Why the Troubles broke out in Northern Ireland in 1969.

Religious history was the main catalyst which started the troubles. The political situation in Northern Ireland was always what caused concern. The situation of the political violence was then strengthened by historical events. These events supplied a “back-bone” to the difficult arguments concerning Northern Ireland. Religious history between protestant and Catholics was what caused the conflicts. This then also lead to cultural differences between the people of Northern Ireland. This essay will explore why the Troubles broke out in 1969 by using various sources and knowledge acquired.

There are many factors causing the difficulties, were some are more important than others. The most important factors were mainly Paramilitaries. They were a problem because they had a large amount weapons and used violence in order to acquire peace. These weapons caused fear and this lead to paramilitary gaining control.  Religion was also a problem because throughout history there has been competition between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland and both sides have been dogmatic and unable to listen to other points of views. Difference of opinions between people is a problem because it has been difficult to keep everyone happy. Extremists, to justify their actions, often refer to street history. Politics has been a problem because there has not always been a balance of power between people of different opinions. Social groups have caused a problem because they have segregated the two different religions and not learnt to compromise and live together in peace. Each factor is complex but proves why it has been difficult to bring peace.

Street history is the view of ordinary people. It often involves selecting bits of history to justify their own point, and leaving out other (important) bits that might hinder their own story. Both protestant and Catholics repeatedly tried to prove that their sides were right, and by using street history they were able to show one side of a story which was in favour to their story. This was biased because it not only gave the full picture, but also future increased the violence between them. Source G: “Protestants images of Catholic attacks on Protestants in 1641” is an image from a school text book indicating Protestants being chased by the Catholics, but the Protestants are naked. There is a caption which reads that “The English Protestants stripped naked and turned into mountains in the frost and snow”. It seems that the Catholics are trying to make the Protestants more barbaric, more like the Irish “ now are ye wild Irish as well as we.”

There is a large variety of social, political and religious reasons why it has been hard to obtain peace in Northern Ireland; there have also been many events that occurred in Northern Ireland that seriously hindered peace progress talks. These are four events that seriously effect peace in Northern Ireland right up to the current day, the Civil Rights Movement, Bloody Sunday, Hunger Strikes and Peace Movements. All these events will be described in my piece of work, I will identify why they happened and who was involved. I will also explain how a power sharing agreement took so long to be put into place because of the impact these events had on the prejudice between Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Unionists. The Civil Rights Movement was a series of Nationalist Catholic marches held between 1967 and 1972 in