After the Easter Rising there was a general election in 1918, and Sinn Fein won 73 out of 105 seats, the peaceful home rule party received 6 and the unionists won 26. The Irish people were accepting the need for more extreme methods to win their freedom. Sinn Fein MPs refused to go to the British parliament and instead they set up their own in Dublin calling it the Dail Eirean.
The War of Independence in 1919 was a war between the Irish Catholics in the IRA and the soldiers from Britain. The Black and Tans were ex-soldiers recruited by the British government they shot people in the IRA and because of this the IRA fought back. Neither side would back down. After all this fighting Lloyd George in 1920 decided to pass the Government of Ireland Act which aimed to restore peace by a temporary partition of Ireland. Ireland then became the Ireland we know today with the South as a separate country. The Unionists were prepared to accept this, but the Nationalists continued the War of independence until 1921, by this time both sides were exhausted and so the nationalists had to accept the peace treaty offered by Britain. Many people still disagreed with the peace treaty and this then formed two new groups the pro-treaty and the anti-treaty, these two groups started to fight each forcing a civil war between the different factions of the Nationalists who were not sure whether they should sign the treaty. This war lasted for about a year from June 1922.
I believe that Partition didn’t solve the problems in Ireland and in a way it may have made things worse. Partition meant that it left a minority in each part of the country. In Northern Ireland there was a minority of Catholics and in Southern Ireland it left a minority of Protestants. The problems continued in Northern Ireland as the Catholics stilled believed very strongly that they should be a separate country. While protestants wanted all of Ireland to be part of Britain.
I believe that without the Easter Rising then there wouldn’t have been partition. The Easter rising caused uproar and those who believed strongly against British rule were sure to have fought in some way even without the rising but this may not have led to such a big change in Ireland. The Easter Rising was a turning point in Irish history it made the British look towards Ireland and realise what they, the Irish wanted. Without the modern media it did not become such a big event in all eyes around the world, but it certainly made those involved stop and think about what needed to be done. Most conflicts in Ireland from then on used violence to try and get their point across because Britain had used violence against them and they felt angry because of it. Using violence was an easy way to get your voice heard. The Easter Rising and Partition led to all the troubles in Northern Ireland from then onwards. In many ways the events after the Partition were worse as the Easter Rising showed that using violence could get attention.
After partition the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland were discriminated against by the protestant majority. They were a minority in Northern Ireland and by the 1960s there was rising unemployment. This meant that most of the jobs that were available were taken by Protestants. All education was split and streets had barricades down the middle of them; the Protestants and Catholics would not mix. Unionists did not make much effort to co-operate with the Nationalists. They didn’t hide the fact that they didn’t want to be a part of Northern Ireland. Nationalists refused to sit in the Northern Irelands parliament. Best housing was always given to the Protestants as they held most of the posts in the councils because they used gerrymandering to get more votes. The British Government didn’t take any action on this. Terrence O’Neill was the Prime Minister at this time and he was trying to improve the relationship between the Protestants and the Catholics but it was not working. Protestants feared that Terrence O’Neill was encouraging the Catholics to rebel and demand for equality and if this happened it would threaten their control of Northern Ireland.
The entire situation in Northern Ireland was taking place under the gaze of the media and television. This heightened the tension and confrontation on both sides, many Protestants resented the impression the media gave of the Catholics. The media seemed to show the Catholics as the only ones who were suffering hardships, while the privileged Protestants looked down upon them. Protestants also had to deal with poor living conditions and hardships too.
Schools played a part in creating fear and prejudice both religions would educate their children separately, children were made to believe that the other religion was inferior to them. Churches also played a huge part in teaching others to believe that the other religion was not acceptable. The two religions worshipped separately and they believed in very different beliefs. Catholics were very stuck in their beliefs; this meant that there was not much chance of them changing there minds. The innocence of the children meant that adults were able to tell them anything and they would believe it to be true (protestants would tell there children stories of how horrible the Catholics were and the Catholics did the same to there children). Children would only be taught the biased view of their religion, so the children would believe more in their own religion.
In 1968 Northern Ireland had been almost peaceful for thirty years. This did not mean everyone was happy, many people were angry about the discrimination they had to face everyday. As a result of this anger the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was set up in 1967. NICRA believed it was a time to put an end to all the unending discrimination against housing, schools, voting and jobs. In August 1968 the first civil rights march was held in Northern Ireland, this would be the first of many. About 2,500 people marched from Coalisland to Dungannon to protest about discrimination in housing. There was a large coverage in the media of the march. It showed that it was possible that peaceful methods could be used as well as violence. Attention was gained after this march of the injustices in Northern Ireland.
