The Troubles

The Troubles
Date 1966-1998 Location Status An end to most violence with the Good Friday Agreement
Belligerents
Irish Republicans	British and Unionist Forces
Miltary Organizations Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (until 1969) Saor Éire (1967-1970) Provisional Irish Republican Army (from 1969) Official Irish Republican Army (1969-1972) Irish National Liberation Army (from 1974) Continuity Irish Republican Army (from 1986) Irish People's Liberation Organization (1986-1992) Real Irish Republican Army (from 1997)	Military Organizations British Armed Forces Royal Ulster Constabulary Ulster Volunteer Force (until 1994) Ulster Protestant Volunteers (until-1969) Red Hand Commando (1970-1994) Ulster Defence Association (1971-1994) Ulster Resistance (from 1986) Loyalist Volunteer Force (from 1996)
Political Organizations Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin (until 1969) Republican Labour Party (until 1974) Provisional Sinn Féin (from 1969) Official Sinn Féin (from 1969, later called Sinn Féin-Workers Party or Worker's Party) Nothern Ireland Civil Rights Association (1969-1972) Social Democratic and Labour Party (from 1970) Irish Republican Socialist Party (from 1974) Republican Sinn Féin (from 1986) Republican Socialist Collective (1986-1992) 32 County Sovereignity Movement (from 1997)	Political Organizations= Ulster Unionist Party Conservative and Unionist Party Ulster Unionist Labour Association Protestant Unionist Party (until 1971) Democratic Unionist Party (from 1971) Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (1972-1978) United Ulster Unionist Party (1975-1984) Progressive Unionist Party (from 1979) Ulster Popular Unionist Party (from 1980) UK Unionist Party (from 1995)
Material Support and Training NORAID (from 1969) Palestine Liberation Organization (1970s-1980s) Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1972-1973/1980s) Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (sporadically from 1972) Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (from 1974) Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (limited)	Material Support Union of South Africa Arkan's Tigers
Poltical Support Most global Socialist and national liberation movements	Political Support Most Western imperialist states and reactionaries.

The Troubles was a conflict between Irish Republican organizations and the British Army and its Unionist paramilitary supporters in Northern Ireland.

The conflict was characterized by bombings and assassinations by militant groups, barricades and self governing of certain areas of the North such as Free Derry,as well as sectarian violence committed against innocent civilians, primarily by Protestant unionist groups against Irish Catholic civilians.

Background

Early British Occupation: 1169-1898

See main article: Early History of Ireland

The first British occupation of Ireland took place in Anglo-1169 while England was ruled by Henry II, when Wexford was occupied. British influence over the island continued to grow with successive invasions, putting Anglo-Irish lords in power around 1250 and creating the Irish Parliament in 1297.

In 1541 Henry VIII had his title changed from Lord of Ireland to King of Ireland, marking the point Britain fully controlled Ireland.

Henry VIII also began the spread of Protestantism in Ireland, which continued in 1558 under Elizabeth I. The spread of Protestantism, often through the suppression of Catholicism was fought back against both by the general public in Ireland and by some Anglo-Irish Lords, beginning a series of revolts and rebellions from 1569 to the 1580s.

Several other rebellions occurred, including one led by Hugh O'Neill in 1595, a Gaelic chief, revolts supported by Spain in the early 1600s.

In 1605 plans to create plantations in Ulster were proposed and followed through with in 1606. These plantations were one of the first widespread examples of settler-colonialism, with predominantly Protestant Scottish and English settlers settling in the North.

In 1642 a civil war between Charles I and the English Parliament began. The same year a rebellion in Ireland, mostly organized by the native Irish Catholics, began. Among the leaders of this uprising was Owen Roe O'Neill, who due to his exploits became a folk hero in later years.

After the end of the civil war in 1649 and the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell emerged as the dominant political figure in England. He led an invasion of Ireland with the goal of destroying the rebellion and crushing Catholic dissent. The massacres committed by his army are widely recognized as genocide. After the invasion the development of Protestant plantations increased.

in 1658 Cromwell died and in 1660 Charles II became king. In 1661 the Irish Parliament was reestablished.

Suppression of Catholicism began to increase, with official positions being limited to members of the Church of Ireland in 1666. In 1678 allegations were made of a Catholic plot to overthrow Charles II. In 1681 Archbishop of Armagh Oliver Plunkett was executed for alleged involvement in the plot.

