Why the troubles started

Within the Protestant community, there were people who took up the gun to defend the link with Britain. These people are known as loyalists.

Thousands more were injured. Thousands were traumatized by violence. Thousands were sent to prison. However by the s there was recognition that violence would not deliver a solution to the conflict and that any effort to find a political answer would only succeed if republican and loyalist paramilitaries were given a voice at the negotiating table.

If the Good Friday Agreement and the return of self-government to Northern Ireland had been an enormous challenge for all concerned, so was its fitful implementation. Many significant issues remained unresolved in , not least the decommissioning of republican and loyalist weapons.

These and other matters were now susceptible to the force of argument rather than the argument of force. Even so, the first phase of devolved power-sharing was to prove fragile and short-lived, requiring the re-introduction of direct rule from until Only then had sufficient trust been developed between the communities to enable the restoration of devolution. This partnership of constitutional opposites is perhaps the most remarkable outcome of the Troubles, and one that underlines the triumph of politics over violence in post-conflict Northern Ireland.

This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. History History The Troubles.

The Troubles - Photo: Two masked gunmen Pacemaker Press Intl. Direct rule returns In , the Northern Ireland parliament had been dominated by unionists for over fifty years.

Sunningdale's frosty reception Direct rule by British ministers was viewed as a short-term measure and a process designed to restore self-government to Northern Ireland was soon underway. The Anglo-Irish Agreement As the cycle of violence escalated post-Sunningdale, further efforts were made by successive UK governments to devise a political settlement, but only one acceptable to those parties it considered "legitimate" and non-violent.

Peace process Cross-party talks began in earnest in Northern Ireland. One of the most contentious and defining conflicts of the twentieth century and one whose impact is still felt today.

What caused it? The origins of problems in the region stretch centuries back to the Anglo-Norman intervention of Ireland in , when England first laid roots in the area. Despite some intermingling of the English and Irish population, the two were never completely united. As a result, two disparate populations, with differing interests, found themselves living in a small island side by side.

His break from Rome placed him at loggerheads with Catholic Europe and introduced religion into Irish politics for the first time. It was swiftly put down and those involved were executed. All the while, plantations were being established throughout the country. Lands occupied by Irish landowners were confiscated, especially in Munster and Ulster. They were distributed to colonists, commonly known as planters, who came in large numbers from England, Scotland and Wales.

The plantations altered the demography of Ireland. Large Protestant English communities were created, whose identity was at odds with the Roman Catholic Irish inhabitants. The Battle of Drogheda maintains particular resonance. In September , Cromwell laid siege to Drogheda, a town on the East coast of Ireland, which had been garrisoned by a coalition of Roman Catholics, Confederates and Royalists in their quest to expel the English from Ireland.

Read more about: Battles Oliver Cromwell: the most hated man in Irish history? By the late seventeenth century, against a backdrop of battles and disputes, which further mired relations between the two populations, the position for Catholics was incredibly compromised.

Even for those seemingly unaffected by the laws, the fact that ultimate control of their land lay in the hands of Westminster was a mockery. The first sounds of Irish nationalism were being made. After all, the mood was ripe for unrest, with both America and France already experiencing revolution in the latter half of the eighteenth century.

As a concession, the penal laws were relaxed. But this did not extinguish opposition; in a rebellion broke out in Ireland, organised by the United Irishmen, a revolutionary republican group, who had been inspired by the revolutions of France and America. The rebellion lasted for several months.

Among the dead is Patrick Rooney 9 who becomes the first child to be killed in the Troubles. Hugh McCabe 20 , a nationalist, becomes the first British soldier to die in the Troubles, but he dies while home on leave during armed clashes with loyalists. The wholly Protestant force numbers between 9, and 10, men.

The Northern Ireland government calls in the British army who are deployed for the first time during the Troubles. A ceasefire is called and the Battle of the Bogside is over. British troops are also deployed in both the Falls Road and Shankill Road areas of Belfast where there are repeated clashes between Catholics and Protestants.

Residents of the nationalist Falls Road clap when they enter Catholic areas. Their presence also brings a temporary calm to other parts of Belfast. Clonard Monastery in Clonard Gardens come under attack from militant loyalists supported by Ian Paisley , but they are repulsed. At least 25 families in Andersonstown are burnt out of their homes by Protestant gangs and similar number of families are left homeless on the Falls Road.

Friday, August 15th, The violence continues in Belfast with constant fire fights between nationalists and loyalists in west Belfast. Rioting spreads to East Belfast and houses and shops are set on fire. David Linton becomes the first Protestant civilian to die in the Troubles.

He dies during disturbances in north Belfast. Saturday, August 16th, Violence spreads to both Dublin and London. A mob attacks the British Embassy in Dublin on the nights of August 16th and 17th. Sixteen garda are injured and at least 60 premises in the city centre are attacked and burnt.

A riot breaks out in London outside the Ulster Office in Berkeley Street where nationalist supporters clashed with the Metropolitan Police. Nine people are arrested and 45 people injured.

The number of civilians injured in Northern Ireland increases to more than with policemen treated for injuries. Streams of refugees from nationalist areas of Belfast travel south.