1969 - 1972: The start of the Troubles and the Fall of Stormont

The summer months of 1969 saw some of the worst rioting in Northern Ireland's history, mainly in response to the heavy crackdown on the Civil Rights movement in the province. As time went on, the marches became less concerned with Civil Rights and more concerned with Republicanism. The IRA, which had been quiet for a number of years, decided that a non-violent response would be best and did not fight. In August 1969, after the marching season, a large number of Catholics began a huge riot in western Derry and the RUC fought with them for three days. It became known as the 'Battle of the Bogside'. In Belfast, entire streets of houses were burned down by rioters and over 3500 families, mainly Catholics, were driven from their homes. Seven people were killed and 100 wounded as the rioters began to use guns. Many ordinary Protestants were appalled by the dramatic reaction of the government to the Civil Rights campaign, although many hardliners supported it.

In the Republic of Ireland, economic prosperity had made most citizens happy with life and indifferent to Northern Ireland and the issue of reunification. However, it soon began to look as if the Northern Ireland government was suppressing a valid Civil Rights movement which was now collapsing into Civil War. On August 13th, the Irish Taoiseach Jack Lynch said that the Irish government would not "stand by and see innocent people injured". Some Unionists thought this was a threat to invade Northern Ireland to protect the Catholic population. It is also thought that the Irish began placing troops near the border at this time.

The UK government realised in August that Northern Ireland was about to collapse into anarchy because the RUC was simply not large enough to maintain order. So, on 15 August, the UK Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, ordered the British Army into Belfast and Derry to support the RUC. (The Army is still in Northern Ireland today.) Four days later he also ordered the Stormont government to establish better community relations, introduce 'one man one vote', disband the B-specials, and disarm and restructure the RUC. With all their demands now unexpectedly met, the official Civil Rights campaign shut down.

However, this was not the end of the story. The violence that had erupted, directed mainly towards the Catholic community, had prompted many people there to rekindle their old desire for a united Ireland. In 1969 a fierce debate began within the ranks of the IRA. Some members supported the non-violent strategy. However many others accused the leadership of 'going soft' on the aim of a united Ireland and pointed to the new presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland. This militant group split off in 1970, formed the 'Provisional IRA' and began a ruthless bombing campaign in Northern Ireland, (and sometimes on mainland Britain) designed to destroy the economy and force the British to withdraw. The Provisional IRA almost certainly received money and arms from members of the Irish Government to start their campaign, although the Taoiseach sacked the members involved in the scandal. The Provisionals also targetted policemen and became increasingly involved in civilian demonstrations and riots. 25 people were killed in 1970 and 174 in 1971. The loyalist UVF began to use violence to 'protect the Protestant community' from the Provisional IRA and also launched their own offensives against Catholics and against the Irish Republic.

By mid 1970, the Northern Ireland government realised that the Provisional IRA was rapidly recruiting and would soon have the ability to fight a significant war in Northern Ireland. They also realised that, if they struck now, the army might have a chance to check this growth. So on an evening in late July 1970 the army imposed a curfew on the Catholic Falls Road in west Belfast and began storming homes and searching for arms. However the searches uncovered arms in only 5% of the houses searched; much fewer than had been anticipated. The searches were so violent that the nett effect was to increase support for the IRA and speed up their recruitment.

In April 1970, Ian Paisley won a seat at Stormont which served only to underline the split within Unionism between the moderates and the extremists. At the same time, the Alliance Party was formed in an attempt to bring about reconciliation between the two sides. And in August 1970, a group of socialist nationalist politicians formed the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a party with no links to terrorism, which soon became the main voice of the Nationalist community in Northern Ireland.