In 1685 the throne of England passed to the Catholic James II. In 1688 his daughter Mary, a Protestant, and her husband Prince William of Orange arrived in England, claiming the throne. They agreed to rule in 1689, and James II arrived in Ireland, claiming the throne. The next century included several risings by supporters of Charles II and his royal line, called Jacobites. These risings had a large base of support in Ireland, which was often on the front lines.

In 1762 the Whiteboys, and agrarian Catholic organization began to resist oppression of the Irish peasantry.

The enlightenment led to the growth of Liberalism, Republicanism, and Proto-socialism, setting the stage for the United Irishmen rising of 1798.

United Irishmen to Young Ireland: 1791-1848

The Society of United Irishmen was founded in 1791 in Belfast. It mostly consisted of Presbyterian radicals inspired by the French Revolution. In 1792 Theobold Wolfe Tone was appointed Secretary of the Catholic Committee, a group which advocated for rights for Catholics. He also became a leading member of the United Irishmen.

The United Irishmen went underground following suppression by the British government in 1794. Wolfe Tone and other leaders departed from Ireland to seek aid abroad, particularly in France.

Conflict between Catholic and Protestant farmers grew in 1795, with the Catholic Defenders fighting the Protestant Peep of the Day Boys. The Protestants were victorious and the Orange Order was formed.

In 1796 Wolfe Tone attempted to land on Ireland with a French fleet, but was unsuccessful. In 1797, with an uprising imminent, martial law was imposed.

The Irish Uprising of 1798 began in May with several small rebellions throughout Ireland. A larger uprising throughout the island was planned to begin then by the United Irishmen, but this was delayed by the arrest of leaders of the organization. In August a French force arrived in Mayo. The rebellion was defeated on October 12 when a French fleet, with Wolfe Tone onboard, was intercepted. Wolfe Tone was taken prisoner and died in prison on November 19, likely of suicide.

The acts of Union were passed in 1800, forming a union between Ireland and Britain and creating the basis for Unionism. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established in 1801 when the act went into effect.

In July 1803 the remnants of the United Irishmen, led by Robert Emmet, staged an uprising in Dublin. It was unsuccessful and the leaders of the uprising were executed.

In 1823 the Catholic Association was founded with the goal of removing legal repression and restrictions placed on Irish Catholics. In 1824, while under the leadership of Daniel O'Connell, the Catholic Association grew into a mass movement for Catholic Emancipation which would continue for several years, with the Catholic Association endorsing candidates in the 1826 general election. In 1828 O'Connell ran in a by-election in 1828. He won but was unable to take his seat due to his Catholicism. Irish Catholics were finally allowed to take seats in parliament in 1829 and O'Connell took his seat in the House of Commons in 1830. In 1841 he became Lord Mayor of Dublin.

In 1845 the Great Famine began. Early on aid was given to Ireland by the British government, but in July the new Whig government stopped this support. Using the justification of the since debunked philosophy of Thomas Malthus, Charles Trevelyan, then head of the treasury, restricted food imports and continued exporting crops unaffected by the blight. Policies like this continued, and by the end of the famine about a million people died and more than a million more emigrated. The famine is widely recognized as a genocide.

In 1848, angered by the famine and inspired by revolutionary movements throughout Europe, the Young Ireland movement attempted an uprising in 1848. It was unsuccessful and those involved were sent to Australia.

The Fenians, IRB and Home Rule Movement: 1848-1913

In 1856 James Stephens, a former Young Irelander, travelled back to Ireland and founded the Phoenix Society with Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa to promote Irish Republican ideals.

In 1858 the revolutionary organization and secret society the Irish Republican Brotherhood was founded. The organization looked for support from Irish emigrants abroad, the the Fenian Brotherhood being formed as a parallel group in the United States of America.

In 1865, with the IRB planning a rebellion, many Irish Republican leaders were arrested, though IRB leader James Stephens avoided capture.

In 1866 Fenians in the United States attempted to invade Canada, then a British colony in an attempt to force Britain out of Ireland. In 1867 another rebellion was planned, but after an attempt to procure weapons failed, with organizer of the rebellion Thomas Kelly being arrested.

From this point the IRB's strategy changed to one of attacks against specific targets, often by bombings, with most within England itself. This included a bombing at Clerkenwell Prison, which killed 12 in an attempt to free a Republican prisoner.

In the 1870s the Home Rule movement grew in Ireland, with MP Isaac Butt introducing a motion in the House of Commons for Home Rule in 1874 and Charles Stewart Parnell, a staunch supporter of Home rule, being elected in 1874.

