The conflict in Northern Ireland is an ethnopolitical confrontation provoked by a dispute between local national republican organizations that were left-wing and were Catholics, and the central British authorities. The main force opposing the United Kingdom was the Irish Republican Army. Her adversary was the Protestant Order of the Orange and right-wing organizations that spoke on his side.
Background
The reasons for the conflict in Northern Ireland lie in the deep past. Ireland became dependent on Britain in the Middle Ages. The seizure of land from residents began in large numbers in the XVI century, when they began to be transferred to immigrants from England. In subsequent years, the number of Englishmen in Ireland grew steadily.
The land policy pursued by the British provoked widespread discontent among local landowners. This constantly led to new uprisings and minor skirmishes. In parallel, local residents were actually evicted from the island. In the early years of the 19th century, Ireland became an official part of the British Kingdom.
In the middle of the 19th century, landowner harassment resumed after a break. The confiscation of land, the abolition of "grain laws" and crop failure led to famine, which lasted from 1845 to 1849. Anti-English sentiment intensified significantly. A series of armed uprisings took place, but then the protest activity stalled for a long time.
At the beginning of the XX century
Before World War I, a militarized nationalist organization appears in Ireland. Its members call themselves "Irish volunteers." In fact, these were the predecessors of the IRA. During the war, they armed themselves and received the necessary combat experience.
A new rebellion erupted in 1916, when an independent Republic of Ireland was proclaimed by the rebels. The uprising was suppressed by force, but after three years it flared up with renewed vigor.
It was then that the Irish Republican Army was created. She immediately proceeds to conduct a guerrilla war against the police and British troops. The republic, which proclaimed its independence, occupied the entire island.
In 1921, an official treaty was signed between Ireland and Great Britain, according to which the territory of the rebels received dominion status, becoming the Irish Free State. However, it did not include several counties in the northeast of the island. They were distinguished by significant industrial potential. Most of the population in them were Protestants. So broke away Northern Ireland, which remained in the United Kingdom.
Despite the formal separation of Ireland from Great Britain, the British left their military bases on its territory.
After the conclusion of the official peace agreement and its ratification by the Irish Parliament, the Republican army split. Most of its leaders went over to the side of the newly formed state, having received high posts in the Irish national army. The rest decided to continue the struggle, in fact, starting to speak out against their yesterday’s associates. However, they had little chance of success. The national army was significantly strengthened by supporting the British military. As a result, in the spring of 1923, the leader of the restless rebels, Frank Aiken, ordered the cessation of the struggle and lay down arms. Those who obeyed his order created a liberal party called the Fianna File. Its first leader was Eamon de Valera. Later it was he who would write the Irish Constitution. Currently, the party remains the largest and most influential in Ireland. The rest, refusing to obey Aiken, went underground.
Ireland's dependence on Great Britain gradually, but steadily declined throughout the XX century. In 1937, Dominion officially became a republic. After the end of the war against fascism, Ireland finally withdrew from the union, becoming a completely independent state.
At the same time, opposite processes were observed in the north of the island. For example, in 1972, parliament in Northern Ireland was virtually liquidated and dispersed. After this, the fullness of power completely returned to the hands of the British. Since then, Northern Ireland has essentially been ruled from London. Dissatisfaction with their dependent status has become the main cause of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Gradually, there was an increase in self-awareness, not only on a national, but also a religious basis. The conflict in Northern Ireland has been brewing for several decades. Against this background, right-wing parties and organizations were consistently popular among the local population.
IRA activation
Initially, the Irish Republican Army was subordinate to the left-wing nationalist party called the Sinn Fein. At the same time, she carried out military actions from its very foundation. The IRA moves to active actions in the 1920s, then they return to the next decade after a break. Spend a series of explosions at objects belonging to the British.
After there was a long break, which came the war against Hitler. The second period of activity of the IRA and the escalation of the conflict in Northern Ireland began in 1954.
