The Irish Troubles Explained: Timeline, Summary, Facts, Documentary Book (1993)
"
The Troubles" refers to the three decades of violence between elements of
Northern Ireland's
Irish nationalist community (mainly self-identified as
Irish and/or
Roman Catholic) and its unionist community (mainly self-identified as
British and/or
Protestant). For more information about the term itself, see below. The conflict was the result of discrimination against the Irish nationalist/
Catholic minority by the unionist/Protestant majority[23] and the question of Northern Ireland's status within the
United Kingdom.[24][25] The violence was characterised by the armed campaigns of
Irish republican and
Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups. These included the
Provisional Irish Republican Army (
IRA) campaign of 1969--1997, intended to end
British rule in Northern Ireland and to reunite
Ireland politically and thus create a 32-county
Irish Republic; and of the
Ulster Volunteer Force (
UVF), formed in 1966 in response to the perceived erosion of both the British character of, and unionist domination of, Northern Ireland.
The state security forces—the
British Army and the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (
RUC)—were also involved in the violence.
The
British government's view was that its forces were neutral in the conflict, trying to uphold law and order in Northern Ireland and the right of the people of Northern Ireland to democratic self-determination.
Irish republicans, however, regarded the state forces as forces of occupation and combatants in the conflict, noting collusion between the state forces and the loyalist paramilitaries. The "
Ballast" investigation by the
Police Ombudsman has confirmed that
British forces—and in particular the RUC—did on several occasions collude with loyalist paramilitaries, were involved in murder, and furthermore obstructed the course of justice when claims of collusion and murder were investigated.[26] The extent of collusion is still hotly disputed.
Unionists claim that reports of collusion were either false or highly exaggerated and that there were also instances of collusion between the authorities of the
Republic of Ireland and republican paramilitaries.
Alongside the violence, there was a political deadlock between the major political parties in Northern Ireland—including those who condemned violence—over the future status of Northern Ireland and the form of government there should be therein.
The Troubles were brought to an uneasy end by a
peace process that included the declaration of ceasefires by most paramilitary organisations, the complete decommissioning of the IRA's weapons, the reform of the police, and the corresponding withdrawal of the British Army from the streets and sensitive border areas such as
South Armagh and
Fermanagh, as agreed by the signatories to the
Belfast Agreement (commonly known as the "
Good Friday Agreement"). The agreement reiterated the long-held British position, which successive Irish governments have not fully acknowledged, that Northern Ireland would remain within the United Kingdom, unless a majority of
Northern Irish vote otherwise.
On the other hand, the British government recognised for the first time the principle that the people of the island of Ireland as a whole have the right, without any outside interference, to solve the issues between
North and South by mutual consent.[27] The latter statement was key to winning support for the agreement from both nationalists and republicans. It also established a devolved power-sharing government within Northern Ireland (which was suspended from
14 October 2002 until 8 May
2007), wherein the government must consist of both unionist and nationalist parties.
Though the number of active participants in the
Troubles was relatively small, the Troubles touched the lives of many in Northern Ireland on a daily basis, while occasionally spreading to the
Republic of Ireland and England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Troubles
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