Assessment 4 Flashcards
Why did Paramilitaries grow in strength between 69 & 72?
Support for the provos stemmed mainly from three main events. The Falls rd Curfew, Internment & Bloody Sunday.
The Falls Road Curfew, July 1970, helped strengthen support for the Provisional IRA. Stormont had ordered the army into the Falls against the advice of the army commander the searches turned into a curfew as violence ensued. It was a propaganda gift for the Provisionals. Of more than one thousand searches that took place less than 50 successful. Indeed that the Provisionals achieved widespread support among Belfast Catholics was due more to the actions of the British army than what the IRA had done.
Operation Demetrius; arrest & detention without trialled to more support for the PROVOS. Seen as especially sectarian as at this time it had not been introduced for those believed to be Loyalists paramilitaries. This led to increased support for the IRA and the level of violence rose as did IRA activity into1971 over 140 were killed between then & dec 1971 from the time internment was introduced to the end of the year there was 143 deaths five times more than in the first half of 1971 before internment.
There was the revival of civil rights marches over internment; In January 1972 an anti- internment rally in Derry led to the deaths of 13 people on Bloody Sunday by the Parachute Regiment. The belief by Nationalists that all were innocent led to increased support for the Provos. The resulting Widgery report seen by Nationalists as a Whitewash did nothing to stop the PROVO recruitment.
The two main Loyalist paramilitary groups were the UVF & the UDA. Support for them also increased.
The Ulster Volunteer Force had re-emerged in the mid 1960s and had grown in size with NICRA’s campaign for civil rights gained momentum & O’Neill’s reform programme. It believed that the ideal future lay in absolute unionist control of Northern Ireland. Although O’Neill had banned it in 1966 it had continued as an illegal group. 1969 led to more support of it. Loyalists were angry at the burning of Protestant homes in 1969 & at loss of B-Specials and RUC losing ability to carry arms as a result of the Hunt report. The UVF sought to oppose the actions of Republican paramilitaries and to ensure that Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom.
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was established in September 1971. Seen as too large to ban so remained legal. The new group’s aim was to defend loyalist areas from attacks by nationalist paramilitaries. The UDA soon became very popular and within a year could claim a membership in excess of 30,000. Although it remained a legal organisation for almost twenty years, the UDA was still involved in attacks on members of the nationalist community
How & why was power-sharing introduced in N.I. from 1973 to 1974
The British Government had never wanted Direct Rule in the first place. It was introduced initially for one year when the NI Government resigned over Heath’s decision not only to not rearm the RUC & set up the B specials again but also for the British Government to take over control of Security & Justice, end internment & have a referendum on the border.
A move was made to achieve community government. This would mean Direct Rule would end but both Unionists & Nationalists would share power as opposed to the Unionist controlled Stormont Governments that had existed prior to direct rule and had discriminated against the Nationalist community which in turn led to the Civil Rights movement.
This power- sharing Government would consist of three parts. The Assembly, the Executive & an Irish Dimension through the Council of Ireland
An election was held for an assembly of all parties in 1973. Most seats were won by parties which supported power-sharing Faulkner Unionists 24 seats; SDLP 19 seats; Alliance 8 seats. However, Unionism was split with more anti power-sharing Unionists winning seats than pro
The British Government stated if the Majority of people in NI wanted a United Ireland it would not oppose it. Dublin said it accepted that a United Ireland could only happen peacefully with the consent of the Majority of people in NI
Why was Stormont ended in 1972?
Firstly the response to the deaths was an upsurge of violence in NI. Recruitment to the Provisional’s also increased exponentially. The Provo’s responded with a series of bombings two of the worst were in Belfast one in the Abercorn Bar and the other in Donegal St. both resulted in huge civilian causalities. The British believed that NI had descended into an uncontrollable vortex of violence.
The second result of the deaths of Bloody Sunday was the international condemnation that the British received particularly from the Republic & the USA. This condemnation and criticism from the USA was particularly embarrassing as the British and the Yanks were cold war allies and a special relationship was meant to exist between them. Heath believed he had to get control of NI to avoid further embarrassment.
The third consequence of Bloody Sunday was alienation from Nationalists towards the Stormont regime. Any progress that had happened as a result of O’Neill’s concessions had been destroyed. This alienation had already started when the SDLP had pulled out as the official opposition in Stormont over two deaths in Derry which involved the army. They had then withdrawn from local councils over internment. Bloody Sunday just exacerbated this alienation and Nationalists were boycotting every level of Government. Heath realised that if Nationalists couldn’t be persuaded to take part in Government and Unionists couldn’t be persuaded to introduce more reforms then Westminster would have to get involved.
The fourth consequence of Bloody Sunday was that the resulting IRA violence had led to the formation of the Ulster Vanguard under the sacked OUP minister William Craig. This was as far as its members were concerned a force of last resort. Heath realised that Vanguard had links with the UDA and were they to put their threats into action it would lead to an equally grave response from the IRA. NI would then be in the grips of civil war.
Explain how violence increased in NI in the Summer of 1969
The Troubles started in Derry / Londonderry in August during what became known as the Battle of the Bogside. This was provoked by the violence after the annual Apprentice Boys march. Marchers were pelted with stones by Catholic youths from the Bogside.