By August 1971, the army and RUC had a good idea who the main members of the terrorist organisations were. So they decided to introduce Internment (to arrest and hold people without evidence) to take them off the streets and hopefully prevent further murders. Within six months, 2357 people (mainly from the Nationalsit community although about 10% of the final total were Loyalists), 1600 of whom were subsequently released wthout charge. However, it was badly organised. Many innocent people were detained and most of the leaders of the terrorist organisations slipped through the net. Despite its good intentions, Internment served only to increase support for terrorism yet again. Rioting against Internment began. In January 1972, a huge anti-Internment rally was organised in Derry. Although the march itself passed off peacefully, rioting broke out as it ended. Believing themselves to be under an armed IRA attack, the army opened fire on the protestors. 14 people were killed, none of whom were subsequently found to have been armed. Forensic evidence also proved that none of them had fired a weapon at any time during the day. The event became known as 'Bloody Sunday'. The killings (and the subsequent Widgery report which did not recommend charging the soldiers) outraged the nationalist community and fresh rioting began and the IRA strepped up its bombing campaign.

The Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner, faced with a near civil war, demanded that the UK government permit them to re-arm the RUC and re-establish the B-specials. Instead the British Prime Minister, Edward Heath, ordered Stormont to relinquish control of the police in Northern Ireland and place them under direct London control. Faulkner was outraged and blankly refused, defying the government. Heath then took the decision, in March 1972, to suspend the Stormont government and rule Northern Ireland directly from London pending the introduction of a new system of government. In the mean time, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) was established in London to govern the province. The UK government also abolished Internment and gave all Northern Ireland people the right to a fair trial.

Most in the Unionist community were astounded, angry and outraged at what they called a 'betrayal of Ulster'. The terrorist group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was formed to 'protect the Protestant people'. While many Protestants supported the terrorists, many more would have nothing to do with them. Many nationalists were pleased that Stormont had finally fallen, but continued the Civil Rights campaign. Although the Irish government welcomed the move and pleaded with the IRA to call a ceasefire, the IRA regarded London rule as worse than Belfast rule and stepped up their campaign of murders and bombings. They announced that they would rid Ireland of the British even if they had "to demolish Belfast brick-by-brick". In 1972, 467 people were murdered in Northern Ireland. The situation got so bad that the UK government even agreed to negotiate with the IRA in 1972. The IRA called a truce during the meetings. However the IRA demands - giving Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic - were out of the question to the UK government and they refused. The IRA response was to detonate 26 no-warning car bombs within 40 minutes in Belfast on 21 July 1972. 11 people were killed and 130 injured. The day is now known as 'Bloody Friday'.

1972 - 1984: The Sunningdale Agreement and the Hunger Strikes

In March 1973, the British announced the new way Northern Ireland would be governed. It was to be an assembly where Unionists and Nationalists would share power. The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Faulkner, reluctantly agreed to the new arrangements although he said he would never share power with anyone whose objective was to 'break the Union'. Many Unionists left the party in protest and formed the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party which was totally opposed to power sharing. For them, anything short of a return to Stormont was unacceptable. The elections were held in June 1973. 33% of the vote was for the Vanguards with 29% for the pro-power sharing UUP. The rest of the vote went to other, pro-power sharing parties.

After the elections, all the parties which supported the power sharing were consulted and agreed in November 1973 to the makeup of the overall governing Executive of Northern Ireland. Although the number of Nationalists was much higher than in Stormont, many Nationalists still felt that Unionists were over-represented in the Executive. Before the Executive could take over running Northern Ireland, the role that the Republic of Ireland was to play had to be defined. Representatives from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and London met at Sunningdale, in Berkshire, England to discuss this. Anti-power sharing parties were not invited, and this caused alot of resentment in Northern Ireland. After much heated discussion, a Council of Ireland was finally agreed which would work to improve relations between the two states. The UUP and the other delegates signed the Sunningdale Agreement on 9 December 1973. It appeared to please all sides at the talks, and Faulkner believed he could persuade the Unionist people that it was a good thing. The Executive took over the government of Northern Ireland on 1 January 1974.

However, there were serious problems for the Executive. There was a lot of disagreement between parties in the Assembly and the role of the Council of Ireland was not made clear. Additionally, terrorist activity in Northern Ireland was ongoing and, although the police were controlled from London, the Northern Ireland Executive got the blame. The anti-power sharing Unionists were outraged that the Republic was to have a say in Northern Ireland and demanded that the agreement be scrapped. In the March 1974 general election, anti-Sunningdale parties won 11 of the 12 Westminster seats. The head of the executive, Gerry Fitt, claimed that people did not yet understand Sunningdale and pointed to opinion polls that still showed majority support for the Agreement from both sides of the comunity. Despite the election results, no changes were made to the Sunningdale agreement or the Executive.

