19/01/02
History Coursework James Watson
- How did Protestant politicians explain the social, economic and political differences between Catholic and Protestant?
The Protestant politicians explained the social economic and political differences by citing that the Catholics and Protestants had had developed different cultures and these two completely parallel cultures had developed centuries ago.
For example many Protestants disagreed with what they called ‘the authoritative nature of their church’ I quote from Terence O’Neill the N.Ireland PM.
The reason many Protestant disagreed with the church was because of examples like this.
This is a table of books censored and banned by the government in the Republic of Eire, which itself was inadvertently run by the Roman Catholic Church.
The history of the Protestants and the Catholics when united was mainly in times of war against the common enemy. I refer to the Second World War when the loyalty of the Ulstermen was put to the test. 38,000 Ulstermen and women fought for Britain and 4500 of them died. I quote from Winston Churchill ‘But for the loyalty of Northern Ireland and its devotion…we should have been faced with slavery and death… The bond of affection between Great Britain and the people of Northern Ireland have been tempered by fire and are now, I firmly believe, unbreakable…’
The First World War was a little different in the way people reacted to the call of battle. Originally conscientious objectors were legally accepted but later as the war became longer and harder, being a conscientious objector was not accepted legally or socially. WW1 came at a rough time in Irish 20th century politics and did not strengthen the love between the Catholic Irish and the British, but this as I have said went away when WW2 came along because this they were not fighting because they had to, but for freedom and justice against the oppressor. This war strengthened the bond between the British and Protestants with blood.
The economy was also another factor for the reason Protestants were favoured over Catholics in business and industry. In the 1930’s the world depression hit Northern Ireland really badly, same as in 1989 Protestant employers were encouraged to give jobs to Protestants and not Catholics, I quote from a document published by Ian Paisley ‘Keep Protestants and Loyal workers in employment in times of depression in preference to their fellow Catholic workers’.
Catholics were mainly not employed by the big companies like Shorts and Harland and Wolff because all Catholics were suspected IRA men and could not be employed above loyal, Protestant workers. The reason for was that the IRA would try to sabotage these high-level security industries.
Other reasons why Protestants explained the troubles were because of the difference in living conditions and because of ghettos. The former PM Terence O’Neill made a statement ‘It’s frightfully hard to explain to Protestants that if you give Roman Catholics a good job and a good house they will like Protestants, because they will see neighbours with cars and television sets. They will refuse to have 18 children but if a Roman Catholic is jobless and lives in the most ghastly hovel, he will rear 18 children on National Assistance. If you treat Roman Catholics with due consideration and kindness, they will live like Protestants in spite of the authoritative nature of their church’ this is slightly true in fact that what he describes is human nature but he also describes Catholics as almost totally different entities than Protestants.
The statement shows the level of social ignorance and misinformation that can only be described as bigotry.
The politicians relied on various strands of small evidence to define their points.
20-22/01/02
History Coursework James Watson
3. Why were British troops sent to Northern Ireland in August 1969?
The most obvious reasons we think of are that riots started to break out and the Northern Ireland police lost control. This was because from the beginning. In 1968 a civil rights movement emerged to protest against this discrimination, often provoking violent reactions within the Protestant community. The Catholics were greatly influenced by Dr Martin Luther King, and the American Civil Rights Movements which were going on at about the same time.
If we delve deeper we come to the partition in 1920; Protestants remained part of the UK and the Roman Catholics who wanted independence. In Northern Ireland 66% of the population were Protestant and 34% were Roman Catholics.
This partition had its roots in the 17th-century Ulster Plantation, which introduced Protestant settlers from England and Scotland into an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, establishing a Protestant control over the settlers and the native population in politics and society. For example Watson the name is predominately Scottish, Protestant. This is the same as in Northern Ireland because depending on your second name you could be Protestant or Catholic. For example O’Connell equals Catholic and Ward equals Protestant.
The long term causes of the problems between the Catholics and Protestant of Northern Ireland are rooted in the histories of England and Ireland. Since the 12th century and the invasion of Henry II in Ireland. Where English settlers were given land that belonged to the conquered Irish. These settlers had more power and privileges then the native Irish. From this time until the act of union in 1800 England and Ireland were frequently at war with one another. Further confiscations of land took place by James 1st in 1601 and then by Oliver Cromewell in 1640’s, making the Irish very angry and anti – English.
