The Catholics were hugely influenced by Martin Luther King and the American Civil Rights Act, which were going on at about the same time. In 1968 a Civil Rights movement came forward to protest against discrimination, often starting violent reactions from the Protestant Community.
Trouble began when the annual March of supporters of William of Orange began, the police were forced to use tear gas, for the first time in history, to try and bring the violence and rioting back under control. This Violence and Rioting was later to be known as The Battle of Bogside. But the Violence and Rioting became worse and the police brought in the B Specials, the specials were a unit within the police force who were armed and mostly part-time and 99.9% Protestant. The Specials were supposed to help bring the trouble to order and the Catholics were a bit suspicious of the Specials, which caused the Violence to grow bigger and it was said that the Specials just stood and watched.
As the tension grew, segregation grew. In cities like Londonderry and Belfast, many people who live in the wrong area, such as Catholics in a Protestant area, and vice versa, were forced to leave there homes.
The Battle of Bogside was a key point in the reasons of the Troops being sent to Northern Ireland. On 12th August, as the Apprentice Boys Parade passed the largely Catholic populated area of Bogside, serious rioting occurred. The RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) entered Bogside, using Armoured Vehicles and water cannons, in an attempt to end the Rioting. The RUC were closely followed by a group of Loyalist. The local residents of Bogside managed to force the RUC and the Loyalists out of the neighbourhood. That is when the RUC used Tear gas to gain entry to the Bogside area once again. As the next day came, serious rioting spread across Northern Ireland, from Derry to other Catholic areas, causing the RUC to have to stretch, and they were already outnumbered. The rioting deteriorated in to Sectarian Conflict, between the Catholics and Protestants. Catholics and Protestants, mostly Catholics, were being forced out of their homes. Jack Lynch, the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), made a television show in which he announced field hospitals would be set up in the border areas. He carried on to say that “…the present situation is the inevitable outcome of the policies pursued for decades by successive Stormont governments. It is clear also that the Irish government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured, and perhaps worse.” After two days of continuous fighting, on 14th August, the Stormont Government asked the British government for permission to allow the British troops to be sent to Northern Ireland to gain control of the situation.
As the British troops were moving in, the IRA were just getting over a spilt, were they became two different groups, the Marxist orient Official IRA, and the more hard-line. The IRA (Irish Republican Army) was formed in the early part of 1919 under the leadership of Michael Collins. They were a huge group of Catholics who fought for the Catholics just as the RUC fought for the Protestants. You might even
call the Terrorists. During the 1940’s the IRA organised occasional attacks on Britain and Northern Ireland. They also held attacks on Politicians in Republic of Ireland who opposed to the IRA. And so in 1969 the IRA split into the two groups I said about and they both fought against the British Troops when they arrived.
The British Government feared there would be a Civil War and that the Conflict would spill into British Cities such as London, Birmingham Manchester, these were the cities with a high population of Irish living there. The British Army was sent in as a temporary measure to earn the Government more time, and to regain control as asked by the New Prime Minister.
So the information from my learning I can conclude that the reason the British Troops were sent in was part of a long history of partition between North and South, causing violence between the Protestants and the Catholics. Bringing in the Soldiers was expected to bring in an end to the Violence and hospitalities between Catholics and Protestants, but in fact, the relations between them got worse. The conflict between these two groups became so violent that Ireland had to be divided. Some Catholics found themselves in the minority in the Protestant controlled North, where they were treated unfairly sparking a series of Civil Rights marches in the late 1960’s. The violence escalated, and this is why British Troops were sent to the area to maintain the peace.
