By 1917 Sinn Fein had 250 000 members and was strong enough to challenge the more moderate Irish Nationalists. In the general election of 1918 Sinn Fein won 73 seats and the Irish nationalists won only 7. On 21 January 1919 Sinn Fein set up the Daily Eirann in Dublin and made the Irish declaration of independence. This was the start of the events leading to the partition of Ireland. The southern counties become Southern Ireland, independent of the UK and the six western counties become Northern Ireland, part of the UK. Another consequence of the Easter Rising was that the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers were renamed The Irish Republican Army in January 1919.
The IRA were acting in northern Ireland in the 1970s unwards and their actions let to many deaths.
Martyrs, prepared to use armed violence against the British were created and became part of the Irish popular legend. By 1921 a truce was called. In December 1921 the Anglo Irish Treaty was signed creating an independent Ireland in the South. The six countries in Ulster in Northern Ireland, with a majority protestant population, had a separate parliament. This is called a partition of Ireland.
However, people like Eamonn de Valera felt that the Treaty had surrendered too much to Britain and he openly argued with Michael Collins. 64 members of the Dail were favour of accepting the Treaty and 57 were against. De Valera resigned as president and was replaced by Arthur Griffith. Michael Collins became head of the new government. A Civil War followed between the pro Treaty and anti Treaty groups continued until may 1923. De Valera became an important political figure in southern Ireland. He introduced many anti British polities which meant that when the countries broke out in the north it was difficult for the British government to work with the south to solve them, therefore the Easter Rising had a huge impact on later history.
In August 1969, British troops were send into Northern Ireland, after the Battle of the Bugside. The arrival of troops in Northern Ireland brought peace, but only for a short time. Violence grew on the streets between the British Army and a newly emerging Irish Republican Army. Attempts by the N. Ireland government to crush the IRA had the opposite effect.
In December 1969 the IRA split, leading to the birth of the Provisional IRA who claimed they were the defenders of nationalist areas. They recruited new members and trained them during the winter of 1970.
In the late summer of 1970, the good relations between the British Army and the nationalist community collapsed. The UK government had left the army under the political control of the Unionist government in N. Ireland. In July, four protestants were killed in a gun battle in Belfast and the government order 3 000 troops into the Falls Road to search for weapons and IRA suspects. This was against the advice of the army commander who had also asked for all marches to be banned.
Every year Protestant groups, like the Orange Order, march to celebrate past victories like the Battle of the Boyne. This creates anger and resentment among the nationalist communities and has often led to violence on the streets. The request made by the army commander to ban these marches was turned down. Instead, catholic areas were swamped with troops and tear gas was used. One area was put under curfew for 35 hours and many people had no food. Homes were wrecked as troop searched for weapons. Therefore, the army which had been seen by catholics as saving them from a potential massacre in 1969, was now seen as having turned against them. This was propaganda gift for the Provisional IRA.
The provisional IRA now felt they were justified in going on the attack against unionist and the army.
In 1971 they launched a major bombing campaign and they attacked catholics also if they thought they were disloyal. They intensified attacks on the army and by the end of 1970, 46 British Army soldiers had been killed. The response was more searches by troops which in turn increased support for the provisionals. A vicious circle developed.
In 1971 the Provisional change the nature of the conflict to a bitter, no holds barred war. They were no longer just defending their community, they were attempting to achieve their aim of removing any British presence from Ireland. The army were real symbol of that presence. We could argue that in the short term the arrival of British troops was seen in a positive light by the catholic community, but with hindsight the Falls Road curfew and searches where a mistake on the part of the N. Ireland government, as it meant that the provisional IRA gained the support of the catholic community and the British Army lost it.
The British army came onto the streets of Belfast on 15th August 1969 and they are still there now. Faulker, Introduced INTERNMENT. This means that the security forces were able to arrest anyone suspected of terrorism and hold them in prison without being charged or put on trial. The aim was to cripple the IRA, but it was a disastrous failure. The information used was badly out of date, internment was only used against nationalists, it caused outrage in the USA which helped fundraising for the IRA and allowed them to obtain weapons and it was linked to violence as a large number of those interned were interrogated using violence and torture.
The effect was to boost support for the IRA. Residents of Londonderry and Belfast set up barricades to keep out loyalists and they became “no go” areas for the security forces also. This shows that the deployment of troops did not solve the problems in the north. How they were used only seemed to intensify the violence.
In Londonderry on Sunday 30th January 1972, there was a huge protest march against internment organized by the Civil Rights Movement. 15 000 defied a ban on marches and gathered in the centre of the city. Troops from the Parachute Regiment sealed off the area and stones were thrown at them by youths. It was tragic for the families involved. Soldiers say they were fired on and returned fire. 13 marchers, all unarmed were killed, some being shot in the back.
Any inquiry followed which criticized the troops, but no action was taken against any soldiers. Many nationalists saw the inquiry as a cover – up. The controversy continued to January 1998 when Tony Blair announced a new inquiry. It’s importance lay in how it it affected views and attitudes, mainly because it was a propaganda victory for the republican movement. It increased distrust of the Unionist, the British army and the British government among the nationalist population of N. Ireland.
Reaction outside the UK was one of outrage. Funding for the IRA from America increased. In Dublin the British Embassy was burned down. The argument of hard-line republicans were strengthened.
They said it was no longer enough just to defend their communities. They said the IRA should go on the attack to get the British out of Ireland. This contributed to the vicious circle I have already mentioned and made it more difficult for peace to be established.
Over the weeks following Bloody Sunday it seemed that law and order was breaking down. The Unionist party in N. Ireland split into smaller, more extreme groups. The Prime Minister lost the support of Members of Parliament. The British government stepped in and Prime Minister heath suspended the N. Irish Parliament and Direct Rule of N. Ireland from London began on 24 March 1972. However, this didn’t improve the situation. By July 1972 there were 21 000 troops in N. Ireland and violence by paramilitary organizations continued.
On this level, the Bloody Sunday inquiry, set alongside moves like the early release of paramilitary prisoners and proposals to allow IRA members “on the run” to return home, feeds the growing sense of alienation felt by unionists regarding the peace process. Some argue that a South African – style Truth Commission might be the only way to address those concerns, although that in turn could lead to new difficulties.
The creation of the Saville Tribunal was meant to help heal the wounds left by Bloody Sunday. But such are the dynamics of N. Ireland that tending to one group of victims only serves to stir painful emotions amongst others.
For my conclusion I would say that all of those events have an impact. But when you think about this, about Easter Rising, if they would not killed the rebel leaders the whole events would not started.