The battle of bogside in 1969 was of that the Catholics and Protestants were throwing missiles at each other. Protestants and police tried to break down the Catholic barricade, this hen was no longer a riot, but more a battle. Hundreds of missiles and petrol bombs were constantly been thrown at the Protestant police from inside the bogside barricade. These policemen claimed that they only wanted to get inside the barricade to separate the mobs of angry people in the middle of it, but if so why were they did they just take the violence, instead of forcing against it and getting inside. Catholics believe the police were directly attacking them and their homes. Eventually after two days the rioting was over and after a long time of suffering for everyone, a no-go area was created in Ireland. This meant an area where Protestants were not allowed no matter what.
After this event the British were getting very worried about the situation. They certainly did not want an event like such to happen again, or the violence to spread across Northern Ireland. They decided to deploy British troops into Ireland to calm down the whole situation. The reactions to this were very different in both religions. The Catholics were extremely happy to see happy to see these British troops, they finally believed that the unfair situation would be solved and that British rule would be introduced into the Irish society. This would be that everyone would be able to have the rites and the Catholics would finally be able to have their opinions. The Catholics were so happy about this they would go about their town giving the British soldiers tea and sandwiches whenever they would. A corporal from the parachute regiment describes “You’d go out on a two hour patrol and in two hours would have drank 20 cups of tea”. The Catholics were so very keen to see the British soldiers, it meant to them maybe for once they could have a free Ireland. However the Protestants had a totally different view. The British army was also helping the unionist government to restore law and order. The Protestants then new that change was going to be apparent in their country and it could not have the same bias laws as before. They thought that the British were now going towards the Catholic side and felt this was totally unfair, yet they did not know what was to happen.
It wasn’t until the late summer of 1970 that eventually things were sorted, but it was not what the Irish had thought. The British had decided just to re-enforce the Protestant rule, and calm the situation down. The army was now in the hands of the unionist government and Britain was more a less cut out from the situation. This is shown when 3000 troops were deployed into Belfast even though the British general had pacifically said he didn’t agree with this. This basically lead to how it all started, people were poor and hungry. The Catholics felt the British were turning on them once more. After everything in the past how much more of this neglect and un-trust could the Catholics put up with?
These events again lead to massive consequences. The short-term consequence of it was that the Catholics were happy, they felt safe in the protection of the British and they finally felt that they were
getting somewhere with their Ireland. However in the long term for the Catholics the whole idea was not a good thing. The Catholics were again let down by the British. Their trust once again broken, and their anger grew. This would lead the Catholics to feel hurt and totally untrustworthy of the British. It was as if they had been made fools of once again and that the British did not care. During the Easter rising in 1916 they were let down by them, the Catholics at this point had seemed to have tried everything, yet, they did not seem to get anywhere as everyone kept putting them back to stage one. They had to again try and think of something that would help, try and think of a solution to get the Ireland back that the British had once promised, was this now possible. Another let down was another point of anger. However for the Protestants the consequences were different. In the short term they were disappointed, not so much angry and they knew that the British were Protestants themselves, however they did not agree with the fact that they were going to help the Catholics, as they strongly believed that it was non of their business. However in the long term the Protestants were reasonably happy with the fact that the British trusted them in the charge of their army and that they did not make any changes. They were stronger than ever now, they could do anything.
This again links from the Easter Rising as the Catholics were getting more angry the British were nervous and felt that they could not trust the Irish. However in the long term putting the troops in Ireland was a big mistake. It pointed out the Protestants did not trust the Catholics, and it would be a lot of hassle getting rid of them. However it could also be considered good as it could be used in blackmail towards the Catholics in further events.
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday was an accident. Or was it? Was it supposed to happen or was it not, It was the climax that had been building up for years and now it was here. On the 30th of January 1972 a march had been decided by those of the Catholics. They would march like the marches by like of Martin Luther king for black rites, or like a march of Gandhi. All the Catholics wanted was to have the same treatment as the Protestants. Many of these so-called peace marches had happened before. However they were not peaceful. Although it was agreed between the Catholics that no weapons were to be carried, they did carry them in the case of protection, then when the Protestants did attack the Catholics on these marches the Catholics fort back. Many people were injured as a result. The Protestants were feeling very threatened by the Catholics now and felt that the only thing they could do was to make theses marches illegal, and that’s what the Protestants did. The Catholics now did not know what to do. They felt it was very unfair that these marches were banned even though they were intended to be peaceful, they still felt they had to march anyway. For their free country and for their human rights. This was what happened on the date of 30th of January 1972. Catholics around the area of Derry, known to Protestants as Londonderry, had gathered to protest for civil rights, interment without crime. It was just meant to be a simple march around the town and then they would be back. By this time Derry had become a total no-go area for Catholics, there was no where possible for them to go in. On the side of the corner house it wrote “you are now entering free Derry” It had been seen days before that after school hours children had been throwing stones over the wall of Derry at the British soldiers behind it. The soldiers stood there and seemed to be really threatened by these Catholic children. It was like these small children were mocking the ever-defeatless British army. What were the British to do.