On the 5th of October supporters for the Civil Rights Movement organised a march but it was then banned by the government. The marchers decided to ignore the ban; police attacked the marchers injuring 77 of them. This then meant that the supporters felt more action was needed to put a stop to all the prejudice. In January 1969 the people’s democracy (students from Queens University Belfast) led a march from Belfast to London, when they reached the Burntollet Bridge they were ambushed, stoned, and beaten by a mob of Protestants. Catholics cheered when the marchers reached Londonderry, the police were sent around to raid houses and abuse the residents. By April 1969 marches had got worse; this made the Prime Minister Terrence O’Neill resign from his post.
With Northern Ireland on the very verge of civil war, the British finally decided to take action. The British government decided it could not trust the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) to deal with the problem. On the 14th August 1969 the British government sent the army troops onto the streets of Belfast and Derry to try and end the growing troubles there. The British had finally lost control of the situations in Northern Ireland and the only way they believed they could solve it was to use violence against the marchers
The deployment of British troops into Northern Ireland had an immediate impact in Ireland. The Catholics in Northern Ireland first believed that the troops were a blessing and that they would help them fight the discrimination against them. Catholics welcomed the British troops in their country at first as they thought they wouldn’t be biased like the RUC were, they offered them tea and biscuits in the streets. The Protestants were suspicious of the troops they didn’t know which side the troops would fight on. They were concerned that they would take the Catholics side and cause the Protestants to loose control over Northern Ireland. Later the British troops fought against the Catholics locking them up and taking the Protestants view. The Catholics became angry and fought back. They wanted to take action against the RUC and the army. They had believed the army would have helped them, but they didn’t and they were enraged and this caused more rioting. The British army again had not helped the situation at all.
In the 1970s the British army decided they needed to be harsher as there were still frequent shootings and gun battles between the IRA and the Ulster Volunteer force. On the 3rd July troops entered a Catholic area of Belfast to search for weapons and ammunition. They took over the area and smashed doors in and broke up furniture in peoples houses, they left a trail of destruction behind them. This action of the troops upset the people in that area. Catholics in Belfast began to see the army as another weapon against them. The violence continued to spiral out of control. A new Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was named, Chichester Clark. He believed that Internment was the only way to finally put a stop to the violence. Internment is where a person can be locked up without trial or sentence; they are put straight into jail from the street. The Catholics became irate as many of them were locked up for no reason and support for the IRA began to soar again. Most Protestants were not disturbed by Internment as the Catholics were mostly the ones who were picked upon. Before internment there had been 30 violent deaths in 1971, the introduction of internment provoked a wave of shootings and explosions which killed another 143 people. Violence did die down by the end of year because of arrests and the discoveries of ammunition though. Internment also increased tension and bitterness between the Catholic and Protestant communities.
The deployment of troops in many ways made the situation Northern Ireland worse than it was already, they went onto Northern Irelands streets ready to fight (this was not a good plan of action). The army were not trained for stopping fighting or controlling violence, they were trained to fight and kill, this meant that the riots were worse as there were more people involved who were trained to use military weaponry. The deployment of the British troops led to internment, this also led to more riots and killings. The civil rights march in Northern Ireland was a turning point because this showed that peaceful methods can get somewhere. This march led to more peaceful protests which helped reduce the levels of violence in Northern Ireland, but the police and the troops who fought back against the marches didn’t use peaceful methods, causing more upset for the Catholics in Northern Ireland. Internment also led to many other events taking place.
Deployment was a turning point in Irish history even though it caused so much havoc. It was the first time British soldiers had been in Ireland since the civil war. I believe that the British deployed there troops as a way to try and show Ireland that they had the power and that Britain could stop the fighting and they used a very drastic method to try and finally finish all the troubles in Northern Ireland. Catholics at first believed that Britain was finally coming to there aid to stop the discrimination but in the end they turned against them and again were as biased as the RUC.
Internment caused anger and hatred to rise up within the Catholics; they were again being treated unfairly. There was an increased feeling of isolation amongst the Catholic population; there was also a public out cry at treatment of innocent men. Now, with it being legal to lock someone up without a trial they were unable to do much about it. This led to the event ‘Bloody Sunday’ which was a Civil rights march that took place on the 30th January 1972.
The Civil rights march against internment that was later known as ‘Bloody Sunday’ was meant to have gone to the Guildhall, through the Bogside area in Londonderry. After introducing internment the Unionist Government had banned all marches and therefore this march was ‘illegal’. The army did not want to risk a riot so they did not attempt to stop the march. The army lay out barriers to prevent the march going further than the Bogside. They set out an arrest force all the way along the barriers to arrest any of the rioters they could. The soldiers that were given the job of arresting members of the public were from the Parachute regiment (‘no.1 Paras’) they specialise in fierce attacks on targets, not crowd control. The march was peaceful until it got to the barriers, stones were thrown, and insults shouted behind the barriers. Just before four o’clock ‘No.1 Paras’ began its scoop up operation. At the barriers, the British army at first used; water cannons and rubber bullets to try and disperse the large numbers of crowds but this did not work as confrontations continued and more stones were thrown. The march continued, with rubber bullets being fired and stones being thrown, suddenly a gun shot was fired and within seconds 13 marchers were lying dead and many others were wounded. The thousands at the scene were shocked and horrified at this and just ran away.
