Why Were Troops Sent into Ireland in 1969?
Why Were Troops Sent into Ireland in 1969?In this essay I am going to discuss why British troops were sent into Northern Ireland in 1969. I will be looking at how social, political, economic and religious factors lead to it and the short-term and long-term reasons for each of them.To find out why it was British troops that were sent in, we have to go back in time to see how England first got involved in Ireland. It started in the 12th century when in 1172 Henry II received submission from most of the regional Irish Kings in return for protection. Ireland and England were both Catholic so this worked until the 10th century and the Reformation when in 1534 Henry VIII removed England from the Catholic church in Rome and made himself Head of the Church of England. This meant that while England was Protestant, Ireland was still Catholic and as any invasion of England by Catholic Spain or France would be officially sanctioned by the Pope. It was feared that they would use Ireland to help them attack England. To show that he was in charge, Henry VIII took the title “King of Ireland” and took the land then gave it back to its owners to remind them that they only lived there with his permission. However, in 1595 the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell rebelled as they resented being ruled by a Protestant country. They lost and their lands were confiscated and given to thousands of younger sons of Scottish Lords who would not have inherited any land otherwise and were also extreme Protestants. This meant that if anyone attempted to use Ireland as a base to attack England, there would be a standing army already there. The lands were in the North of Ireland and became known as the Plantation of Ulster – modern day Northern Ireland. This is the reason there are lots of Protestants loyal to England in Northern Ireland and hardly any in the rest of it and why these are two opposing sides; one Protestant – one Catholic.Part of the reason why the Catholics tend to be poorer
and discriminated against is because in several wars the Protestants and Catholics backed different sides and the Catholic side lost every time.To start with, in the Civil War the Irish Catholics supported Charles I while the Protestants supported Cromwell. When Cromwell won he punished he Irish and gave more Irish land to his Protestant soldiers. However, Charles II gave some of it back.Then in the Williamite Wars from 1689-1695 the Irish supported the Catholic James II against the Protestant William of Orange. James used Ireland as his base to regain his throne but was defeated after the Battles of the ...
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and discriminated against is because in several wars the Protestants and Catholics backed different sides and the Catholic side lost every time.To start with, in the Civil War the Irish Catholics supported Charles I while the Protestants supported Cromwell. When Cromwell won he punished he Irish and gave more Irish land to his Protestant soldiers. However, Charles II gave some of it back.Then in the Williamite Wars from 1689-1695 the Irish supported the Catholic James II against the Protestant William of Orange. James used Ireland as his base to regain his throne but was defeated after the Battles of the Boyne, and the Catholic share of land was reduced again.In 1704 the Penal Code was introduced. This meant that Catholics could not own land or inherit it from Protestants causing them to get progressively poorer with each generation. In 1778 Catholics were allowed to buy land once more but by then Protestants owned more than 90%. (The amount Catholics had owned in 1603).The Penal Code also stopped Catholics from entering the professions or the army. They could not own a gun or a horse worth more than £5. This meant that they had no chance of working their way out of poverty or of pursuing further education which could have helped them try to work against discrimination peacefully using politics. Nor, without guns, could they effectively rebel violently.In 1789 the Orange Order of Protestants was formed. They were against any dealings with Catholics and were still around in 1968 when their marches celebrating famous Protestant victories over Catholics helped spark off riots.In 1801 the act of Union united the British and Irish Parliaments putting Ireland directly under the control of Britain.Then in 1845-1849 many people died because of the potato famine before Britain provided aid. The population fell from 8.5 million to 5.5 million. Half died and half emigrated, many to the USA. These “American Irish” started the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and funded it. After losing their parliament in 1885, Protestant and Catholic MPs started trying to get Home Rule but were defeated in parliament (in Westminster).From 1892 Protestants began to worry that Home Rule would make them a minority. The Ulster Unionist Convention passed a resolution vowing to remain part of Britain.In 1913 a third Home Rule bill was passed. Many Protestants signed solemn covenants that Ulster would remain British. They threatened to cause Civil War and began to arm. Catholics formed the Irish Volunteers. The 1st World War put the bill on hold. In 1916 in the Easter Rising, Catholics showed they no longer supported the government when they shot several of the leaders. They lost but in the next elections in 1918, Sinn Fein (our selves) – the legal political