The Troubles is a term used to describe two periods of violence in Ireland during the twentieth century. For the earlier Troubles, see Anglo-Irish War.
The Troubles is a neutral term for the period of violence between various factions in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s until the mid-1990s, up to the ceasefires and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Between three to four thousand people died as a result of the violence. Among its most famous aspects were the Civil Rights campaign in the mid to late 1960s, Bloody Sunday (1972), Internment without trial, the suspension of the Stormont Home Rule government, the campaigns by the various paramilitary organisations, including the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, the La Mon bombing, the murder of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Enniskillen and Omagh bombings, the hunger strikers in the Maze prison, the splits in the IRA and ultimately the Belfast Agreement.
In general terms, the conflict was between Unionists (or "loyalists"), who want Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom, and Nationalists (or "republicans") who wish Northern Ireland to become part of a united Ireland. Generally speaking (but not in all cases) Unionists are part of the Protestant majority of Northern Ireland, while Nationalist are usually Roman Catholic. Catholics thought they were being treated unfairly, notably in the gerrymandering of local government wards and discrimination over access to council housing and pressed for wide reforms, whereas Protestants were wary of sharing power with Catholics whom they saw as potentially using a position of influence to undermine Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom.
There is a common distinction between the terms Unionist and Nationalist on the one hand, and Loyalist and Republican on the other. In this context, "Loyalist" and "Republican" generally imply support for violent methods and for paramilitary organisations, whereas the labels "Unionist" and "Nationalist" are normally reserved for those who favour constitutional politics.
Violence was carried out by various groups, including the Provisional Irish Republican Army (also known as the IRA or "The Provos") and the Irish National Liberation Army on the Republican side, and the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association on the Loyalist side. These paramilitary groups also produced splinter-groups and factions, and sometimes used cover names in an attempt at deniability, which confuses the picture further.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the police force in Northern Ireland, was largely though not totally Protestant, not least because police officers living in Nationalist areas were particularly vulnerable to terrorist attack. The lack of Catholic officers in turn increased the sense of alienation in sections of the nationalist community.
A policing review, part of the Good Friday Agreement, has led to some reforms of policing, including more rigorous accountability, measures to increase the number of Catholic Officers, and the renaming of the RUC to the Police Service of Northern Ireland to avoid using the word "Royal".
Some significant groups are:
The Bloody Sunday in 1972 was one of the key events during The Troubles. From 1971 until 1975, under the Special Powers Act there was Internment (see Long Kesh).
Currently, the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom are working together closely and peacefully to seek a solution and have been doing so for some time. There is no simple solution to The Troubles and it can only be hoped that the current paramilitary ceasefire holds and that relative peace is maintained in Northern Ireland for the sake of all its inhabitants.
It is widely held by many in both Britain and Northern Ireland that The Troubles came to an end in the mid-nineties with the various paramilitary cease-fires that were established. The period that came after The Troubles was the Northern Ireland peace process, the Good Friday Agreement.
There are however continuing inter-communal tensions that tend to arise in particular during the "Marching Season" when nationalists try to prevent traditional loyalists marches through their neighbourhoods. One particular flashpoint that has caused repeated strife is the Garvagy Road area in Drumcree.
It is also reported that punishment beatings by IRA related groups continue. In response, the UUP recently called for the Provisional IRA to be disbanded by January 18th 2003. Also of note is the recent internecine feuds within individual Loyalist paramilitary groups and between separate Loyalist paramilitary groups .
Overview
Significant groups
Nationalist or Republican political parties
Unionist or loyalist political parties
Other parties
(Neither the Labour Party nor the Liberal Democratic Party organises in Northern Ireland)Republican paramilitary/terrorist groups
(See Irish Republican Army for a discussion of how some of these are related).Loyalist paramilitary/terrorist groups
Bloody Sunday
Current situation as of 2003
External links