On the day of the funeral for the 13 marchers angry crowds burned down the British Embassy in Dublin, the protestors were very angry at what had taken place they wanted justice for what had happened. A special investigation was ordered by the British government into what had happened during the march, but it was never that clear as each side had a different story they were all biased. We, to this day do not know what actually took place. ‘Bloody Sunday’ led to more troubles and the British Government feared that there would be a complete breakdown of law and order. Then, in March 1972 the British Prime Minister Mr Heath decided that Britain had no alternative, but to take over direct control of Northern Ireland until a solution to the troubles could be found.
After ‘Bloody Sunday many of the IRA were even more angry at Britain, so they started launching attacks on the mainland of Britain. Nationalists became more extreme and joined forces with the IRA to fight against what happened and also about internment still being in place, also more Unionists became more extreme too; they wanted to fight against the rioters to have a more peaceful Northern Ireland. Britain increased the number of soldiers in Northern Ireland, but this increased tension between the two factions and so the IRA changed their tactics. The police and the army were made increasingly unwelcome in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. The positives to come out of ‘Bloody Sunday was that the Government put a stop to Gerrymandering and the B-specials were disbanded and a new security force was established, the Ulster Defence regiment, each of these changes also led to more consequences.
The media coverage meant that countries all over the world were hearing about the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’. Southern Ireland was shocked at the news that the troops opened fired at a large crowd. Many people in Sothern Ireland may have had relatives or friends living in that area and would have been worried in case they knew any of the 13 killed. Countries around the world would also have been shocked and appalled at ‘Bloody Sunday’, although there were many people around the world who were sympathetic to extremists of both sides.
The Northern Ireland Catholics were appalled and scared that it may happen again. They would have been angry that the rioters did not fulfil what they wanted, the termination of internment. After ‘Bloody Sunday’ many people blamed the rioters for the attacks, some believed that they had shot first and so that is why the army fought back. If this was the case they would want justice. If the army had opened fire for no reason then the Catholics would want revenge for their suffering. Many more Catholics would have joined the IRA to fight back and do something about the attacks. The Northern Ireland Protestants may not of known what to believe, they would be shocked at the army for opening fire but they would have believed it was the only way to stop the rioters hurting them or continuing on to Guildhall.
The British Government were trying to consider the facts and work out the true story of the events that led to ‘Bloody Sunday’. To this day nobody knows exactly what happened, the British Government were appalled at their own army for opening fire, at such a globally watched riot; they wanted the facts first before they went on to criticize their own army for the troubles. The Government wanted to find a solution as quickly as possible and one that had no aggravation to either parties, in the end they had to suspend Stormont (the Northern Irish Parliament) and have direct rule from the British Parliament at Westminster, London. This led to more troubles with the extreme Nationalists.
‘Bloody Sunday’ led to more upset in Northern Ireland. Without ‘Bloody Sunday’ the Ireland that we know today would not be like it is. A solution still has not been found, as Direct Rule as it was still in place until a couple of years ago. Much of the violence has died down now but people still believe that Ireland should be a full free republic instead of two separated countries. It was a big turning point in Irish history. The event had so many consequences and ‘Bloody Sunday’ was at the core of these changes in Northern Ireland. Everything that happened politically in Ireland from then on could be traced back to this important event.
Each of the events I have talked about had an impact on the Ireland we know today, The Easter Rising led to partition. The Deployment of troops led to ‘Bloody Sunday’ and the death of the 13 members of the public shocked the nation. Finally ‘Bloody Sunday’ led to direct rule being reinstated and that led to how Ireland is today and because of media and television it was the one that more people heard about. I believe the Easter Rising had the most impact on the history of Ireland. Without the Easter Rising none of the other events would have taken place and partition also would not have happened because the Easter Rising is what led the British Government to decide to issue Partition. Partition is what led to the deployment of troops which led to ‘Bloody Sunday’ as Partition led to the Catholics getting in an uproar as they were in a minority which led to the deployment of troops. Without the deployment of troops then they could not have shot the seven who died on ‘Bloody Sunday’. Each action that was made in Ireland had repercussions that led to another event taking place. The Easter Rising caused a lot of upset in Northern Ireland and along with other things this is why the British Government stepped in and ordered partition. We know Ireland today as two separated countries Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland as its own country. This would not be like this without the Easter Rising and the deaths of the rebel leaders.