Scared of the situation the British Paras were sent in. These were in best military force in the world and were sure to secure the safety of the whole situation. The Catholics knew this was happening not long after the main march began, however they still went ahead with it. It was pretty tense around the whole of Londonderry that day. The Paras entered the town expecting gunfire, snipers could be anywhere, tall flats each one might contain a sniper who was to know and who wasn’t.
Ten minutes before the Paras were due to go in to action a gunshot was heard. This was the beginning of the end of the disastrous day. It is still unknown where that shot came from. Was it from a Para or a sniper? That is a debate still going on today. After a gunshot had been heard the soldiers had been told to mover forward, sheet targets. This is what they did. It wasn’t long after this that it was noticed that Jackie Doddie had been shot. The Bishop of Derry, Dr Edward Daly, witnessed it. He strongly said that he was shot by somebody in the flats near the church. There is also much evidence for this fact for example a gunshot was heard at that time, and there is a picture of somebody with a possible gun type weapon.
From then on the whole of the town was chaotic. It had been a strict order at the beginning of the day that the paras were not to go into Rosville Street, as it was full of innocent people, which meant accidents could easily happen. However the paras were there even though they were strictly told not to be. Guns, missiles and stones were all over the place. No one knew what was going on and noone was safe.
At the end of the day 13 people had been killed and 14 people had been injured. The Paras however had been heard saying “Job well done” and such as phrasings. They had done the job, which was to stop the rioting, and they were pleased. Colonel Wilford still says to this day that none of the people killed that day were innocent. All of the people were breaking the law and all of them that were out there knew that. He also believed that his troops would never make a wrong decision and those who were killed or injured probably had a reason for been so. An argument for this is that when Gerry McKinley was shot his arms were in the air. How could he have been on any threat in that position? So why was he shot? Well I believe that as the tension grew the soldiers lost control, but that’s just my opinion.
Overall this day was a disaster. It should not have happened, so why did it? In a short-term consequence to that the hatred grew between both parties. It would be something no one would ever forget and especially for the Catholics, who lost their loved ones, they needed revenge they needed to think that the Protestants were suffering too. This lead to thousands of Catholics then joining the IRA. They had no reason to care anymore and felt the only way was to get back at the British. It was like they didn’t have any emotions any more, like that was their mind and spirit and for that to live on they
had to do what their loved ones would have wanted them to do. They wanted a free Ireland and making
terrorist groups was what thousands of young people did. For the Protestants this meant that they became more hated by the Catholics. However they did not feel guilty for what they had done, it was not a bad thing, it was necessary. They had made it illegal for the Catholics to march and they got what they deserved. In the Long run though the Protestants would pay for Bloody Sunday for the amount of terrorist attacks and amount of lives and trust that was to be lost throughout the rest of the time to the present date.
After all these three events the violence had finally come to a climax, no one was really happy at the result of the days violence. Where we people to go now? Although many joined the IRA, there was still other people sitting in their homes thinking that this is the climax, everything must calm down. They had to find a solution fast or more innocent people would be killed. The British government again had to step in. Was this a wise choice?
Power Sharing
After Bloody Sunday in early 1972 the country was in chaos. Both Catholics and Protestants were arguing, and every night there was violent street attacks. Britain was not happy with this situation, they knew that innocent people were dying and that it must be stopped. They decided to try power sharing.
Power Sharing is where Protestants and Catholics would both have an equal share in the parliament. This would possibly mean that all the previous situations where Protestants had had the better say, would end, and everyone would be equal.
By this time, the Northern Ireland Parliament that had been run by Protestants had been abolished, and it seemed maybe this was the perfect opportunity to begin the power sharing.
