Northen Ireland Conflict

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Charlie Medlin 10MR

How far do sources D-I explain why troubles broke out in N.Ireland in 1969

Source D is a written account extracted from B.Devlin’s ‘The Price of My Soul’. The book was written in 1969, this was the year all the violence broke out in Northern Ireland. This source doesn’t strictly explain 1969 but highlights some of the problems in N.Ireland as the two religions had conflicting views. It says that her vice-principle was very anti-English. If messages like this were being taught in schools, the pupils would grow up to hate each other. This is only an extract from the book so there is a lot missing, the book could give a further insight into the reason of the problem in 1969. This source is written by a Roman Catholic so you cannot fully trust it, although she is very truthful about her education. This source is useful as it shows what happened in Catholic schools.

Source E is a cartoon, in this picture it shows a Protestant woman tied up in ropes by a Catholic priest, the source is not dated, it is saying if Catholics gain control of N.Ireland all Protestants would be limited to what they would be able to do. I would like to know when it was drawn as it could link well to 1969. This is not trust worthy as it is drawn by a Protestant, the source isn’t helpful as it simply isn’t true. It is quite the opposite. It is just a type of Protestant propaganda.

In source F, you can not tell where the source came from but this source is a map showing the evidence of Gerrymandering in Derry. The map is dated in 1966. Gerrymandering is highly illegal as it forces a particular party to win an election, it forces voters of Labour for example to vote in a certain place, and voters of Liberal Democrats to vote somewhere else. This forces the result of the election to go one way. In the case in Ireland, it was the Protestants way. The map highlights the way Gerrymandering took place. There were around 14,000 Catholic voters in Derry and 10,000 of them were forced to vote in the South ward. There were about 8,500 Protestant voters in Derry and as they put the majority of Protestant voters in the North ward and the Waterside ward meaning that the Protestant won 2 out of 3 wards, due to the system they had in place in N.Ireland if you win by a majority of wards, you get election. This source is reliable as from research I know that cases of Gerrymandering in N.Ireland have been catalogued before. Inspecting this source is really useful as Catholics would feel they had everything against them, and that resorting to violence is the only thing left for them to do.

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Source G is a drawing from a Protestant textbook. It shows attacks made by Catholics on Protestants in 1641. This is not long after Protestants settled in Ireland. This picture portrays Catholics as the aggressors, fully dressed and holding weapons, in contrast the Protestants are seen as very innocent. They are naked and are being chased. The victims (Protestants) have no weapons and are made to seem harmless. If I was a neutral observer and picked up this source it would me make me think that the Catholics are very wrong. This drawing was published in a Protestant textbook, ...

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