Is there sufficient evidence from sources D to J to explain why the troubles broke out in Northern Ireland in 1969?

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Emma Evans

Is there sufficient evidence from sources D to J to explain why the troubles broke out in Northern Ireland in 1969?

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 piece of coursework I will be looking at the cause of ‘the troubles’ in Northern Ireland.


In 1916 a group led by James Connolly and Patrick Pearse decided to form an Irish Republic. In 1916 they lead the Easter. There was fighting for a week before a rebellion was crushed and many of the leaders were shot and Connolly was executed. This rising created more support for the idea of home rule as the British Government treated the rebels so harshly. Sinn Fein, a political party fighting for Irish independence started not long after in 1917. It intended to campaign for an independent Irish republic, replacing the two existing  states. It is now known as an  political party. The IRA became Sinn Fein’s para-military section and more attacks became common.

After the War Of Independence, in 1919, Ireland was divided into two parts; The North, or Ulster, was a large Protestant Majority, living in six Ulster counties, each had their own parliament and their
own government. The South, or Eire, was largely occupied by Catholics who opposed the idea of dividing Ireland for political or religious reasons.

But in 1921 a group of Protestants and Unionist members signed a treaty with the British, accepting the division of Ireland. However, Catholics and Sinn Fein had wanted a united and Independent Ireland, so resentment grew between the groups.

In the 1930s there was a worldwide economic depression, due to the 'Wall Street Crash' in America. Both Catholics and Protestants were affected; the economic depression lasted 20 years. 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, the 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 Unionists controlled the Catholic areas, this was a huge disadvantage to the Catholic people, and 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.

During the late 1960’s the situation got that bad that Jack Lynch, the Irish Prime Minister, wanted troops to be sent to Northern Ireland to calm down the violence. Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister, sent in the troops. On 12 August 1969, the Catholic and Nationalist population in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland took to the streets to confront the Royal Ulster Constabulary, in a protestant. The riots, which came to be known as the ‘Battle of the Bogside’, continued for almost 3 days and saw over 1,000 people injured. The battle ended when, British troops were deployed into Derry. The British troops took revenge on people and their property; this helped to increase IRA support. The British government then suggested a partition. This increased tension between Catholics and Protestants. This decision, by the British Government in Westminster, was to shape the future of Northern Ireland for over thirty years.

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The sources

Source D

In source D we can see that religion plays a large part in schools. The school that Bernadette Devlin went to was very patriotic and ran by Roman Catholics - this could have meant that it was a convent. The vice-principal Mother Benignus had strong views against the English because all her family had suffered at the hands of the British forces.

She didn’t hate Protestants but her view was that they weren’t Irish.

Source D states that the interpretations we were given were very ...

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