Modern world study: conflict in Ireland

Authors Avatar

Lucy Oxby

Modern world study: conflict in Ireland

Question two

On the 30th of January 1972 13 Catholics were killed by British Paratroopers on the streets of Londonderry. It was the result of an illegal but originally peaceful march led by the NICRA the civil rights movement. The march attracted 15000 people all for a similar cause, to ban Internment. The day became known as Bloody Sunday because of the terrible events that took place. Although the details of what actually happened remain undecided, because of the controversial views of the people that took part in the march.

Internment was a law enforced by the government of N Ireland to try and keep the Nationalist population under control. It allowed the Government to put people in prison who were suspected of being terrorists without trial. Consequently only Catholic’s were arrested.

Bloody Sunday happened because of many years of conflict between Nationalist and Unionist communities. In Northern Ireland nationalists are almost all Catholics and want a united Ireland with no connections with Britain. Unionists are almost all Protestant and want to stay part of the United Kingdom, afraid that if they join the Republic of Ireland the Catholic Church would take over and their economy would break down. The street history and segregation between the communities created a further tension between the two sides. When British Troops came into N. Ireland in 1969 to bring peace between Nationalists and Unionists, peace was restored for a few months, but gradually the British troops went from being the peace makers to the peace destroyers.

The British army soon clashed with both Nationalists and Loyalists. The British government handed the control of their army to the Irish government. This meant that the army was run just as the police had been previously, discrimination against Catholics continued. The B-specials had their guns taken off them. The army became the target of terrorist attacks by the reformed Irish Republican Army (IRA). Internment was introduced in 1971 by the Irish government to stop the IRA. The protest was arranged on the date Sunday 30th January 1972 as the Catholic public were enraged about the treatment of innocent man leaving the Catholics feeling increasingly isolated.

Join now!

The march itself was illegal because the parliament had banned all marches to prevent violence. The plan was for everyone to walk through the city to the centre where a rally would be held. To prevent any trouble the paratroopers sealed off the city centre which led most of the marchers past it but a few held back in order to confront the paratroopers. These remaining marchers fired stones and abuse at the paratroopers who responded with the standard rubber bullets and water cannon, with the demonstrators still not responding they let out tear gas into the crowd which ...

This is a preview of the whole essay