History of Northern Ireland Conflict

History of Northern Ireland Conflict

The roots of the trouble in Northern Ireland date far back in History.

In 900 BC the Celts invad Ireland and bring their language and culture

with them from Europe and

impose the them so thoroughly on the natives  that not a scrap of

tradition remains from those earlier

inhabitants.

To understand the susequent development of the Irish mind it is

essential to grasp at the start that

the Celts were never a political nation. They had always lived in

loosely- joined communities,

without any political sense of cohesion between one community and the

next, fatally lacking in that

power to unite firmly, which distinguished the romans, whose

farthest-flung outpost in Britain and

Iberia always looked to and were governed from their imperial capital.

This individualism of the Celts was to continue in Ireland for many

certuries and is a key to many of

Ireland?s later political weaknesses.

The patriotic Irish view of the conquer of Ireland by colonizing Britain

is that their civilization was

finally destroyed by a more efficient and ruthless military

organisation. Perhaps it would be more

correct to say that the consolidated Tudor state was too strong an

opponent for Irish regionalism.

The Irish did not start fighting before it was too late and - as the

system dictated - every man for his

own horizon.

In the 17th century the British Government imposes an alien ruling class

- Scotish Protestants- on the

native Catholics. These colonies are called "plantations" and are

supposed to uphold British rule.

Unfortunately the Catholics are treated like second class citizens which

led to violent opposition:

In 1912 some 1,000 rebels from the Irish Volunteers and the socialist

Irish Citizen Army- led by

Patrick Pearse - proclaim an Irish Republic at Dublin's General Post

Office on Easter Monday,

April 24. After five days of fighting in which over 400 die and more

than 2,500 are wounded the

rebels surrender.

The leaders of the rebellion are executed in May. Irish nationalist

feeling begins to grow as the list

of those executed rises to 15. Sinn Fein ('ourselves alone'), founded in

1907, gains political

support.

The Irish Republican Army, nationalist organization dedicated to the

unification of Ireland, is

organized by Michael Collins after the Easter Rebellion.

In 1919 the British Government are prepared to leave Ireland but because

of the protestant ruling

class dislikes idea there need to be bloody military battles till they

made their plan come true:

Ireland is devided into two parts: the nothern part  - sometimes called

Ulster - with its capital Belfast

is part of the U.K. Here rules the British Parliament which is placed in

London and has the Queen as

head of state. The south - the Republic of Ireland - is an independent

country with its own

government .

This division of territory has always been a highly contested issue: the

IRA ( Irish Republic Army)

opposes it as is is falling a long way short of its ideal dream of a

united Ireland.

The Government in Dublin subdue the IRA with methods like censorship yet

they support the ideal

of a united Ireland. Of course this causes tension with the Northern

State.

Nevertheless the British Government regarded the problem as solved till

the Catholic community

started the civil rights movement highlighting the abuse of power and

demanded equality in

employment, housing and education.

Bloody fights between the catholic and the protestant community brake

out.

The British Government sends its troops to Ireland to control the

seperation of the warring

communities and give the North Irish state time to reform the law and

stop the abuse of minorities.

Unfortunately the politicans fail.

Fruthermore the Provisional IRA form. They operate behind the facade of

the Civil Rights

movement but start paramilitary attacks against the British Army.

This was a turning point for the British soldiers from peacekeeping to

countering insergency against

the PIRA.

1972: Fourteen men die after British troops open fire on a civil rights

demonstration in Derry. Six

months later, the IRA sets off 22 bombs in Belfast that kill 11 people

beginning a long pattern of

bombings, assassinations, and shootings. The unrest prompts Britain to

abolish Stormont and

announce direct rule after the Northern

Ireland government refuses to accept losing law-and-order powers to

Westminster. Attempts over

the next few years to re-establish a Northern

Ireland administration collapse in the face of violence.

1973: Three-way talks produce the Sunningdale Agreement to allow

Republicans a role in Northern

Ireland's government and create a Council of Ireland, with

responsibilities in both parts of Ireland.

Protestant opposition dooms the accord, and violence continues.

1976: Three children from the same family are killed in Anderstown when

soldiers shoot dead a car

hijacker in August. The aunt of the victims, Mairead Corrigan, is one

of the founders of the

Women's Peace Movement which later becomes the Peace People. The group's

marches are

attended by thousands in Belfast and  London. Corrigan and co-founder

Betty Williams are

awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.1979: IRA assassinates Lord Earl

Mountbatten, a member

of the British royal family.

1981: Ten IRA prisoners become martyrs when they die in a hunger strike;

one is Bobby Sands,

who died after he was elected to Parliament from prison. Over the next

year, bombings in England

escalate.

1985: London and Dublin sign the Anglo-Irish  Agreement, for the first

time giving the Irish

government an official role in Northern Ireland's affairs, although only

a consultative one. Unionists

feel betrayed and the agreement is never fully implemented.

1993: Irish leader Albert Reynolds and British Prime Minister John Major

issue The Downing Street

Declaration, stating the people of Northern Ireland will decide their

own future and offering Sinn Fein

a seat at the peace talks if IRA violence ends. In August 1994 the IRA

responds by declaring a

cease-fire. Pro-British loyalist forces follow suit.1996: Former U.S.

Sen. George Mitchell of

Maine, chairman of the peace talks, proposes negotiations to parallel

phased surrender of guerrilla

weapons.But talks stall and the IRA abandons its cease-fire in February

with a one-ton bomb that

kills two in London. Multi-party talks begin in June without Sinn Fein.

1997:Tony Blair's Labour Party sweeps Conservatives out of office. IRA

announces a cease-fire

two months later and Sinn Fein joins multi-party peace talks in

September. Blair meets with Sinn

Fein chairman Gerry Adams in London.

1998: Britain announces an independent inquiry into the Bloody Sunday

killings of 1972. Tit-for-tat

violence between splinter groups kills 18 people. George Mitchell sets a

deadline of April 9th for

agreement.

April 10, 1998: 17 hours after a deadline set by  Mitchell, all parties

announce a deal has been

struck. It is Good Friday.

Till the 14th of August peace seemed to return to Ireland to Northern

Ireland but then an

other bomb exploded in a busy shopping street of Omagh.

"It was the deadliest sectarien attack in Northern Ireland ?s 30 years

of Catholic-

Protestant conflict.

The blast came less than three month after voter in both parts of

Ireland overwhelmingly

approved plans for a new Northern Ireland government with power shared

between its

majority Protestants and minority Catholics." (CNN)

Timeline

Easter Rebellion

Irish Republic

The Trouble

IRA Splits

Bloody Sunday

Sunningdale Agreement

Nobel Peace Prize

Mountbatten Assassinated

Hunger Strike

Anglo- Irish Agreement

Downing Street Declaration

Multi- Party Talks

Blair Takes Office

Peace Approaches

The Deal is Struck

July 1998 Marching Crisis

bomb attack in Omagh