In 1879 the Land War began. It was a period of unrest among the Irish peasantry due to economic downturn and poor harvests in combination with rent by absentee landlords. Michael Davitt organized the Irish National League and persuaded Charles Stewart Parnell to become it's president.

In 1880 Parnell became the chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and in the same year the first boycotts, organized by Hugh Cunningham Boycott, began, with Irish farmers refusing to pay rent.

A series of assassinations in Dublin by the Invincibles occurred in 1882, with the Irish Chief Secretary and his deputy being killed.

In the late 1880s and early 1890s a campaign to slander and discredit Parnell began, first with allegations of his support for the assassinations by the Invincibles and later by wide press coverage of his affair with Katharine O'Shea. Home Rule politicians began to lose elections and Parnell died in 1891.

In 1905 Sinn Féin was formed.

Growing Tensions: 1912-1916

A third Home Rule bill was introduced in the House of Commons in 1912, leading Unionist leader Edward Carson mobilize Unionist support in Ulster, founding the militant Ulster Volunteer Force in 1913 and formulating a plan to establish a separate Protestant Unionist government in Ulster in the event of Home Rule for Ireland. The Home Rule bill passed the House of Commons but failed in the House of Lords.

In response to the forming of the UVF, Irish Republicans and supporters of Home Rule founded in Irish Volunteers in November 1913. The UVF began transporting arms to Ireland for their uses in 1914.

Also in 1913, Socialist and Trade Unionist Republicans began organizing during the Dublin Lockout, with James Connolly and others forming the Irish Citizen Army.

Another Home Rule Bill was proposed in parliament, this time being passed in the House of Commons but being delayed in the House of Lords. It eventually passed in September, but at that point Britain had entered into the First World War and delayed the implementation of the act.

The Irish Volunteers split over the issue of support for Britain in the First World War, with the National Volunteers supporting Britain's war effort and the Irish Volunteers continuing to oppose all involvement in the war.

In 1915 the IRB established a military council and began planning an armed uprising to take advantage of Britain's involvement in the war with Germany. The same year IRB figure Patrick Pearse delivered an oration at Jerimiah O'Donovan Rossa's funeral, setting the ideology of abstentionist and militant Republicanism that would be primary to the Republican movement in the years to come.

The Easter Rising and Revolution: 1916-1922

The Easter Rising began on April 24, 1916, with the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, IRB, among others taking part. It was defeated on April 29 with most of the leaders being executed shortly after. After the brutal suppression of the uprising the British government offered to introduce home rule in the South of Ireland in an attempt to gain public support. the Irish Parliamentary Party took this deal, but it would prove unpopular.

In 1917 lost still imprisoned for the Easter Rising were released. Sinn Féin had after the rising become an umbrella organization for Irish Republicanism, and in 1917 longtime leader of the organization Arthur Griffith stepped down, with Eamon de Valera, one of the only surviving leaders of the Easter Rising, taking his place.

In 1918 Sinn Féin leaders including Eamon De Valera being arrested. Later that year Sinn Féin won 73 seats in parliament in the general election. These candidates would not take their seats in parliament and instead formed the first Dáil Éireann in January 1919. Cathal Brugha was elected acting president of the Dáil.

The same day 2 policemen were killed by the Irish Volunteers, beginning the Irish War of Independence. Soon the Irish Volunteers and other Irish Republican groups reorganized into the Irish Republican Army, launching a campaign of guerilla warfare across the country.

In 1920 the Black and Tans were sent to Ireland by the British to put down the revolution, attacking civilians and burning cities. On November 21 the Black and Tans murdered 12 people in Croke Park in Dublin.

In a precursor to the troubles, sectarian rioting erupted in Derry and on July 21, 1920 in Belfast a woman was murdered, beginning a period of conflict referred to as the Troubles. By 1922 this conflict resulted in 501 deaths.

James Craig became the foremost figure in Unionism in 1921. In July of that year a truce was agreed to, with Irish Republican leaders Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith traveling to London for negotiations. The Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and Ireland, commonly referred to as the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed. The treaty was controversial due to it not creating an independent Irish Republic, but instead a free state within the British Empire, as well as the fact that 6 counties in the North remained under the direct control of Britain.

In 1922 the treaty was passed by a narrow vote in the Dáil. This created a split in the Republican movement, with Sinn Féin and the IRA splitting into pro-treaty and anti-treat factions. In June anti-treaty forces took over the Four Courts in Dublin. The pro-treaty forces, then organized under the Irish Free State government, attacked these forces, beginning the Irish Civil War.

