Northern Spy

The Troubles were a period of violent civil conflict in Northern Ireland, beginning in the 1960s and officially ending in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement. What motivated the conflict can be dated back centuries, however, specifically to the 16th and 17th centuries. Following the Tudor conquest of Ireland, British colonial expansionism pushed for Protestant settlers (typically of English and, later, Scottish descent) to demographically dominate the largely Catholic Irish people. Lands were confiscated, discriminatory laws were imposed, and Catholic rights were restricted in favor of Protestant ones. The plantation of Ulster—an organized colonization of the province of Ulster—in the 17th century would denote the beginning of the large rift between Protestants and Catholics up until and beyond the Troubles. In a short span of time, Protestants outnumbered Catholics and were able to wield greater economic and political influence in the area.

The skewed power dynamics persisted for centuries and became especially stark after the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). As a province of nine counties, Ulster is located in the northern area of Ireland, and after the signing of the Government of Ireland Act (1920), six of those counties were partitioned from the Republic of Ireland, kept as part of the United Kingdom, and formed what is now known as Northern Ireland. The new government in Northern Ireland took effect in 1921 and was predominantly led by Protestants. It sought to maintain control through gerrymandering and sidelining the Catholic community. As a result, Catholics in Northern Ireland faced significant economic and social difficulties: There were significant barriers for them to find housing and employment, which kept Catholic communities in poverty; “peace walls” were erected to separate Protestant and Catholic areas; Catholic schools were given fewer resources compared to their Protestant counterparts, which restricted social mobility; voting rights were restricted through, for instance, property qualifications; and the police force of Northern Ireland (the Royal Ulster Constabulary) was perceived as biased against Catholics as there were many incidents of police brutality and discrimination. As resentment toward the British government grew, Catholicism in Northern Ireland became something of a synonym for Irish nationalism and a desire for reunification with the Republic of Ireland.

By the 1960s, the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland had grown inspired by the global civil rights movements. They demanded equality and an end to the systematic discrimination they still faced. In 1968, things escalated. Protests were organized and are often met with violence from police forces. When riots erupted in Derry and Belfast in 1969, the British government first sent British troops to maintain order and then dissolved the Northern Ireland parliament to assume direct control. Meanwhile, paramilitary groups were formed on both sides of the conflict. Catholic nationalists formed the “Irish Republican Army,” or IRA, while Protestant loyalists (also called unionists) formed several groups, the most prominent of which are the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defense Association (UDA). Both factions escalated the level of violence as both sides organized bombings, assassinations, and targeted attacks on civilians, plunging Northern Ireland—and Belfast, especially—into a cycle of death and retaliation.

The British government’s response in the 1970s was a policy of internment without trial for suspected paramilitary individuals, which only led to widespread protests and further radicalization on both sides of the conflict. The presence of British soldiers often exacerbated pre-existing tension and, at times, caused more harm than good. The most prominent example was “Bloody Sunday” in 1972, when soldiers opened fire on unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry, resulting in 14 deaths. A bombing campaign in England organized by the IRA followed the event, and for 12 years, the violence persisted.

By 1994, however, the IRA had declared a cease-fire, as societal fatigue, internal discord within the IRA, and shifting political landscapes and public opinions made a strong case for a peaceful resolution. Loyalist groups followed suit, and after four years of negotiations, the Good Friday Agreement was accepted and signed. All parties committed to disarmament, a devolved government with power shared between nationalist and unionist parties, the right to dual citizenship in Northern Ireland, prisoner release, and reconciliation. While the Troubles are said to have ended with the Agreement, tensions still persist between nationalists and unionists to this day, and incidents of violence by dissident paramilitary groups still occur.