The role of the R.U.C.s and B Specials was very influential in promoting violence between both sides. It was originally the R.U.C. the caused the first violence that shock Ireland. In August 1968, a peaceful civil rights march was confronted by violence from the police, television cameras recorded police beating Catholics with batons without being provoked, causing uproar among Catholics. At Burntollet Bridge, although police had warned Catholics of trouble ahead, most then took little action to prevent what occurred, and some even joined in. After this event Catholics lost all faith in the protestant police, causing the Siege of the Bogside, Catholics protecting themselves as they expected no protection from the police. Law and order was failing in Northern Ireland as unionists and the R.U.C. united in attacking Catholics. The British troops were needed to restore law and order.
Henry VIII was one of the most influential factors which later led to the violence as he was the root of the conflict. The reformation in the 16th century divided Europe into Catholic and Protestant countries, but a lot of Ireland remained Catholic. This worried Henry VIII as he feared that a catholic country could use Ireland as a base to attack England. His children Edward VI and Elizabeth I tried to force Protestantism to Ireland, introducing protestant bishops and bibles. This was the original action that caused the two sides to have conflicting concepts, and this difference led to plantations, and then to the unfair treatment o Catholics in the Penal laws, over 300years later the two sides still did not agree and this caused the events in 1969.
On August 12th, Protestants march through Derry, celebrating a victory in 1688, on this day 13 apprentice boys shut the gates of Derry on the disgraced Catholic King of England, James II. Then followed the Siege of Derry, 30,000 protestants were cut off in Derry with no food. Although Catholics attacked the walls, they stuck to their chants of “no surrender.” Every year they march through Derry with orange sashes, celebrating their triumph, boosting in the faces of Catholics. The march was a catalyst for the troops being sent in, in 1969, Catholics rioted after the march, and the hostility meant that the next days the troops were sent in.
After the Wolfe Tone rebellion in 1798, the British lost trust in the Irish to govern themselves. The Act of Union was passed in 1800, this meant that the Irish parliament no longer resided in Ireland; instead it was moved to Westminster. After this the British government has been directly linked to all Irish affairs. If the Act of Union was never made it would be unlikely that it would be British troops being sent in, as the British would feel no responsibility for Irish Rebellions, it may have been southern Ireland troops as they would’ve still governed themselves.
In 1921, a group of Sinn Fein and I.R.A. members held talks in London with the British government, and finally in December, a treaty accepting the division of Ireland was signed. This was very important for Irish future, as it physically separated Ireland into two groups; the protestant Unionists and the Catholic Nationalists. The physical partition meant that Northern Ireland was largely Protestant, and southern Ireland mostly Catholic. This meant the opposite religions were a minority and very segregated. The physical difference separated them further and made them more violent toward each other.
Bernadette Devlin was a Catholic from Queen’s University. In 1968 she emerged as one of the leaders of the People’s Democracy. This group was responsible for the march which led to Burntollet Bridge, being a leader she is partly responsible for leading marchers to the Protestants, Burntollet directly resulted in troops being sent in because it was the first of a chain of events which escalated. Devlin also caused problems at Westminster, she was elected as an M.P in April 1969, her first speech was very critical of the government as she accuses them of neglect to the Irish people, this brought about discussions of sending British troops to Ireland.
Reverend Ian Paisley was involved directly in the Burntollet incident, although he didn’t attack marchers; he spoke to Protestants in Belfast and riled up their angers before the march had begun. This led the Protestants to attack the marchers, escalating to the events that called in the army. His spoken words about the Catholic civil rights taking away Protestant wealth led to the actions of so many at Burntollet.
In 1963, the Unionist Prime Minister was replaced by Terence O’Neill, who was keen to end unfair treatment of Catholics, and even met with Lemass in 1965, but Protestants believed he was wavering towards the Catholics. He resigned and was replaced by Chichester-Clark. He didn’t show the same want for peace, but after riots spread it was he who asked Britain to send troops to Ireland.
Micheal Collins was a leader of the I.R.A. in 1919 led a group who killed two policemen, which started the war of independence, which entitled volunteers to use methods of warfare to overcome resistance of police and soldiers. This movement showed that Catholics wanted change. It showed other Catholics what they could do to make a difference. Actions like these would’ve inspired marchers fighting for their cause in 1969.
Some of these factors are more important than others, I think that the most important factor to these events which led to troops being sent to Ireland would be Henry VIII, and I think he was the most significant because he created the blank canvas on which the two separate sides were always bound to disagree. The arguments in Ireland can all be traced back to the reason that the two sides have different religions. Had Henry VIII not changed the religion then there would be no problems in Ireland. I think that the Protestant role in the Apprentice boys’ march was very important too, this event in 1969 immediately sparked off riots and it only took two days before they were totally out of hand. The R.U.C.s and B Specials also affected the situation greatly, had the police force been working properly and retained the trust of the people then there would have been no reason to send in troops, it should be the police’s responsibility to keep everybody under control. Not many individuals imposed an extremely important role in these occurrences, but I think that Bernadette Devlin affected a lot of people, first by gaining support for her caused, but it was her who addressed the situation in this light at parliament.