Civil War and Underground Movement: 1922-1960s

The Irish Civil War took place over 1922 and 1923, and resulted in almost 2000 deaths. During the war Michael Collins, then Commander in Chief of the Free State Army and Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, was assassinated, though it is possible he was killed by friendly fire by his own guards. After anti-treaty IRA leader Liam Lynch was killed in battle on April 10, 1923, Eamon De Valera, then leader of the anti-treaty movement, called a ceasefire, turning over their weapons and officially ending the war on May 24.

Pro-treaty Sinn Féin reorganized into Cumann na nGaedheal later in 1923, while Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin split between pro-electoralist factions led by Eamon De Valera, who left to form Fianna Fáil, which quickly became a prominent political party, surpassing Sinn Féin by a large margin the the 1927 election.

In 1927 Kevin O'Higgins, who was Minister for Justice, was assassinated by the Anti-Treaty IRA. The Dáil passed the Electoral Amendment Act soon after, declaring that candidates for elections were required to sign an oath saying that would take their seats if elected. Fianna Fáil took the oath.

In 1931 the IRA was banned in the Irish Free State.

In 1932 Fianna Fáil was the largest political party and formed a government in the Dáil, and in the next year Cumann na nGaedheal and several other conservative parties formed Fine Gael. These two parties have made up the majority in Irish politics to this day.

In 1937 Eamon De Valera proposed a new constitution. It would reorganize the government, creating the office of president as head of state and two parliamentary chambers. The constitution also claimed sovereignty over the whole of Ireland. It passed in a referendum.

Douglas Hyde was elected the first President of Ireland in 1938.

In 1939 the Anti-Treaty IRA began a bombing campaign in Britain and raided a fort in Dublin. Eamon De Valera introduced the Offences Against the State Act to prosecute IRA members.

In 1940 two IRA members were executed and two more died on hunger strike under the new laws. Several more Republicans were executed in the following years and many more were imprisoned.

In 1941 the IRA began a campaign in Northern Ireland.

In 1946 Seán MacBride, a prominent Irish Republican, former Chief of Staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA, lawyer and humanitarian, formed Clann na Poblachta, a Social-Democratic Republican party.

In 1948 the The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 was passed, declaring Ireland a republic. The Republic of Ireland left the Commonwealth of Nations after this.

On December 11 1956 the IRA launched the The Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation, commonly called the Border Campaign. By the end of it 8 IRA members and 4 Republican supporters of the IRA were killed, along with 6 Royal Ulster Constabulary officers. The most well known event of the Border Campaign took place on January 1 1957, when Sean South and Fergal O'Hanlon were killed in a raid on the Brookeborough Barracks. Internment of IRA members and supporters was implemented on both sides of the border. The campaign ended in 1962.

Growing Tensions and Outbreak of the Troubles: Early 1960s

Ever since the establishment of a Protestant majority in Northern Ireland Catholics had faced discrimination and poverty. By the 1960s Catholic and Protestant communities throughout Northern Ireland were heavily segregated, Catholics faced high unemployment and housing discrimination and gerrymandering to benefit Unionists was rampant. In 1964 the The Campaign for Social Justice in Northern Ireland was founded.

On September 28 the RUC stormed the office of a Republican candidate for parliament, removing an Irish flag displayed in the windows. This led to rioting throughout Belfast.

The campaign for Civil Rights grew, with the CSJ publishing Londonderry: One Man, No Vote and issues of Civil Rights being brought up in the British and Northern Irish Parliaments and widespread protests starting.

In 1966 Irish Republicans bombed and destroyed Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, a statue of British admiral Horatio Nelson. The same year Ian Paisley, a fundamentalist Protestant preacher and staunch Unionist founded the Ulster Protestant Volunteers. In May the Ulster Volunteer Force, named after Edward Carson's organization, was formed. They threatened "All known IRA men will be executed mercilessly and without hesitation. The UVF committed a series of murders against Irish Catholic civilians. The formation of the UVF marked the beginning of the Troubles.

Groups Involved

Groups are listed in chronological order of their founding.

Republican Organizations:

Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army/Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin

See main articles: Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army/Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin

The Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army was an armed guerilla organization that existed since the split in the IRA over the Anglo-Irish treaty in 1922. Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin, which similarly to the Anti-Treaty IRA emerged in the split over the treaty, served as its political wing, though it was at times disconnected from the Anti-Treaty IRA.