branch of the IRA – won all but one of the non-Ulster seats. They declared an Irish Republic. After much violence, the South was allowed almost total independence with its own government. To pacify the Ulster Protestants, the six countries of Ulster remained British.In the 1921 the Anglo/Irish Agreement partitioned Northern Ireland, which remained part of the UK.After partition, there was much discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland. Ulster was small and economically weak. About one third of the population was Catholic, many of these were Nationalists. Between 1922 and 1924, 453 people were killed in Belfast. The majority were Catholics. They turned to the IRA for protection. In 1935 troops were sent to restore order. The Unionists blamed the Catholics. The British were persuaded to set up the “B Specials” – a part-time armed police force. These were loyalists. Only 1 policeman in 6 was Catholic. People suspected of a crime could be kept in prison without trial (internment). The press was censored. Houses could be searched without a warrant. The authorities did not have to hold inquiries on any dead body found in Northern Ireland. This did not happen in mainland Britain.Due gerrymandering Catholics found it more difficult than Protestants to get a vote in local elections. Businessmen (almost all Protestants) could vote twice, once for the business they owned and once at home. Also sub-tenants, lodgers and children over 21 living at home did not get a vote causing about 25,000 adults to be disenfranchised - mainly poor Catholics.Additionally, when they did manage to vote, due to the boundaries of the voting district being moved by Protestant boundary commissioners, few Nationalist/Catholic councillors were elected. For example, in 1966 the adult population of Derry was 30,376; 20,102 Catholics and 10,274 Protestants, yet there were more Protestant Unionists than Catholic Nationalist councillors.The County Councils provided jobs and houses and were biased against Catholics. There was so much unemployment that the jobs provided by County Councils were highly prized, in particular school bus drivers because of the long rests and long holidays. In 1961 in County Fermanagh, out of about 75 schools, all but 7 bus drivers were Protestant.Also, Protestants “jumped” the queue for council houses. Out of 1,589 council houses built-in Fermanagh between 1845-1969, 1,021 went to Protestant families.But, the generation after World War 2 had never known a united Ireland. Northern Ireland got a National Health Service, Child Benefits and the Butler Education Act. Southern Ireland did not. The British Welfare State helped to shield Catholics from the worst effects of unemployment and poverty and since such benefits would not be available if Northern Ireland left Britain, the idea of a united Ireland as the only way to make things better began to weaken. Instead people began to focus on equality in Northern Ireland. Also, the Butler Education Act of 1944 gave Catholic working-class children the chance to go to grammar school and university.In 1968 many of the children who benefited from this were in university and educated enough to organise marches. Also, in 1968, black people were successfully demanding their Civil Rights by peaceful protest and in France the students’ revolt brought the country to a standstill.O’Neil, prime minister of Northern Ireland at the time, had promised changes but they were slow in coming and in February 1967 members of the Campaign for Social Justice and of Republican Clubs, along with students and workers, formed the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). Anyone could join and they aimed to use peaceful, non-violent means to get changes. Their main aims were: ‘One man – one vote’; ‘end gerrymandering’, laws against discrimination in employment, a points system for council houses, the repeal of the Special Powers Act (the laws legalising internment etc) and getting rid of the ‘B-Specials’.In August 1968 the first Civil Rights March took place. About 2,500 people marched from Coalisland to Dungannon to protest against discrimination in housing. The march was greeted with violence by Unionist Protestants. In some cases the police supposedly protecting the protesters ignored it or joined in. In the January of 1969, following attacks and with lack of confident in the police, Catholics in the Bogside area of Londonderry built barricades to defend themselves. O’Neil lost support for his programme of reforms and on 28th April he resigned. The Orange Marches celebrating Protestant victories were planned for 12th July. The most important was the Apprentices Boys’ Parade on 2nd August in Derry. Every year it reminded Catholics of the power of the Protestants. Many people wanted the parade to be stopped. Failure to ban the Marches resulted in serious riots from 12th-13th July in several parts of Northern Ireland. Thousands of “Orangemen” came to Derry for the Apprentices Boys’ March. The route went through the centre of the city then around the Catholic Bogside area. As the parade came near the Bogside, the Orangemen were stoned. The marchers retaliated and full scale fighting broke out, known as “The Battle of the Bogside”. The violence spread, many people used home-made petrol bombs – local dairies in Londonderry alone reported the loss of 43,000 milk bottles in one week. On 14th August 1969 the British army was sent onto the streets of Londonderry to restore law and order.