Examine why soldiers were sent into Ireland in 1969.
Conflict in Northern Ireland For centuries there has been conflict in Northern Ireland. The disagreement between Irish Catholics and the Irish Protestants still continues to this day. In this assessment I am going to examine why soldiers were sent into Ireland in 1969.Between 1921 and the mid 1960s Catholics in Northern Ireland faced many problems. After the War Of Independence, in 1919, the country of Ireland was divided into two parts; The North, here there was a large Protestant Majority, each of the six Ulster counties had their own parliament and their own government. The South, largely occupied by Irish Catholics, most opposed the idea of dividing Ireland. But in 1921 a group of Sinn Fein, and IRA members signed an treaty with the British, accepting the division of Ireland. This was when what's known as 'Northern Ireland' was created, dominated by Protestants. However, Catholics had wanted a united and Independent Ireland, so resentment grew. "After partition, it was hardline Unionists who held power in the North, they were determined to keep Ulster British and Protestant. They tended to see all Northern Catholics as possible traitors. As a result Catholics were discriminated against" (1)In the 1930s there was a worldwide economic depression, due to the 'Wall Street Crash' in America. Both Irish
Catholics and Protestants were affected very seriously, the economic depression lasted 20 years.Irish Catholics faced another problem, when it came round to election time, most Catholics would probably vote a Catholic representative to speak on behalf of the Catholic people, however, Protestants 'fixed' the elections to favour the Protestants, it was made sure that no Catholics could be voted into Parliament to speak up for their fellow people. This was known as 'Gerrymandering', the process by which constituency boundaries were redrawn to favour the Protestant population. The Unionists controlled the Catholic areas, this was a huge disadvantage to the Catholic ...
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Catholics and Protestants were affected very seriously, the economic depression lasted 20 years.Irish Catholics faced another problem, when it came round to election time, most Catholics would probably vote a Catholic representative to speak on behalf of the Catholic people, however, Protestants 'fixed' the elections to favour the Protestants, it was made sure that no Catholics could be voted into Parliament to speak up for their fellow people. This was known as 'Gerrymandering', the process by which constituency boundaries were redrawn to favour the Protestant population. The Unionists controlled the Catholic areas, this was a huge disadvantage to the Catholic people, they had no political power. Catholics were not given job opportunities, if a Protestant and a Catholic applied for the same job, no matter how qualified the Catholic was, the Protestant would always get the job. This meant that many Catholics were unemployed and could often not afford to feed their families. Catholic children were put in the worst schools, whilst the Protestant children were put in the very best schools. Catholic children were not taught anything about Catholicism, they were only taught about Protestant history. Children grew up believing that Catholics were evil and the Protestant religion was the way forward. "We knew nothing of the Catholic world. That Catholics were allowed to live in London with our Protestant king seemed impossible" (2)Another significant social problem at the time for Catholic people was that they were placed in the worst housing. If a Catholic family were in need of a home, they would become second class citizens to a single Protestant girl, the girl would have a better chance of acquiring the house than the needy Catholic family.Many children had inadequate diets which resulted in many children dying of malnutrition. Many of the children's parents could not afford to pay doctor's bills. There was an outbreak of Tuberculosis (TB), which killed thousands of men, mainly aged between 15-25.In 1969 The British Government sent the army into Northern Ireland to "Prevent a Civil War". Despite all the unfairness the Catholics had to deal with, this had not been necessary earlier. Many things changed between 1960-1969.Firstly before 1960 Catholics pursued peaceful methods, inspired by The American Civil Rights Movement, the Northern Ireland civil rights association began. From 1920 through to 1960 Catholics had campaigned for fairer conditions and had expected change to come through the ballot box (they did not know that their votes had been ignored).The Police in Northern Ireland were 99.9% Protestant and extremely biased and violent towards Catholics, they would attack innocent Catholics for no reason whatsoever. The Police even led the Catholic marchers into a trap, here they were met by violent Protestant Unionists, the outcome was inevitable, violence. The 'B-Specials' were created - this was a unit within the police, that were 99.9% Protestant. They were called in by the Unionists, to act like a police force/army. These too were violent to the Catholics, Catholic marches were banned. Student demonstrations ended up in violence. This angered the Catholics, they felt that if the Protestants should get to march they why shouldn't they. Housing conditions were appalling for Catholics, they marched and campaigned about their unfair housing, yet again nothing was done. As the civil rights movement grew in the U.S.A., Irish Catholics saw black protests in America erupting into violence. The violent protest spread to Ireland. Student demonstrations all over Europe were becoming violent, this too acted as inspiration for the desperate Catholics. Education was now slightly fairer, Catholics were allowed to go to university, but were not allowed jobs. As Eamonn McCann, a leading member of the civil rights movement, remarked, "By the early 1960s we could we could easily get a place at a university but couldn't get a job as a lavatory cleaner at Derry guildhall. That made us angry" (3).This alone proves that the Catholics were becoming increasingly angered by the lack of equal opportunity in Northern Ireland. The Catholic Irish were beginning to lose faith and trust in their politicians, they felt that O'Neill was not keeping his promise of a 'fairer deal for Catholics', they were beginning to feel they needed to take the law into their own hands. As tensions grew, segregation became more likely. In cities like Londonderry and Belfast, "many people who lived in the 'wrong' area - that is Catholics in Protestant areas and vice versa - were forced to leave their homes." (4) In these circumstances it was much easier for battle lines to be drawn.Many people feel that the IRA were the reason for British soldiers being sent into Northern Ireland. However, from studying the facts I realise that this cannot be the reason as to why troops were sent to Northern Ireland. In 1962 the IRA abandoned it's campaign of violence because of lack of Catholic support. In August 1969, there is more fighting between Protestants and Catholics in Belfast, and the British Army moves in. It is only then that the IRA splits into two groups: Official and Provisional. The Bombing campaign by the IRA started in 1970.A more telling fact as to why British troops were sent in to Northern Ireland in 1969 may be due to the fact that the Irish Prime Minister, Jack Lynch was threatening to intervene with the troubles in Northern Ireland, and went as far as moving Irish army units towards the border. The British government may have felt that matters were gradually being taken out of their hands.