It all started with separate attacks by members of the Irish Republican Army on British military installations. The most famous action of that period was the attack on the barracks in Arbofield, located in England itself. In 1955, two deputies representing the political organization Sinn Fein were arrested on charges of these attacks, and they were deprived of their mandates and immunity.
Power suppression led to massive anti-English protests. Participants in the conflict between Britain and Northern Ireland became more and more. Accordingly, the number of IRA attacks has increased.
Only during 1956, a paramilitary group carried out about six hundred shares in Ulster alone. In 1957, violent violence declined after the mass arrests by the British police.
Tactics Change
After that, relative calm remained for about five years. In 1962, the conflict between Northern Ireland and England moved to a new stage when the IRA decided to change the tactics of the struggle. Instead of single clashes and actions, it was decided to switch to massive attacks. In parallel, militarized Protestant organizations joined in the struggle, which began to fight against the Irish Catholics.
In 1967, a new participant appeared in the conflict between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It becomes the Association, declaring its main goal to uphold civil rights. She advocates the elimination of discrimination against Catholics in housing and employment, and advocates the abolition of multiple voting. Also, members of this organization opposed the dissolution of the police, which consisted mainly of Protestants, and the abolition of emergency laws in force since 1933.
The association used political methods. Organized rallies and demonstrations that law enforcement agencies constantly dispersed. Protestants reacted extremely sharply, starting to smash the Catholic quarters. Speaking briefly about the conflict between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, this only aggravated it.
Mass clashes
In late summer 1969, riots took place in Belfast and Derry, in which Protestants and Catholics became participants. This opened a new page in the history of the conflict between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. To prevent further clashes, troops from the United Kingdom were immediately brought into the British part of Ulster.
Catholics initially advocated the presence of troops in the region, but soon became disillusioned with how the army reacted to the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The fact is that the military sided with the Protestants.
These events in 1970 led to a further split in the IRA. There are temporary and official parts. The so-called temporary IRA was radically inclined, advocating the further continuation of military tactics, mainly in the cities of England.
Suppression of protests
In 1971, the Ulster Defense Association began to participate in the conflict between Northern Ireland and England. It was created as a counterweight to the Irish paramilitary nationalist organizations.
The intensity of the ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland during this period is indicated by statistics. In 1971 alone, the British authorities recorded about one thousand one hundred cases of planting bombs. The military had to engage in skirmishes with detachments of the Irish Republican Army about a thousand seven hundred times. As a result, 5 members of the Ulster Regiment, 43 soldiers and an officer of the British Army were killed. It turns out that for each day of 1971, the British military detected an average of three bombs and engaged in a shootout at least four times.
At the end of the summer, the ethnic conflict between Great Britain and Northern Ireland was decided to try to freeze by imprisoning active participants in the IRA in concentration camps. This was done without investigation in response to the high level of violence in the country. At least 12 members of the Irish Republican Army were subjected to psychological and physical violence using the “five methods” system. This is a common collective name for harsh interrogation methods, which became famous just in the years of the ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland. The name came from the number of basic techniques that the authorities used during interrogation. These were torture with an uncomfortable posture (standing against a wall for a long time), deprivation of water, food, sleep, acoustic overload with white noise, sensory deprivation, when external influence on one or several senses partially or completely ceases. The most common way is blindfold. Currently, this technique is considered one of the varieties of torture.
When the public became aware of the brutal interrogations, this became the reason for the parliamentary investigation led by Lord Parker. Its outcome was a report published in March 1972. These methods of inquiry were qualified as a violation of the law.
After the investigation was completed, British Prime Minister Heath officially promised that no one else would use these methods of inquiry. In 1976, these violations were the subject of proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights. Two years later, the court decided that the application of this method of inquiry was a violation of the Convention for the Protection of Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the form of inhuman and degrading treatment, but did not see torture in the actions of the British.
