The Troubles in Northern Ireland

1. The Troubles in Northern Ireland – Causes, Course and Consequences Chapter 26

2. What Will I Learn? • Identify the causes of the Troubles in Northern Ireland • Identify the course and consequences of the Troubles in Northern Ireland • Examine their impact on North-South and Anglo-Irish relations

3. What were the Troubles? • Conflict in Northern Ireland from late 1960s to 1998 • Conflict between unionists and nationalists • Catholics demanded improved civil rights • Resistance by unionists • Paramilitary groups involved • IRA and UVF, UDA • IRA demanded a united Ireland

4. What Caused the Troubles? Short-Term Causes Long-Term Causes

5. What Were the Long-Term Causes of the Troubles? British Conquest and Colonisation • Ireland conquered by war and plantations in 16th and 17th centuries • Protestant planters given land The Struggle for Independence • Nationalists demanded greater or full independence for Ireland • Opposed by unionists – maintain unity with Britain Physical force tradition Armed rebellion Parliamentary tradition Peaceful means Unionists V

6. What were the Long-Term Causes of the Troubles? A Belfast mural featuring King William of Orange

7. Separate Communities Source 2 Separate schools The teachers liked to pretend it was a civilised outpost of England: rugby, cricket and English headmasters. There was little to suggest we were living in Ireland – no Irish history, no Irish literature, no Irish music. … Religion Protestants Catholics Politics Unionists Nationalists Source 3 Separate schools St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon, where I went, was a patriotic school. It owed its proudly Irish slant to the Vice-Principal, Mother Benignus. She disliked the English. All her family had suffered at the hands of the British forces. She was very keen about Irish culture which drives lots of people away who couldn’t take it for breakfast, dinner and tea. … Economics Tenants, labourers Landlords, industrialists Catholic areas, schools, GAA football and hurling Protestant areas, schools, rugby, soccer Social Life

8. Separate Communities

9. Separate Communities Partition • Unionists resisted Home Rule • Government of Ireland Act 1920 gave a separate parliament to Northern Ireland • Unionists dominated this parliament CúChulainn was a legendary Irish hero who defended Ulster against the attack of the army of Queen Maedbh of Connacht. Nationalist and unionist wall murals feature CúChulainn for different reasons. See Skills Book p. 231

10. What were the Short-Term Causes of the Troubles? Source 2 Many of you employ Catholics but I have not one about the house. In Northern Ireland the Catholic population is increasing. 97% of Catholics in Ireland are disloyal and disruptive. If we allow Catholics to work on our farms we are traitors to Ulster. (Basil Brooke, future Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, speaking in 1933) Discrimination See Skills Book p. 232

11. What Were the Short-Term Causes of the Troubles? Protestant and Catholic Employment in Belfast Engineering Firms, 1982

12. Civil Rights and the Beginning of The Troubles • Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) set up • Demands • ‘One man, one vote’ in local elections • An end to gerrymandering • An end to discrimination in housing and jobs • Protest marches in Derry and Belfast • Resistance from extreme unionists • UVF and Rev. Ian Paisley • Civil rights march attacked by RUC in Derry • Prime Minister, O’Neill, forced to bring in some reforms • O’Neill forced to resign John Hume, Austin Currie, Paddy O’Hanlon and Bernadette Devlin

13. The Day the Troubles Began Showdown on 5 October After their first march on 24 August 1968 in County Tyrone, NICRA (Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association) were invited by the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) to hold a march in County Londonderry on 5 October. The Apprentice Boys of Derry, a Protestant society, announced plans to march the same route, on the same day. Northern Ireland's Minister of Home Affairs, William Craig, responded by issuing a banning order on all marches within the boundaries of the planned route. … Eamonn McCann, one of the organisers of the (Derry) march, said that the thing he recalled most in the aftermath of the day was “the number of people who came up to me and said, using the exact phrase: ‘Things will never be the same again’. And they were right.”

14. The Troubles Escalate • Violence increased from 1969 onwards • Protestant Apprentice Boys march • Battle of the Bogside • British troops brought in to protect nationalists Battle of the Bogside • The SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party) founded in 1970 • Became largest nationalist party • Led by Gerry Fitt, later by John Hume Nationalists presenting Christmas gifts to British troops John Hume See Skills Book pp. 233–34

15. The IRA • IRA split into Official IRA and Provisional IRA • Provisional IRA believed in physical force • Launched bombing campaign • Deaths of civilians, RUC and British soldiers Internment • Brought in by Unionist government of Brian Faulkner • The arrest and imprisonment without trial of people suspected of being involved in violence • 342 people arrested • Disastrous failure La Mon restaurant

16. The IRA • Bloody Sunday • British soldiers fired on anti-internment march in Derry • 13 people killed Helping the wounded through the streets of Derry on Bloody Sunday

17. Direct Rule from Britain • Failure of Unionist governments • Direct rule from Westminster brought in What is the message of this cartoon? How useful are cartoons as sources for historians?

18. Attempts at Peace The Sunningdale Agreement • Proposed power-sharing government in NI • Unionists and nationalists rule together • Unionist Party and SDLP • Council of Ireland Ulster Workers Council Strike • UWC organised general strike against Sunningdale Agreement • Led to collapse of power-sharing government • Return to direct rule

19. The Hunger Strikes • IRA prisoners in H-Blocks demanded political prisoner status • Resisted by Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister • Some prisoners went on hunger strike • Ten died over a period of months • Rise in anti-British feeling • Political prisoner status restored ‘Armalite and the ballot box’ • Strategy by IRA to continue bombings but contest elections with political party, Sinn Féin

20. Attempts at Peace The Anglo-Irish Agreement 1985 • Gave Irish government a say in running NI • Opposed by unionists • Formed the basis for future progress towards peace Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald and British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, signing the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 See Skills Book p. 235

21. Peace Moves after 1985 1993 Downing Street Declaration Secret negotiations between Hume and Adams 1998 Good Friday Agreement 2017 Collapse of power-sharing government John Hume, Leader of SDLP David Trimble, leader of Ulster Unionist Party See Skills Book p. 236

22. Deaths During the Troubles Source 1 Conflict-related deaths by year Source 2 Who was responsible for the killings in the Troubles?

23. Deaths during the Troubles Source 3 Casualties and losses Civilians killed: 1,935 Total dead: 3,532 Total injured: 47,500 All casualties: around 50,000

24. North-South Relations • Lemass and O’Neill in 1960s – improved relations • Tensions rose as Troubles began • Nationalists (Catholics) moved South for safety • Jack Lynch’s television address • Foundation of Provisional IRA • Bloody Sunday • Change in Irish government policy in 1970s • Sunningdale Agreement – Anglo-Irish Agreement – Good Friday Agreement Sunningdale Agreement, 1973 Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985 Downing Street Declaration, 1993 Anglo-Irish relations and the Troubles Good Friday Agreement, 1998

27. Create your own mind map on the Causes of the Troubles using the features here

29. See Skills Book p. 237