The religious side to conflict started in 1534 when Henry VIII broke away from the Pope and set up a new church of England, but the Irish wished to remain Roman catholics and did not want to be forced to swear loyalty to Henry. He also passed laws were by every person should use the English tongue and language. Furthermore houses should be kept “according to English order condition and manner”. In 1534 he announced that he was also king of Ireland, undoubtedly causing additional bad feeling towards the English.
Still today people march to celebrate The Orange Order, which came about after James II was thrown out of England in 1690’s and fled to Ireland where he rose an army to attack the Protestants in Londonderry, but the new king William of Orange defeated James at the Battle of the Boyne. The Orange Order marches are a constant reminder of the division between the Roman Catholics and the British.
Another reason to cause problems in Northern Ireland was the Act of Union, this meant that Ireland’s parliament was closed and England had control over Irelands law, which were passed in Westminster in London. For example there were certain restrictions on the jobs that Roman Catholic could do under English rule.
The great famine of 1846 was to cause even more bitterness, after England failed to organize sufficient help to the starving. The Irish had had enough after this period of time two movements emerged one wanted Ireland to become a republic completely separate from Britain and the other was formed seeking Northern Ireland being a part of Britain. The Irish had independence from the UK, they had there own political party and terrorist group and were willing to take their lives for it. The British government did, after the war give some independence, but not enough and civil war broke out, ending with a partition.
From my research of the history of Ireland, there seem to be many reasons for the British troops to be sent in to Northern Ireland in 1969, partly to help the beleaguered local police, and partly to offer protection to the Catholic communities
30-31/01/02
History James Watson
- Why was the British army unable to restore law and order in Northern Ireland, between 1969-72?
The role of the British Army was supposedly to keep the peace, defending the Catholic populace from Protestant attacks. The British also reintroduced the use of internment in August 1971, which allowed the government to arrest and imprison anyone without trial.
The main reason for the British Army to fail its objectives was because of is failure to connect in a positive form to each social group. When the troops arrived, the Catholics opened their doors and welcomed them in; this was because the B-Specials and the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) were already harassing the Catholics.
The Protestants were not so friendly and disliked the fact that their own police force and force of vigilantes the B-Specials were being side-lined to give the supposedly neutral British troops power. They felt not just sidelined but forgotten as well.
The Hunt Commission, a British Government special investigation commenting on the possibility that the RUC should be disarmed from its arms and a new police force set up with Catholics in it; and that the B-Specials should be disbanded and replaced by the Ulster Defence Regiment. This recommendation was released on the Friday night just when the Protestants were having their ‘Boozing Night’ and then heard the report and went on a rampage. The Police Chief Sir Arthur Young stated that ‘The Protestants rose in their anger to demonstrate against the vile things Hunt had said about their wonderful police. They came in their thousands down the Shankill road. appearing like animals, as if by magic. The then marched to burn the Catholics out of the nearby flats. And as they came down the street they were halted by a cordon of exactly the police they were marching to defend.’ the Army moved in to defend the Catholic area I quote from Eamonn McCann ‘The Army moved in and battered its way up the Shankill with bloodthirsty enthusiasim. In the shooting two Protestants were killed and a dozen wounded. Many others were beaten or kicked unconscious. who in the Bogside could doubt that at last law and order were being administered impartially?’
This gave the Catholics a relief in the fact that they thought they were in safe hands and justice was being done.
This was not to be so.
On the 3 of July British troops were sent into the Catholic Lower Falls area of Belfast to search for arms said to be belonging Provisional IRA, they smashed and broke every door and window in the house to house search. This left the Catholics feeling extremely estranged to their supposed friends, the troops.
Then the final and largest straw dropped, Bloody Sunday.
Soldiers from the Parachute Regiment opened fire on civilians during a civil rights march, 13 people were killed. Mainly Catholics. The Army used brutal tactics to fight against their own people, this resulted in the British Army being completely alienated, this meant that neither the Catholics nor Protestants wanted them there. Northern Ireland was spilt four ways. The Catholics, The Protestants, The Liberals (not really much mention about) and the British Army.
This is why the British Army could not keep the peace, because they removed all their new and old friends by using unnecessary violence.