Brian Fawlkner, the Northern Irish Prime Minister, then made the Power Sharing real. This sent the Protestants into a furious mess. Lead by Ian Paisley they headed for the streets in protest. For days the Protestants were on strike. This led to the economic status in Northern Ireland to reduce sufficiently. As the Protestants had most of the jobs, it led to a substantial difference in Northern Ireland; it had almost come to a stand still.
Whilst the Protestants were protesting they wore sponges in their buttonholes. This represented the fact that they were “sponging off the state” quoted from Prime Minister of the UK, Harold Wilson.
After the disaster of the strikes Power Sharing was abolished. The repercussions of this however, were worse than the actual event. First of all the IRA planted two bombs in Birmingham and Guilford. Many people died. As a result of this the Loyalists began sectarian killing, this is where you kill innocent citizens just because they are born of a certain origin or religion. Then again the Irish soldiers fought back and 18 soldiers were killed at Warren point. The country was now even worse than just after Bloody Sunday.
Many people came in to try and prevent this violence. Women were particularly determined to get a peace act in Ireland, they often held meetings. The Pope also paid a visit, however he did not enter Northern Ireland due to the lack of security he would have had.
To make things even worse terrorist prisoners had now lost their status. This meant that if they were in prison they would be treated like normal prisoners, unlike before where they would have been given advantages. This angered the extremists more and the prisoners began to protest. In prison they would smear the walls with their excrement and they refused to wear clothes. Bobby Sands, an extreme Catholic, refused to eat and drink for 66 days. He later died from starvation. Overall 10 people died as a result of the hunger strike and this lead to the Catholics becoming increasingly angry. This was the start of Sinn Fein, a political wing of the IRA.
Years later in 1984 the IRA bombed a Conservative Party conference, Margaret Thatcher, the current British Prime Minister, decided something had to be done. This was to be known as the Anglo-Irish Agreement. She teamed up with the Irish Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. They decided that they would try Power Sharing again, but with a difference. Britain would play a part. All decisions would include both Catholic and Protestant people. It was decided that maybe one day there would be a United Ireland, however it wouldn’t happen unless there was a majority vote. The Unionists did not agree with this.
The Anglo-Irish assembly was then rejected and again disaster broke out. Policemen were being attacked and Sectarian Violence broke out again. The country began to panic and Terrorist suspects were murdered without trial. Again the Irish were back to square one.
The short term consequence there was a lot of violence, not only as a result of the anger against each other but because after Bloody Sunday there were more people joining up for terrorist groups, therefore there was more fighting and more aggressive people. In the long term however, the everyday normal people were a bit annoyed that an attempt for peace did not work, so they were aggravated at the terrorists. Also in the Long term Bobby Sands became a heroin for Catholics and his sister became a leader of a strong terrorist group. In the short term there was also the problem of a lack of communication therefore it again was frustrating the normal people and there seemed no way for the problem to be solved. Power Sharing may have been unsuccessful, but it was successful in the fact that people learn from the mistakes and it lead politicians to not just look on the surface of the problem, but in the skin of it.
The Downing Street Declaration
From 1982, the Anglo-Irish agreement, again the country was under huge stress. The street violence had started again and many innocent civilians were been hurt. The Irish and British Government knew again that they had 2 have another go at this peace deal. They believed the best method was to use was to attempt to get all parties involved around one table, however to do this would be difficult. They would have to raise an agenda that would interest all involved. By producing this document maybe everyone would eventually talk about what they wanted.
As both sides wanted opposing things it took along time to think of what both sides would like, but eventually the table gathered. Both Catholics and Protestants aims were to get the best for their people.
On the day when they gathered around the table they were basically making suggestions at each other, these suggestions were either taken or refused. The final document produced became known as the Downing Street declaration. The final document stated that both sides were to respect each other, and give each other an equal say, they tend to repeat two things for both Catholic and Protestants, for example the British agree to listen to the Irish, then the next statement is that the Irish will agree to listen to the British. However when the Irish agree to talk to extreme Protestants, the British do not agree to doing the same.
Overall there was a more or less equal agreement. However the extreme groups were not happy. Sinn Fein saw it as an act of weakness and made their campaigns of violence even worse.