By now, the anti-Sunningdale Unionists realised that democratic means were not going to get them their demand for the abolition of the Agreement. In 1974 the loyalist paramilitary groups and many of the anti-Sunningdale politicians joined the small Ulster Workers' Council. The Council began to organise action against the government. They warned the Assembly that if they refused to abolish the Sunningdale agreement, then they would hold a strike. On 14 May, 1974 the Assembly voted to ignore the UWC's demand and a general strike was called. Known as the "General Workers' Strike", it was the worst economic event in Northern Ireland in recent years. Power stations were closed as workers left and as a result, no other industry could operate either. Petrol workers went on strike, the province ran out of oil, and soon cars became useless. The strikers also blocked roads and travel became impossible. Social security offices shut and it was often impossible for people to get unemployment benefit. Only a handful of businesses in the province remained open. After a week, the government began to realise how serious the situation was and began attempting to get the workers to return to work. The strike, however, soon got the backing of most Unionists. When the UK Prime Minsiter, Harold Wilson launched a scathing attack on the strikers in a speech on 25 May, demanding to know 'who do these people think they are?' it served only to increase Unionist resolve. Even the army was unable to break the strike.

Eventually the Executive agreed to delay the introduction of the Council of Ireland, but the UWC said it was too little too late and continued the strike. On 27 May, the Executive ordered the army to commandeer the petrol stations and oil facilities in Northern Ireland. The UWC response was to close every last business, that had remained open, in Northern Ireland. The province came to a complete standstill and even food was getting scarce. When Faulkner appealed in failure to the Secretary of State to negotiate with the strikers, and faced with economic ruin, all the Unionist Executive members resigned. The Executive had collapsed and Northern Ireland was ruled again directly from London. On 29 May, the UWC called off their strike in triumph.

During the rest of the 1970s, the IRA campaign of terrorism, and the loyalist responses, continued. Between 1973 and 1980 1,398 people were murdered in shootings, sniper attacks, bombs, land mines and booby-traps. There were many attempts to bring about a settlement. A second IRA ceasefire collapsed in 1975, despite the efforts of various groups, such as the Peace People. As the army became wise to the IRA, the terrorists were forced into being more and more secretive. Many of them went underground, while others joined political parties, in particular Sinn Fein.

Most terrorist prisoners at this time were held in the Maze Prison, in southwest Belfast and were classed by the British as 'Special Category'. In 1976, however, the British announced plans to remove this Special Category status and would instead treat them like any other criminal. This meant that they had stricter rules and had to wear prison clothes. Many IRA prisoners, and a few others, refused to wear prison clothes. They sat in their cells with a blanket round them and refused to wash or clean their cells. Some also spread their faeces on the walls and urinated on the floor and their matresses. It was known as the 'Dirty Protest'. A visiting Catholic Priest said he would not even let an animal live in the conditions the prisoners were living in. Despite their attempts, the protest did not get much public attention and it slowly died away.

In 1980, a number of Republican prisoners decided to go on hunger strike to attempt to re-instate the Special Category status, and refused food. This time, there was widespread Nationalist support and marches were organised. The strike was called off in December 1980, when the strikers believed they had been granted their demands. They were wrong, however and a second hunger strike began in March 1981. Its main member was Boddy Sands, a Maze prisoner. Despite his convict status, he stood in the 1981 UK General election and won a spectacular victory. Despite the fact that the hunger strikers had such massive support, the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher did not make any concessions and Bobby Sands, and nine others, died of starvation. Eventually the hunger strikers' families called a halt to the strike. It was not a total failure for the Nationalists, however. Sinn Fein had been able to use the strike to re-launch itself into the public gaze once more and its first MP, Gerry Adams, was elected in 1983. Over the same period the IRA increased its violence yet again.

From 1969 to 1984, terrorism claimed the lives of over two thousand people, some in horrific and excruciating circumstances.