Ireland
From Division
to Good Friday
with a look at how Bloody Sunday
changed the nation
British Colonization
• Tudor Monarchs especially Henry VIII
encourage colonization of Ireland in the
1500’s
• 1609 the Plantation of Ireland
• Everything for the next 300+ years hinges
on religious division and resentment of
British rule
Beginning of the “Troubles”
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Majority Irish are Catholics
British settlers and supporters are Protestant
Irish resent British attitudes
British limit rights of Irish Catholics
Home Rule and Division
Timeline
• 1840’s Potato Famine
• Late 1800’s Irish
protests
• 1914 Home Rule Bill
• 1914-1918 WWI
– the Bill is never voted
on
• 1916 Easter Rising
– British put down and
execute the leaders
• Beginning of violent
Irish nationalism &
guerilla warfare &
terrorism
– IRA
Division 1921
•Republic of Ireland
•Catholic
Independent Country
•Nationalist (want
British out)
Sinn Fein
Division 1921
•Ulster or
Northern Ireland
•Protestant
controlled
•British Ruled
•Unionist
Catholic Civil Rights Movement
• 1960’s world wide civil rights movement
spreads to N. Ireland
• Catholics call for social and economic
reform
• Resistance is often violent
• Police Force=Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) is Protestant controlled
The British “Invasion”
• As the violence escalates British paratroops
are called to keep peace
• But can the British really be neutral?
– Catholic Irish perspective?
– Protestant Irish perspective?
– Rest of the world perspective?
Guerrilla Warfare
• Irish Republican Army uses terror to
achieve political and social goals
Bloody Sunday, 1972
• British troops take aggressive positions
during protest march
• Attempt to draw IRA into open battle
• Nervous troops fire into crowd of unarmed
marchers
• 13 are killed
• Major turning point in “the war”
30 Years of Struggle
• British permanently
station troops
• Vow to never leave
• IRA escalates terror
campaign
• New nationalist
groups emerge
• Thousands of innocent
victims are killed or
wounded during
terrorism and violence
Sign and Symbols
• Sectarian Groups Divide the Country and
spread fear and terror
• Derry has become famous for its murals and
infamous parades that often lead to clashes
Movement Toward Peace
• Political parties meet in 1993 for first time
• Good Friday Agreement 1998
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Tenuous cease fire has ensued
Peace talks continue
Terror has dropped
Many serious issues still remain
Omagh Car Bomb, 1998
• Most people killed in single day attack
• 29 die, mostly parents and teenagers
shopping
• Does not stop peace process
U2’s Bono
John
Hume
David
Trimble