After this declaration again things got out of hand. In 1994 the IRA thought Loyalist leaders were been situated in a fishmongers on Shankhill Road, however they were wrong and many innocent lives were lost. This lead to the retaliation of the Loyalist when they planned a sectarian killing in an Irish pub. The public were now getting annoyed at the terrorist, they were no longer wanting to fight, they just wanted peace, this lead to them appealing for help to politicians.
From this Sinn Fein and the IRA started a cease-fire, this lead to loyalist terrorists also stopping fighting and British Troops return home from Northern Ireland. However when the British asked the Catholics to disarm they refused unless all British Troops were sent home, more and more complications sprang up and the IRA kept all their weapons. After this the broke the cease-fire and planted bombs in London and other places around the UK, (they always like to hit Birmingham).
The short term consequences of this were that again the IRA and extreme Loyalists became angry and more bombings and innocent deaths occurred. Although in the long term the declaration became a good thing as it was like a contract of peace and people would try to stick to it. In the short term it also resulted in people becoming more aware of the situation and made them realised that they peace deals weren’t working when they should have been. This is good as now the public wanted peace more and wanted to do something about it.
This attempt failed. Although it has progressed from the Power Sharing deal it did not work. This was because the people at this time did not have a reason for peace, and did not seem to want to get peace. There again was still no trust between to the two sides and without trust there will be no communication and no want of peace.
The Good Friday Agreement
The people were now determined to get peace. In 1997 a new party was elected in British Parliament and the new PM was Mr. Tony Blair.
Previously everyone had agreed that the Northern Ireland problem had to be solved once and for all. It had been decided that all involved must meet together and discuss things, however this was only to happen in the case of a cease-fire. Senator George Mitchell became involved in the situation and set a deadline for this peace agreement. The date he set was Good Friday of 1998. Politicians were determined not to go against this deadline and encouraged their terrorists to stop the attacks. Eventually a cease-fire was determined throughout Ireland and it was set that the agreement was to happen.
Everyone gathered together in this one building. SDLP, Sinn Fein, UUP, DUP, PUP and the British Government gathered inside this one building, they would not come out until they had achieved a deal for peace. They entered the building four days before Good Friday, they knew there was not much time.
There was three strands of the paper produced, the Northern Ireland Assembly, Cross Border and Decommissioning. Unionists had trouble in decommissioning; they refused to give up their weapons. DUP leader Ian Paisley tried to pull all loyalists out of the agreement by holding demonstrations and marches. However this annoyed the public and many people turned against Paisley. People known as Baby Barristers were also causing problems resisting to decommissioning, this problem was never solved.
However after four days of no sleep and constant thinking and negotiating all parties had come to an agreement. All the terms were fair and precise. The first one states that a United Ireland would now happen unless a majority vote happened, this made Catholics think maybe one day their dream will come true, and made Protestants think that there would probably never be a united Ireland.
After the agreement there was a massive sigh of relief throughout both countries involved. They believed maybe this time peace was on the cards. On July 1st 1998 the first Northern Ireland Minister was elected, his name was David Trimble. Everything seemed to be fairly successful. However there was still the issue of Decommissioning to resolve, this subject seemed to have no end. No matter what was happening the IRA refused to decommission. It was not until after the events of September 11th that the IRA had to think of what to do next. After America had announced its war on terrorism, the main supply of money to the IRA was stopped. (The main supply came from New York). This lead to a lack of money with the IRA, so they decided innocently to begin to decommission.
There are still unresolved problems in Ireland despite the agreement. Ian Paisley refuses to communicate with Sinn Fein, simply because they have different views to Paisley. Unionists are still having trouble trusting the Northern Irish Police, as 90% of them are Protestants. As much as the agreement talked of cease-fire, bombings were and are still occurring the main one probably happened in 1999 in Omagh where many innocent people were killed.
Overall after this agreement in 1998 the short-term consequences were that people felt safer and they felt motivated to move on from this point. Unlike the other attempts the Good Friday Agreement did not have repercussions and the people, even the extremists seemed happy this had happened. In the long term this agreement has been kept as like a contract. And has been tried to be stuck to at all costs. So far this agreement is still working and as I said before the IRA have begun to decommission.
Overall this attempt has been and is hugely successful. It has taken the idea of Power sharing, and taken the points of the Downing Street Declaration and added a newly improved attempt on the top. Therefore it is the best of both the attempts before plus more. After all the events starting from William of Orange and finishing now it shows that maybe that finally the Catholics are beginning to trust the Protestants. This would be for the first time in history.
