Northern Ireland Flashcards
what was the Falls Curfew?
-3-5 july 1970
-fighting between british and IRA soldiers resulted in GB soldiers imposing a curfew and carrying out house to house searches
-reports of abuse by soldiers
-event turned many catholics against the british army and boosted support for the IRA
what was interment?
-arrested suspected trouble makers and holding them without trial
-august 1971
-95% of those arrested 1971-1975 = catholics
-created more tensions and increased IRA support
-strained relationship between british and irish gov.
-many labour MPs opposed it
what was bloody sunday?
-30th jan 1972
-civil rights march in london derry
-blocked by british army
-13 civilians killed
when was the stormont parliament suspended?
-march 1972
-direct rule was then imposed from westminster
what was the aldershot bombing?
-7 killed when car bomb exploded outside HQ of 16th parachute brigade
-OIRA claimed full responsibility
what was bloody friday?
-19 PIRA bombs exploded across belfast
-21st july 1972
what was operation motorman?
-31st jult 1972
-british army sent to clear ‘no go areas’
-explicit use of force
-introduction of diplock courts (single judge without a jury)
-anger at this operation led to the PIRA attacking the british mainland for the first time - 2 bombs in central london
what was the sunningdale agreement?
-november 1973
-agreement to form a power sharing gov. in northern ireland
-aims = distribute power between nationalists and unionists, reduce discrimination, encourage political partnership, and boost stability
-a coalition gov. led N.I from jan to may 1974, led to moderate unionist brian faulkner
-new system = a proportionally elected northern ireland assembly, an executive government (power shared) and a council of ireland made up of delegates from both N.I and the republic of ireland
-extreme protestants still held more power than moderates, and they didn’t want to share power with nationalists
-Ulster Workers’ Council called a general strike in 1974 which forced the resignation of faulkner
-direct rule from westminster began again
why did the sunningdale agreement fail?
-unionists saw the proposed council of ireland as a step towards reuniting Ireland, which they didn’t want
-many unionists were outraged that brian faulkner had agreed to the council of ireland but had failed to secure their demands of formal recognition of N.I by dublin, a crackown on IRA suspects etc
-general election 1974 british - ulster unionsist won 11 seats bur refused to support the conservatives as a protests against the sunningdale agrrement
-this effectively cost heath and the tories the election as they didn’t have enough support to form a government
failures of Heath’s approach to N.I:
-northern ireland became increasingly violent
-britain’s reputation seriously damaged through internment, bloody sunday and operation motorman
-although the sunningdale agreement was passed, its success was short-lived, and once could argue that tensions between both sides escalated due to Heath’s policies
-continuation of direct rule from westminster was a step backwards