When the police tried to force the youths back into the Bogside, violence ensued. This was largely due to the fact that Nationalists at the bogside remembered that earlier that year after Burntollet, some police and B-Specials had rampaged through the Bogside. This action of pushing the youths back therefore was viewed as a second invasion of the Bogside.
Violence spread to Belfast but the violence there was more sectarian, with Nationalists and Unionists directly targeting each other. 1820 families were forced from their homes due to burnings and of these, 80% were Catholic. A famous example of this is Bombay Street.
This violence in Belfast and Derry also saw the RUC responding more forcefully than ever before. In Derry, it was the first time any British police force used CS gas and in Belfast the RUC responded to the violence with machine guns. In one incident, police peppered Divis Street flats with gunfire and as a result, a 9-year-old boy was shot.
The result of the Battle of the Bogside and violence in other areas was the 10 people were dead, 754 were injured and a huge number of people were homeless. This was only stopped by the enforcement of some troops.
Then when the British Army was deployed on to the streets of N.I to actually defend the Nationalist population this was seen as an embarrassment. The IRA was referred to as I Ran Away. This fact led to a split in the IRA and the Provisional IRA were born.
How did people in NI respond to the introduction of internment in 1971?
Unionists
Happy at introduction of internment and hopeful that those carrying out the violence would be interned it had worked in the past.
Disappointed at the failure of internment and the rise in bombings and killings Frustrated at the failure of the courts to convict IRA suspects
Unionists saw internment as an unpleasant but necessary way of dealing with the growing IRA threat. Loyalist violence increased in response to the increase in IRA violence. The UDA was formed in September 1971. The UDA bombed McGurk’s Bar in Belfast in December – 15 were killed
Nationalists
Anger at one-sided use of internment; number of innocent people interned and treatment of internees hated that it was one sided. It was directed against nationalists. The first loyalist wasn’t interned until February 1973
Lack of accurate intelligence led to arrests of innocent people causing great anger among the Nationalists as many were totally innocent. The Provisional IRA leadership escaped almost untouched. Prime Minister Brian Faulkner had to admit that many of the most wanted“escaped the net”
Increase in IRA activity and support 1971 over 140 were killed between then & dec 1971 from the time internment was introduced to the end of the year there was 143 deaths five times more than in the first half of 1971 before internment.
Revival of civil rights marches over internment; – led to Bloody Sunday,
which was itself a result of an anti-internment march. There was also a clash between the army and civil rights protesters at an anti-internment march outside Magilligan Internment Camp
How did nationalists & unionists respond to the events of Bloody Sunday on 30 January 1972
What was bloody Sunday/ why people marching?
“Bloody Sunday” is seen as a major turning point in the course of troubles of Northern Ireland. In Derry on Sunday 30th January 1972, there was a huge protest march against the use of internment which was organised by the Civil Rights Movement. It was an illegal gathering.
What happened?
The British Parachute Regiment troops sealed off the area and as a result of this stones were being hailed towards them by youths and objectors in the streets. The soldiers of the regiment claimed that they were fired at and returned fire. The result of the shootings ended with unarmed 13 marchers being killed one later died of his injuries & another 13 were injured. This happened in full public and press view & led to increased sectarian division in N.I.
How did Nationalists respond?
The scale of the atrocity and the vivid images on TV were to have a deep impact on the Nationalist community. For Nationalists in general there was immediate out pouring of grief & anger. Rioting took place in Nationalist areas. It also led to increased hostility at British government and Stormont government. In Dublin too there was the burning of British Embassy reflecting the anger in the Republic of Ireland. It increased the status of and recruitment into the Republican Army. Ivan Cooper who is best known for leading an anti-internment march which ended up in the massacre of Bloody Sunday stated ‘’You’ve destroyed the civil rights movement, and you’ve given the IRA the biggest victory it will ever have.’’ As a result the number of bombings & shootings increased.
The anger felt by Nationalists was exacerbated by the findings of the Widgery Inquiry. The report accepted the army’s version that the IRA had shot first. To Nationalists the report was a whitewash. They believed all of the victims were innocent as they were unarmed with the Inquiry unable to find evidence of weapons on the victims.
How did Unionists respond?
Within the Unionist Community there was little sympathy for what had happened. The Civil Rights march had being illegal and therefore should not have taken place in the first place. There was also the belief that some of those killed had provoked the army and that the IRA had been involved in the march. In fact, despite the inquiry finding no evidence of arms many Unionists believed this simply meant the guns had been smuggled out rather than meaning that those who died were innocent.
There was anger too at the increased IRA violence after Bloody Sunday and failure of government and security forces to stop it. However, there was continued support for the Government.
Ulster Vanguard was also formed in response to the resulting IRA violence, this was led by William Craig. Vanguard was a coordinating body for traditional loyalist groups. During one of its meetings in Ormeau Park attracted 70,000 Craig spoke of liquidating the enemy.
In essence Bloody Sunday led to the views of Nationalists & unionists becoming further polarised.
