Choose 2 events in the last 100 years, which have been particularly important in shaping the views of today?

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Choose 2 events in the last 100 years, which have been particularly important in shaping the views of today?

Many events in the last hundred years have affected the way that the loyalists and nationalist today see each other. These have been events that have affected each side and some that affect both.

For the Loyalists one of the most important events was the civil rights movement that began in 1967. This was seen as the start of the recent troubles.  When Terence O’Neill took control of the government of Ulster in 1963, he promised changes for the catholic minority, although these changes would take time to come about. This led the Catholics to get frustrated at the lack of progress, which meant that the Catholics organised the civil rights movement in 1967. A year after they began to organise a series of marches. The fact that O’Neill promised the Catholics equal rights also meant that the Protestant community also began to worry about the Catholics becoming to powerful in Northern Ireland.

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Bloody Sunday was one of the most crucial points in the Northern Irish troubles. This came about when soldiers fired onto a non-violent march and killed 13 civilians. The Paras always claimed that they had been fired on first and were merely defending themselves. No one knows exactly why and when the first bullet was fired and the Widgery Inquiry found no evidence that any of the fallen had been armed and still today there is doubt over who fired first.

Lord Scarman reports in 1972 that although police in 1969 believed in an IRA armed uprising there was ...

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