to call in British troops because of all the trouble. At first Britain refused saying ‘Once we do, they may be there for a long time’ but in the end they decided to intervene. I think that the most important reason for this was the violence and the breakdown in law and order. The troops were needed because the Irish forces weren’t big or strong enough to cope with what was going on. The troops were needed to help out but not take over, which is what many of the Irish thought was happening.
