The Unionists can be slip into four major segments; The UVP or Ulster Unionist Party, The DUP or The Democratic Unionists Party, The Orange Order and The UDA/UVF or Ulster Defence Associations and the Ulster Volunteer Force.
Each segment has its own differentiated beliefs t the beliefs of their religion/group.
The SDLP is almost all Catholic. It wants Irish Unity but does not believe violence is the answer. It is very peaceful and represents Parliamentary Nationalism.
Sinn Fein is a strong traditional Revolutionary party, with a long past of violence. Its main supporters are from working class Areas of Belfast and Derry. They put up candidates for election in both the South and North.
The IRA is strongly against British Presence in Ireland. They have killed in large numbers including British soldiers, and N.Ireland Police Officers. It is an illegal organisation in the Republic Of Ireland and the UK.
The UVP defend the interests of Northern Protestants and ruled N. Ireland for 51 years between 1920 and 1921.
The DUP was founded by Ian Paisley and is the second most powerful Unionist Party. It now has taken much working class support away from the UVP. It has called for the destruction of the IRA.
The Orange Order was established to protect Protestants and is the largest protestant party. It organises regular marches to express the tradition of the Protestant Community. The UDA/UVF was established in 1970 in order to fight the IRA. They are both illegal and are responsible for many murders, including that of innocent Catholics
During the last 400 years there has been much shaping of the views of both the Unionists and Nationalists. The Easter Rising for example, where many moderate Nationalists were prepared to join the British Army and revolutionary Nationalists saw the WW1 as a chance to stage an uprising. The war was going badly for Britain by 1916 and they wee not helped by the Easter Rising, when on Easter Monday in Dublin, Fenians organised a rebellion. They took over the General Post Office and proclaimed Ireland and Independent Republic. Sinn Fein didn’t have anything to do with it, but some people called the rebels the Sinn Feiners. Normal Catholics gave the rebels no support, they were just angry with there fellow Catholics for all the damage and shootings.
Many rebels were executed without trial after they surrendered. This angered many Catholics of Ireland, and there was an upsurge of support for Sinn Fein.
For Ulster Unionists, the Easter Rising proved that Nationalists were traitors who can’t be trusted.
This even is important to Nationalists because it brought much support to Sinn Fein.
The Partitioning of Ireland was seen by both Britain and Sinn Fein as a temporary solution to Irish Problems, and would lead to the problems been sorted out, but instead it led to the North and the South drifting apart.
During the partition, the Unionists were separated fro the Nationalists into the Republic Of Ireland previously the EIRE, and independents.
After the partition the Catholics were badly treated throughout N.Ireland. The ‘B’ Specials were anti-Catholic and always seemed to be beating on them. Catholics also found it very hard to get good council houses and the best jobs were for protestants only.
Also, the IRA was unsuccessful during the 50s and early 60s because many Catholics refused to support the violence. During the mid 1960s there was a new optimistic mood throughout N.Ireland. This was due to a change in leadership in the North. In 1963 Hard-line Unionist prime-minister Lord Brookeborough (Basil Brooke) was replaced by Terrance O’Neil who wanted to end the unfair treatment.
But after much unrest and opposition from Ian Paisley and the IRA O’Neil resigned after he found it impossible to prevent violence between the Catholics and Protestants.
The south became home to mostly Catholics. The SDLP and IRA made up most of the Republic Of Ireland before 1981. The IRA used bombs in N. Ireland and mainland Britain to try and get there own way. This failed. IN 1981 some of the younger IRA men and Gerry Adams built a new political party for Revolutionary Nationalists in Ireland. Adams argued for MPs from the IRA and local councillors and showed people it was not all criminal. This was after an attempt at a hunger strike (which failed).
After 1988 Gerry Adams tried to change Sinn Fein and decided to end the arms struggle and use peaceful negotiations to get a United Ireland.
