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The roots of the trouble in Northern Ireland date far back in History.
In 900 BC the Celts invad Ireland and bring their language and culture
with them from Europe and
impose the them so thoroughly on the natives that not a scrap of
tradition remains from those earlier
inhabitants.
To understand the susequent development of the Irish mind it is
essential to grasp at the start that
the Celts were never a political nation. They had always lived in
loosely- joined communities,
without any political sense of cohesion between one community and the
next, fatally lacking in that
power to unite firmly, which distinguished the romans, whose
farthest-flung outpost in Britain and
Iberia always looked to and were governed from their imperial capital.
This individualism of the Celts was to continue in Ireland for many
certuries and is a key to many of
Ireland?s later political weaknesses.
The patriotic Irish view of the conquer of Ireland by colonizing Britain
is that their civilization was
finally destroyed by a more efficient and ruthless military
organisation. Perhaps it would be more
correct to say that the consolidated Tudor state was too strong an
opponent for Irish regionalism.
The Irish did not start fighting before it was too late and - as the
system dictated - every man for his
own horizon.
In the 17th century the British Government imposes an alien ruling class
- Scotish Protestants- on the
native Catholics. These colonies are called "plantations" and are
supposed to uphold British rule.
Unfortunately the Catholics are treated like second class citizens which
led to violent opposition:
In 1912 some 1,000 rebels from the Irish Volunteers and the socialist
Irish Citizen Army- led by
Patrick Pearse - proclaim an Irish Republic at Dublin\'s General Post
Office on Easter Monday,
April 24. After five days of fighting in which over 400 die and more
than 2,500 are wounded the
rebels surrender.
The leaders of the rebellion are executed in May. Irish nationalist
feeling begins to grow as the list
of those executed rises to 15. Sinn Fein (\"ourselves alone\"), founded in
1907, gains political
support.
The Irish Republican Army, nationalist organization dedicated to the
unification of Ireland, is
organized by Michael Collins after the Easter Rebellion.
In 1919 the British Government are prepared to leave Ireland but because
of the protestant ruling
class dislikes idea there need to be bloody military battles till they
made their plan come true:
Ireland is devided into two parts: the nothern part - sometimes called
Ulster - with its capital Belfast
is part of the U.K. Here rules the British Parliament which is placed in
London and has the Queen as
head of state. The south - the Republic of Ireland - is an independent
country with its own
government .
This division of territory has always been a highly contested issue: the
IRA ( Irish Republic Army)
opposes it as is is falling a long way short of its ideal dream of a
united Ireland.
The Government in Dublin subdue the IRA with methods like censorship yet
they support the ideal
of a united Ireland. Of course this causes tension with the Northern
State.
Nevertheless the British Government regarded the problem as solved till
the Catholic community
started the civil rights movement highlighting the abuse of power and
demanded equality in
employment, housing and education.
Bloody fights between the catholic and the protestant community brake
out.
The British Government sends its troops to Ireland to control the
seperation of the warring
communities and give the North Irish state time to reform the law and
stop the abuse of minorities.
Unfortunately the politicans fail.
Fruthermore the Provisional IRA form. They operate behind the facade of
the Civil Rights
movement but start paramilitary attacks against the British Army.
This was a turning point for the British soldiers from peacekeeping to
countering insergency against
the PIRA.
1972: Fourteen men die after British troops open fire on a civil rights
demonstration in Derry. Six
months later, the IRA sets off 22 bombs in Belfast that kill 11 people
beginning a long pattern of
bombings, assassinations, and shootings. The unrest prompts Britain to
abolish Stormont and
announce direct rule after the Northern
Ireland government refuses to accept losing law-and-order powers to
Westminster. Attempts over
the next few years to re-establish a Northern
Ireland administration collapse in the face of violence.
1973: Three-way talks produce the Sunningdale Agreement to allow
Republicans a role in Northern
Ireland\'s government and create a Council of Ireland, with
responsibilities in both parts of Ireland.
Protestant opposition dooms the accord, and violence continues.
1976: Three children from the same family are killed in Anderstown when
soldiers shoot dead a car
hijacker in August. The aunt of the victims, Mairead Corrigan, is one
of the founders of the
Women\'s Peace Movement which later becomes the Peace People. The group\'s
marches are
attended by thousands in Belfast and London. Corrigan and co-founder
Betty Williams are
awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.1979: IRA assassinates Lord Earl
Mountbatten, a member
of the British royal family.
1981: Ten IRA prisoners become martyrs when they die in a hunger strike;
one is Bobby Sands,
who died after he was elected to Parliament from prison. Over the next
year, bombings in England
escalate.
1985: London and Dublin sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement, for the first
time giving the Irish
government an official role in Northern Ireland\'s affairs, although only
a consultative one. Unionists
feel betrayed and the agreement is never fully implemented.
1993: Irish leader Albert Reynolds and British Prime Minister John Major
issue The Downing Street
Declaration, stating the people of Northern Ireland will decide their
own future and offering Sinn Fein
a seat at the peace talks if IRA violence ends. In August 1994 the IRA
responds by declaring a
cease-fire. Pro-British loyalist forces follow suit.1996: Former U.S.
Sen. George Mitchell of
Maine, chairman of the peace talks, proposes negotiations to parallel
phased surrender of guerrilla
weapons.But talks stall and the IRA abandons its cease-fire in February
with a one-ton bomb that
kills two in London. Multi-party talks begin in June without Sinn Fein.
1997:Tony Blair\'s Labour Party sweeps Conservatives out of office. IRA
announces a cease-fire
two months later and Sinn Fein joins multi-party peace talks in
September. Blair meets with Sinn
Fein chairman Gerry Adams in London.
1998: Britain announces an independent inquiry into the Bloody Sunday
killings of 1972. Tit-for-tat
violence between splinter groups kills 18 people. George Mitchell sets a
deadline of April 9th for
agreement.
April 10, 1998: 17 hours after a deadline set by Mitchell, all parties
announce a deal has been
struck. It is Good Friday.
Till the 14th of August peace seemed to return to Ireland to Northern
Ireland but then an
other bomb exploded in a busy shopping street of Omagh.
"It was the deadliest sectarien attack in Northern Ireland ?s 30 years
of Catholic-
Protestant conflict.
The blast came less than three month after voter in both parts of
Ireland overwhelmingly
approved plans for a new Northern Ireland government with power shared
between its
majority Protestants and minority Catholics." (CNN)
Timeline
- 1916 Easter Rebellion
- 1940 Irish Republic
- 1968 The Trouble
- 1969 IRA Splits
- 1972 Bloody Sunday
- 1973 Sunningdale Agreement
- 1976 Nobel Peace Prize
- 1979 Mountbatten Assassinated
- 1981 Hunger Strike
- 1985 Anglo- Irish Agreement
- 1993 Downing Street Declaration
- 1996 Multi- Party Talks
- 1997 Blair Takes Office
- 1998 Peace Approaches
- 10/ 04/ 1998 The Deal is Struck
- July 1998 Marching Crisis
- 14/ 04/ 1998 bomb attack in Omagh
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