Bloody Sunday
In the history of the conflict in Northern Ireland, direct rule, introduced by the British in 1972 with the goal of stabilizing the situation, was of great importance. This led to uprisings and riots that were brutally suppressed.
The climax of this confrontation was the events of January 30, which went down in history as Bloody Sunday. During a demonstration organized by Catholics, British troops killed thirteen unarmed people. The crowd reaction was swift. She broke into the British Embassy in Dublin and burned it. In total, from 1972 to 1975, 475 people were killed during the religious conflict in Northern Ireland.
To relieve tension in the country, the British government even went to a referendum. However, the Catholic minority announced that it was going to boycott it. The government decided to bend its line. In 1973, the leaders of Ireland and the United Kingdom signed the Sunningdale Agreement. Its outcome was the creation of an advisory interstate body, which included members of parliament and ministers of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. However, the agreement was never ratified, as Protestant extremists opposed. The most massive rally was the May strike of the Ulster Workers Council in 1974. Attempts to recreate the assembly and convention also failed.
Underground
Speaking briefly about the conflict in Northern Ireland, it should be noted that in the mid-70s the British authorities managed to almost completely neutralize the IRA. However, a temporary network of deeply conspired small units was created by the temporary part of the Irish Republican Army, which eventually began to organize high-profile actions mainly in England.
Now it was targeted attacks, usually aimed at specific people. In June 1974, an explosion was launched in London near the parliament building, 11 people were injured. Five years later, the famous British Admiral Louis Mountbatten was killed in an IRA terrorist attack. Two radio-controlled explosive devices were installed on the yacht on which the officer was with his family. The explosion killed the admiral himself and his daughter, his 14-year-old grandson and 15-year-old Irish teenager, who worked on the ship. On the same day, IRA militants blew up a British military convoy. Killed 18 soldiers.
In 1984, an explosion occurred at the congress of the British Conservative Party in Brighton. 5 people were killed and wounded on 31. In the winter of 1991, the premier’s residence on Downing Street, 10 was fired from a mortar. The IRA made an attempt to eliminate the British Prime Minister John Major and the military top of the kingdom, who were going to discuss the situation in the Persian Gulf. Four people were slightly injured. The politicians and officers were not injured due to the bulletproof windows, which withstood the blast wave from the shell that exploded in the backyard.
In total, from 1980 to 1991, the IRA committed 120 terrorist attacks in the UK and more than 50 in other countries of the world.
Attempts to establish cooperation
In briefly highlighting the conflict in Northern Ireland, it is worth noting that the first successful attempt to find a common language was the agreement that was concluded in 1985. It confirmed the entry of Northern Ireland into the United Kingdom. At the same time, citizens had the opportunity to change this in a referendum.
The agreement also called for regular conferences and meetings between members of the government of both countries. A positive consequence of this agreement was the adoption of a declaration on the principles of participation in negotiations of any interested parties. This happened in 1993. The main condition for this was a complete rejection of violence.
As a result, the IRA announced a ceasefire, soon followed by Protestant military radical organizations. After that, an international commission was created to deal with the disarmament process. However, it was decided to refuse from her participation, which significantly slowed down the entire negotiation process.
The ceasefire was interrupted in February 1996, when the IRA launched a new terrorist attack in London. This aggravation forced official London to start negotiations. At the same time, they were opposed by another wing of a terrorist organization that called itself a True IRA. In order to disrupt the agreements, she carried out a series of terrorist attacks in 1997-1998. In September, its members announced that they were laying down their arms.
Effects
In April 1998, the Irish and British governments signed a treaty in Belfast, which was ratified by the Northern Irish Parliament. On May 23, he was supported in a referendum.
The result was the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly (local parliament). Despite political agreements and a formal ceasefire, the conflict is still unresolved. Currently, a number of Catholic and Protestant militarized organizations continue to operate in Northern Ireland. Moreover, some of them still associate themselves with the IRA.