‘Hey, hey we’re the monkeys.
And we’re going to monkey around
Till we see your blood flowing
All along the ground’
They broke windows with their batons, kicked doors and shouted…” (Eamonn McCann)
The Catholics were greatly influence by Dr Martin Luther King, and the American Civil Rights Movement which were going on at about the same time.
Protestants also had fears that they would have to share their economy with the rest of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church would interfere in the running of the country. Also they might have been threatened with violence by the IRA to become part of the Republic of Ireland. The above reasons were some of the motives why the second civil rights movement in October 5th which was banned but went ahead anyway was attacked even by police with batons. However they were caught on camera and were seen on televisions around the world and provoked widespread indignation.
“The whole civil rights scene had been infected by the television images in 1968 of direct action, whether in France, Germany or America” (John Hume)
One of the main long-term causes derives from the English occupation of Ireland. When this happened Protestants took over and Catholics were persecuted against which resulted in the hatred between Catholics and Protestants who also governed at that time. The Protestants basically hated the Catholics because they knew the Catholics hated them. If we delve even deeper we come to the partition in 1920, Protestants remained part of the UK and the Roman Catholics who wanted independence. In Northern Ireland 66% of the population were Protestant and 34% were Roman Catholics.
This partition had its roots in the 17th-century Ulster Plantation, which introduced Protestant settlers from England and Scotland into an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, establishing a Protestant control over the settlers and the native population in politics and society.
Another long-term cause for the problems between the Catholics and Protestants of Northern Ireland are rooted in the histories of England and Ireland. Since the 12th-century and the invasion of Henry II in Ireland where English settlers were given land that belonged to the conquered Irish, these settlers had more power and privileges then the native Irish. From this time until the act of union in 1800 England and Ireland were frequently at war with one another. Further confiscations of land took place by James I in 1601 and then by Oliver Cromwell in the 1640’s, making the Irish very angry and very anti – British.
The religious side to this conflict started in 1534 when Henry VIII broke away from the pope and set up a new Church of England, but the Irish wished to remain Roman Catholics and did not want to be forced to swear loyalty to Henry. He also passed laws where by every person should use the English tongue and language. Furthermore houses should be kept “according to English order condition and manner”. In 1534 he announced that he was also King of Ireland, undoubtedly causing additional bad feeling towards the English.
Still today people march to celebrate The Orange Order, which came about after James II was thrown out of England in the 1690;s and fled to Ireland where he rose an army to attack the Protestants in Londonderry, but the new King William of Orange defeated James at the Battle of Boyne. The Orange Order marches are a constant reminder of the division between the Roman Catholics and the British.
Another reason to cause problems in Northern Ireland was the Act of Union, this meant that Ireland’s parliament was closed and England had control over Ireland’s law, which were passed in Westminster in London. For example, there were certain restrictions on the jobs that Roman Catholic could do under English rule.
The great famine of 1846 was to cause even more bitterness, after England failed to organize sufficient help to the starving. The Irish had had enough after this period of time and two movements emerged, one wanted Ireland to become a republic completely separate from Britain and the other was formed seeking Northern Ireland being a part of Britain, hence the conflict between the Catholics and Protestants which led to troops being sent in. The Irish had independence from the UK, they had there own political party and terrorist group and were willing to take their lives for. The British Government did, after the war give some independence, but not enough and civil war broke out, ending with a partition of Ireland.
The trigger of this whole situation was the Battle of Bogside. Before this was the annual Apprentice Boys March in Londonderry. The Apprentice boys take their name form a group of protestants that shut the gates of Derry against the Catholic army of James II in 1969. The parade itself, on 12 August, was relatively peaceful. However, soon after it ended, Protestants and Catholics began to throw missiles at each other after Loyalists threw pennies at the Catholics (a traditional insult). Before long, there was a riot. When the RUC tried to take down a barricade on Rossville Street, the riot turned into a battle. The police faced a hail of missiles and petrol bombs from the Bogside residents. There are two different explanations for the Battle: The police say that they attempted to dismantle the barricade because they were trying to get into a better position to separate the mobs. The Catholic version of the vents is that this was a direct attack by the police, aided by loyalist thugs, on Catholic homes.
The rioting continued for two days, in what became known as the Battle of the Bogside. The police were unable to enter the area. Seven people were killed and about 100 wounded. 3000 Catholics lost their homes. The first of Northern Ireland’s ‘no-go’ areas had been created.
From my research of the history of Ireland, there seem to be many reasons for the British troops to be sent in to Northern Ireland in 1969, with the immediate causes being riots, where by there was no control over, but as we have found the trouble had started well before this time, with the plantations for Protestants. The Battle of the Boyne and the start of this conflict since 12th-century with Henry II invading Ireland. The hatred between the two neighbouring countries was built up over the centuries into the conflict of the present day.
