Why Were The British Troops Sent Into Northern Ireland In 1969?
Why Were The British Troops Sent Into Northern Ireland In 1969?
The violent events of 1969 started mainly because of the Civil Rights marches (which started in 1968), that often ended up in violence, one particular event was at Burntollet Bridge on a march from Belfast to Londonderry. The Catholics were fed up of being treated badly by the Protestants and having unfair rights. Due to the violent events the Republic's Prime Minister, Jack Lynch, threatened to send troops into Northern Ireland to stop the violence. But the British saw this as an invasion of part of their country, so they decided to send in their own troops to control the violence. This measure can be linked back to some long-term courses, as well as some more recent causes. A combination of these causes led to the violent events of 1969 and then to the British troops being sent into Northern Ireland.
In 1916 the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) took over the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin. This event was led be Padraig Pearce, and James Connolly, they decided that they no longer wanted to be ruled by the British and wanted Ireland to become its own nation. British troops quickly suppressed the rebels and gained control again. This event became known as the Easter Rising. It was a major turning point in Irish history, even though it failed, as it gathered more support for Home Rule, partly because of how the leaders of the Easter Rising were treated. Many of the leaders were found guilty of treason as they were fighting against British forces while the First World War was taking place, meaning that the British troops could not fight in the war. So the leaders of the Easter Rising were shot by firing squads, however this increased support for Home Rule as people such as James Connolly were shot while suffering from gangrene, which would have killed them anyway. These people were then seen as Irish Martyrs.
In the 1918 elections many members of Sinn Fein won seats in Parliament, in Westminster, but they knew that their ideas of Home Rule would not be listened to and immidetly rejected. All of Sinn Fein's M.P.'s refused to sit in Parliament. Instead they set up their own Parliament in Dublin. The British banned this, but Sinn Fein still managed to work with success. This meant that the Irish Nationalists had a voice to speak up for their wants. By 1919 the Irish Volunteer Force (IVF) had become known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), many members of the IRA were also members of Sinn Fein. The IRA was prepared to use force to overpower the British, and carried out many attacks.
By the 1920's IRA attacks were common. This period became known as 'The War Of Independence', and involved guerrilla warfare by the IRA, against the British. British troops could not use their strength or number of troops against the IRA, but they kept reinforcing the troops.
In 1921 Ireland was partitioned into two areas, The Republic of Ireland (The Free State), for the mainly Catholic Nationalists, and Northern Ireland, for the mainly Protestant Unionists. Both areas of the partition had their own government,
politicians thought that giving both sides a compromise would resolve the problems. ...
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By the 1920's IRA attacks were common. This period became known as 'The War Of Independence', and involved guerrilla warfare by the IRA, against the British. British troops could not use their strength or number of troops against the IRA, but they kept reinforcing the troops.
In 1921 Ireland was partitioned into two areas, The Republic of Ireland (The Free State), for the mainly Catholic Nationalists, and Northern Ireland, for the mainly Protestant Unionists. Both areas of the partition had their own government,
politicians thought that giving both sides a compromise would resolve the problems. But this pleased no one. The Nationalists wanted all of Ireland to be independent, and the Unionists did not want Ireland to be divided. Although many people accepted this
some did not and started to use violence again to try and get their way. Some people were also not living in the part of the country that they wanted to live in, because of where the boundaries of the partition were. The boundary was stated in the Irish Anglo Treaty, but it did not please everyone. Both the Catholics and the Protestants would not back down, as they both wanted their aims to be fully achieved. The Catholics wanted all of Ireland to united and free from British rule. The Protestants wanted all of Ireland to remain under the control of Britain. Neither side wanted Ireland to be split up, but both sides wanted to be ruled in the opposite way to the other.
In Northern Ireland the Protestants discriminated against the Catholic minority. The Protestants did not want to give the Catholics any power as they thought that the Catholics might try to take over and unite the North with the South, possibly with the help of the IRA, this would have led to Rome Rule (being controlled by the Pope). Only the Protestants were offered some types of jobs, e.g. In the Civil Service. The two religions were separated in nearly all aspects of their daily lives, from school to work and socializing, this meant that they never got to know each other and make their own judgments. They did not accept each other. As the Protestants did not want Catholics to have any power, even locally, the election boundaries were changed so that Catholics were in the minority, and only rate payers had votes. This is called Gerrymandering, and strongly favored the Protestant ratepayers. Another way in which the Catholics were discriminated against was in the allocation of housing, especially council housing. They were only allocated the worst housing, and had to live in appalling conditions. A special police force was also set up by the Protestants, called the B-Specials. The B-Specials had the power to arrest Catholics without any real reason, and without a trial. The B-Specials harassed the Catholics, and were even involved in, and started, violent attacks on Civil Rights campaigners, in the late 1960's.
