Why Were British Troops Sent Into Northern Ireland in 1969 free essay sample

These are viewed with opposing opinion by the two factions in a process known as street history. The word massacre to a Protestant springs up memories of the River Bann murders and the Catholic cruelty without a thought to Drogheda Wexford. Likewise, the same notion to a Catholic summons up images of Cromwell’s men slaughtering surrendering peasants. This raises hostility as they attempt to blame each other for their troubles. When James II (Catholic) was displaced from the English throne in 1689 he sought to recapture it with the help of Louis XIV (Catholic) of France. Their combined army ploughed through Ireland and looked set for victory. However, he was facing a formidable foe, in William of Orange (Protestant). Orange’s troops crushed James’ forces at the battle of the Boyne, disgracing Catholic pride. Even today it is not helped by the Orange Order march, which takes place each year to build Protestant pride, but unfortunately, in turn it reminds the Catholics of their failures. We will write a custom essay sample on Why Were British Troops Sent Into Northern Ireland in 1969? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The battle of the Boyne spelt the introduction of the treaty of Limerick and Penal laws, which were harshly discriminative against Catholics. Tensions worsened amongst the two groups between 1845 and 1849 . A pestilence struck the potato crops and many poor Catholics couldn’t afford to feed themselves. They needed help from the British government, who at first gave minimal support, but then even that faltered. This progressed into more resentment and when the Catholics felt their plight was ignored, things escalated. They had nothing to their name and nothing to lose. This mindset caused a rise in Nationalism during the late 1800s and cases of violence increased greatly between the two groups. Most notably culminating in the Easter rising of 1916. The executions of the Catholic leaders of the Easter rising, by the British Government, effectively martyred these men and became a powerful recruiting image for the Catholic cause. In the medium term, (1921) partition seemed the only solution. The Anglo-Irish treaty split the country into Northern Ireland and Eire. This compromise appeased no-one. Extremists wanted Ireland to go entirely one way or the other, but some Catholics accepted it as a step towards freedom. This did however spark increased incidents of discrimination to both sides in either province. In recent years prejudices worsened. Catholics were being discriminated against in all walks of life, e. g. less job opportunities (the Harland and wolf shipyard employed 10,000 workers, of which 400 were Catholic) and gerrymandering was often used to divide Catholic votes, thus they couldn‘t even fight back through politics. With a biased police force favouring their religion it would often be the case that Catholics could get away literally with murder so long as they were in Eire and vice versa for Protestant in RUC territories. This led to a state of terror, in which no-one felt safe and it urged them to join in with extremist groups to try and prevent themselves becoming targets. Another short term factor in the arrival of the troops were the marches staged to highlight inequality that often descended into violence. Like many events in Irish history, they would then be seen in two different ways as the Catholics’ fault or as the Protestants’ doing and would no doubt become street history itself in years to come, as the only purpose it serves is to fuel the hatred. This was epitomised between 1968 and 1969, when a catholic march through Londonderry was savagely dealt with by the RUC. This was recognised by British PM, Wilson, who passed laws to prevent such discrimination, but after the press got a hold of these reforms the protestants felt hard done by, as they only ever showed Catholics suffering, thus the laws designed to reduce tensions actually added to them. Then, during a mass Catholic march to Londonderry riots broke out. On the third day loyalist mobs swarmed the marchers and fighting broke loose. It was later found that off duty members of the RUC were part of the mob and thus the Catholics couldn’t even have faith in their own police force. In conclusion, Catholic and Protestant resentment built over many years and it ended in a state of chaos during a seemingly peaceful march. The police were not a reliable enough source of authority to maintain control, thus in 1969 the British government had to send in troops to restore order. This comes with a hint of irony, as it was the British government’s earlier attempts at appeasement that caused so many problems. This is because, in my opinion at least, the partition caused far more problems than it solved. Practically no-one was happy with its outcome, it gave people more reasons to argue and finally, it paved the way for the chronic racism that was such a problem in Ireland in recent years.