There are also many short-term factors that played a part. The civil rights movement was a response to four decades of Unionist discrimination against Catholics. The groups had five demands: one man, one vote in council elections; ending of gerrymandering of electoral boundaries; machinery to prevent discrimination by public authorities and to deal with complaints; fair allocation of public housing; changes in the Special Powers Act and disbanding of B Specials, a largely Protestant police force. The Catholics were greatly influenced by Martin Luther King and the American civil rights movement that was going on at the same time. Also the Civil Rights Marches were banned, but the Orange Marches were not. The Civil Rights Movement was Catholic while the Orange Marches were Protestant. So, the Catholics were getting discriminated against when the marches that caused all the trouble were getting banned. This would of caused more hatred between Protestants and Catholics that would lead to more violence. Many people were worried about, with good reason. Firstly they were scared that there would be a lot of violence if Protestants got involved and also the IRA would see the marches as a target for bombs and general violence. The police were portrayed in different ways, during the battle of the Bogside the RUC tore down a barricade on Rossville Street that led to a riot. The two different versions of this story were; the police claimed they tore down the barricade because they were trying to separate the mobs, however the other story was that the Catholics claimed that it was direct attack by police and loyalist mobs on their houses. The rioting continued for days and led to the first no-go area being made. This meant that no one, not even the police, could get in so the only option was to send the troops in.
The RUC are the main police force in Northern Ireland, they consisted of mainly Protestants, and many believe they were very biased towards other Protestants and were seen as using their position to discriminate against Catholic Nationalists. The Special Powers Act of 1922 meant that the protestant police could arrest people and keep them in prison without a trial and evidence wasn’t necessary to arrest people. For Catholics this was terrible news, this would of made them very angry and bitter. The RUC would abuse this and would sometimes throw innocent Catholics into Prison without good reason. The British government knew that the RUC couldn’t be trusted as a peacekeeping force so the army would be seen as more neutral. However I don’t think this was a reason why the troops were sent in.
The reason the government is a factor is because they were asked to do something about the RUC and all the violence and they sat back and did nothing. They were suspicious and afraid of the marches because they thought that it might change people’s opinions and make them change their vote. As a result of this the government banned the marches and so this caused outrage with Catholics and so there was another outbreak of violence. The government were criticised by many people, they thought that banning the marches was adding more fuel to the flame and making the situation a whole lot worse, John Hume, a nationalist leader went to the Home Office where he was accused of being an alarmist. I think this did force the government’s hand and it made them react during the Battle of the Bogside and send the troops in. The situation had gotten so bad that something had to done.
The most important was the battle of the Bogside. This happened on the Londonderry Apprentice Boys march. The march started fairly peacefully until the Loyalists started throwing pennies at the Catholics, which was a traditional insult. So they both started throwing missiles at each other. This resulted in a riot. The police couldn’t gain control because they were part of the cause; they tore down a barricade on Rossville Street that was seen as an act of violence against the Catholics. Also some say they were also fighting the Catholics. I think this was the final straw for the British and Irish governments, without this I doubt very much if the troops would have been sent in, in the next 5 years.
All the long term and short-term factors all contributed greatly to the reason why the troops were sent in. However I do feel that the Battle of the Bogside especially and the other short-term factors were slightly more important than the long term ones.
The Catholics were initially very happy to have the troops in as it meant that they were finally safe to go out of their houses and live a normal life without as much fear as before. On the other hand it could of made the situation worse because groups like the IRA would have been more upset so therefore set off more bombs and make more riots.
The Battle of the Bogside was the final cause but the history of violence and conflict resulted in the troops being sent in, and I feel that without the history of violence it wouldn’t have resulted in such a major step.
