History coursework: northern Ireland
What are the main differences between the beliefs of the Republicans/Nationalists and the Loyalists/Unionists?
The Nationalists and the unionists represent two different religions the Nationalists support the catholic religion and the Unionists support the Protestant religion, as well as supporting a different religion they also have different political views for example the Unionists wish to remain part of the U.K, while the Nationalists seek independence they wish to rule as an independent Ireland. There are both violent and peaceful political parties examples of violent Nationalist parties would be the IRA (Irish Republican Army) another party Sinn Fein supports there methods of violence. Parties who do not use methods of violence would be the social Democratic and Labour Party also known as the SDLP they are strictly against any type of violence in Ireland. There are some Unionist parties who also use violence in order to get there point a cross these are the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force these are illegal groups which were created to fight the IRA they have been responsible for the murder of many Catholics. The Unionist parties which do not use violence are the Ulster Defence Party, Democratic Unionist Party and the Orange Order. The two different parties have different beliefs in what goes on in Ireland The Unionists wish for only people in northern Ireland to have a say on what goes, but the nationalists wish for the majority of Ireland to decide in the future of Ireland.