The two organizations were politically broad, serving as an umbrella group for Republicans opposed to the treaty, including Socialists and Communists as well as more conservative Catholic nationalists, with Communist figures like Cathal Goulding, Seán Garland and Seamus Costello being leading members, as traditionalist Republicans like Sean Russel and reactionaries like Seamus O'Donovan.

It was involved in several armed campaigns including the Irish Civil War between 1922 and 1923, a Sabotage Campaign commonly called the S-plan between 1939 and 1942, a campaign in the north between 1940 and 1942 and the IRA Border Campaign between from 1956 to 1962. It also fought against the Fascist Blueshirts, a group made up of Irish Free State veterans who opposed the IRA's efforts to reunite Ireland. The Anti-Treaty IRA faced repression within Ireland itself, with various laws designed to crush it being established and several IRA volunteers being executed at this time, with Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin at the same time being harshly campaigned against by most mainstream political elements.

The beginning of the Troubles was the declaration of war against the Anti-Treaty IRA in 1966. The Anti-Treaty IRA was involved in the conflict from 1966 to 1969, though at this time the militant Republican movement had little popular support and few weapons and volunteers. In 1969 the Anti-Treaty IRA and Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin split between the Official Irish Republican Army and the Provisional Irish Republican Army over the issue of abstentionism.

Republican Labour Party

See main article: Republican Labour Party

The Republican Labour Party was founded by Gerry Fitt and Harry Raymond, two members of the Northern Irish Parliament, in 1964. Fitt had been a member of the Irish Labour Party, while Raymond was involved in the Socialist Republican Party.

In 1970 Fitt founded the Social Democratic and Labour Party and was subsequently expelled from the Republican Labour Party along with Paddy Wilson, causing the party to go into decline. The party won no seats in the 1973 elections and subsequently disbanded.

Saor Éire

See main article: Saor Éire

Saor Éire was a small Trotskyist political and militant organization founded in 1967. It was named after another Communist Republican organization that existed for part of 1931. It was affiliated with the International Marxist Group, a British Trotskyist grouping.

Unlike other Republican groups involved in the troubles, Saor Éire mainly operated within the Republic of Ireland, commiting several bank robberies, including one which killed a Garda officer.

In 1971 Saor Éire leading member Peter Graham was murdered in Dublin during a period of infighting within the organization, begining the decline of the organization. In 1975 after another member, Larry White was killed, likely by members of the Official Irish Republican Army. Saor Éire disbanded later that year.

Provisional Irish Republican Army/Provisional Sinn Féin

See main articles: Provisional Irish Republican Army/Provisional Sinn Féin

The Provisional Irish Republican Army and Provisional Sinn Féin was one of the two groups to emerge from the Republican Movement Split of 1969. Throughout they were the dominant grouping in Irish Republican politics in the North, and Provisional Sinn Féin is one of the major forces in Irish and Northern Irish politics today.

The ideology of the Provisionals existence. Though started as a staunchly abstentionist grouping in opposition to the Electoralist Officials. This policy began to change in 1981 when, after the electoral momentum from the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike proved to be great, Sinn Féin began to follow the 'Armalite and Ballot Box' strategy. They abandoned abstentionism in 1986, leading to Republican Sinn Féin breaking away.

The Provisional movement always had Socialist elements, though they were less pronounced than the Officials. In 1977 the Provisional movement began to connect the class struggle in the whole of Ireland to the national liberation movement, and around this time the term 'Socialist' began being used in official documents. The Provisional movement and the national liberation movement in Ireland as a whole was supported by global liberation and Socialist movements and in turn the Provisionals supported them.

Official Irish Republican Army/Workers Party

See main articles: Official Irish Republican Army/Workers Party (Ireland)

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

See main article: Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

Social Democratic and Labour Party

See main article: Social Democratic and Labour Party

Irish National Liberation Army/Irish Republican Socialist Party

See main articles: Irish National Liberation Army/Irish Republican Socialist Party

Continuity Irish Republican Army/Republican Sinn Féin

See main articles: Continuity Irish Republican Army/Republican Sinn Féin

Irish People's Liberation Organization/Republican Socialist Collective

See main articles: Irish People's Liberation Organization/Republican Socialist Collective

Real Irish Republican Army/32 County Sovereignty Movement

See main articles: Real Irish Republican Army/32 County Sovereignty Movement

Casualties

3,720 people were killed in total during the conflict and approximately 47,541 were injured.