The Protestants did not give Catholics for another reason. If the Catholics gained power in the North they would have Rome Rule controlling their powers, where they are ruled by the Pope, and must obey his orders. The Protestants did not like the idea of this, as they would have to give up some of their rights, and not be able to do certain things. For example there would be no divorces and no abortions. This would completely change the Protestants way of life, so to ensure that this did not happen the Protestants deprived the Catholics of some of their rights, and any chance of power.
Terrance O'Neill became Prime Minister, of Northern Ireland, in 1963. He tried to bring together the Catholics and Protestants, and bring an end to the violence between them. However neither side liked him, or what he was trying to do. He wanted, and tried, to get more jobs for people, both Protestants and Catholics. He tried to improve people's attitudes towards each other. He promised to reform many
areas of society. He tried to unite the North with the Republic, by holding talks. The Protestants did not like O'Neill because of his contact with the Republic, when the Protestants were trying to separate them selves from the Republic. The Catholics liked O'Neill's ideas, but thought that he was too slow in taking any action. Even some of his own colleagues did not like his ideas and tried to get rid of him, as they did not like his new ideas. The only thing that O'Neill did was make the relationship between the Protestants and Catholics worse.
The Civil Rights movement was sparked off, in the 1960's, because of inspiration being drawn from black American marchers, led by Martin Luther King, who were standing up for themselves, and their rights. The campaigners wanted fair vote allocation, gerrymandering to stop, the B-Specials to be abolished, and fair
opportunities for jobs and housing. The first marches were in 1968 and many ended in violence, one march in 1969 was famous for its violent ending. Marchers were ambushed at Burntollet Bridge, on their way to Londonderry. This march was led by university students, including Bernadette Devlin. It was speculated that some of the attackers may possibly have been B-Specials, who were controlled by the government and often discriminated against the Catholics. Many of the marches were televised, and the violent endings to the marchers often worsened the police's image. O'Neill tried to respond to the marches by promising many reforms, but he did not include the 'one man, one vote' law, which many of the campaigners wanted, so they carried on with the protests. Another publicized march was the battle of Bogside, a march that ended many Catholics loosing their homes, in Belfast. This happened because of Catholic Civil Rights campaigners clashing with Protestant forces. The police were powerless and could do nothing, due to the severity of the clash. Another thing that contributed to the Civil Rights marches was the fact that a new university was not situated in the large, well populated, area of Londonderry because Londonderry was a Catholic area. Instead the university of Craigavon was placed in the small, low populated, area of Coleraine because it was a Protestant area.
Britain finally sent in troops because Ulster (Northern Ireland) was out of control, with regular violent clashes taking place and a police force that could not regain control and order. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was exhausted and did not have the power, and numbers of officers, to control large riots. Things were so bad that the Republic was threatening to send in their own soldiers to calm down the situation and regain control. However as Northern Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom the British government did not want the Republic's army 'invading' part of their country. So the British had to step in and get control of the North, before others did.
British troops were sent in to Northern Ireland in 1969 because of many causes, some long term and some shorter-term events and causes. However all of these causes can be traced back to one thing, probably the most important factor in this. The partition of Ireland. If the partition did not take place then the Protestants would not have discriminated against the Catholics as much, as they would not have had as much power and control. The second most important factor in this was the
actual discrimination against the Catholics, as if the Catholics had not been discriminated against, and treated so badly, there would not have been the Civil Rights protests, which often led to, and ended in violence. Violence was a major reason why troops were sent in. Thirdly are the Civil Rights marches, which led to the violence, and were the final, main, contributing factor to why the troops were sent in. The British troops were sent in because of all the factors in this essay, but most of these factors would not have existed if Ireland had not been partitioned in 1921, which led to both sides fighting each other to try and get what they wanted. The partition also allowed for there to be discrimination by the Protestants against the Catholics in Northern Ireland as the Catholics were in the minority and could easily be controlled by the large number of Protestants.
Simon Owen.
Simon Owen
Why Were British Troops Sent Into Northern Ireland In 1969?
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