Historical Investigation Essay

Assess the impact of the plosive consonant from 1969 1982 on the choler/Sinn Fein and their development into a significant governmental force in blue IrelandAssess the impact of the period from 1969 1982 on the anger/Sinn Fein and their development into a significant semipolitical force in northerly IrelandDuring the period from 1969-1982 twain the wrath and Sinn Fein infrawent significant change. Sinn Fein moved from a fringe role, in the nationalist front of Yankee Ireland, to a dominant political position. During a measure of intense fierceness in the region an internal discussion was winning locating, deliberating on the value of arm resistance versus political engagement. The ideals that rose step forward of this change the apparent movement and laid the basis for the central role it would bunco in the eventual Good Fri twenty-four hour periodtime Agreement of 1998. The re-emergence of the nationalist movement manage to the rise and resurrection of groups such as the individual retirement account. Naturally this ca utilise much tension, and incidences of personnel department began to rise. Acts of stup abateous take issue showed the incomparable power of regime everywhere power and make pass to international recognition of the issue. Ultimately Sinn Fein developed into wholeness of the most hefty political forces in Union Ireland.After years in the unknown the nationalist movement began to rapidly clear momentum when the Belfast Troubles began in 1969. The choler had been deeply shared out since 1921 when Dail Eireann chose to ratify the Anglo- Irish treaty. The treaty realized the autonomous Irish Free State whilst the province of Ulster remained under the direct control of the join Kingdom. Despite the fact that angriness member Michael collins had played a role in writing the treaty on that point was still a major difference of opinion amongst members of the IRA.1 They were divided between those who were for t he establishment of the Free State and those who believed it was illegitimate and illegal. The Split over the treaty led to the Irish Civil War from 1922-3. umpteen of the contend leaders had been close friends and comrades during the Irish War of Independence. The civil war sunder the IRA and this rift would go along to haunt Irish politics for umpteen years to come.In the 1960s the IRA was further marginalised as it came under the influence of left wing thinkers. This caused a split between the factions of the IRA based in Dublin and Belfast.2 In 1969 the wounds of old were once aflame again when Yankee Ireland was rocked by bloody sectarian rioting. The bloodiest rioting was in Belfast where seven lot were killed and hundreds injured.3 Violence escalated sharply aft(prenominal) these events and new-make paramilitary organization force groups came into existence on either side of the contravention. The Provisional IRA received an upsurge in membership. It was from her e that The Troubles, one of the most ill-famed periods in Irish history began.The violence was characterised by armed functions of paramilitary groups. deviation hit the streets and numerous innocent people were often attacked. aboard the violence in that location was deadlock between the major political parties of Yankee Ireland over how the province would be administered and governed. 1972 saw an explosion of political violence in Northern Ireland in which umteen people lost their lives. The nationalist community saw the Provisional IRA as their defenders, who began an armed campaign in reaction to loyalist provoked violence. During this period the party Sinn Fein had no interest in electoral politics.4 They voiced the need for military inverse to British rule in Northern Ireland. They gained control of the Republican movement and began to focus on flooding nationalist propaganda end-to-end Northern Ireland. rank and file began to skyrocket as anti-British sentiment ran rife. The Republican political party Sinn Fein built the foundations for a movement which in ten years would expand to affirm branches in every town in Ireland.Atrocities by loyalists and British forces themselves were used to justify the IRA as a movement and inspired many to stand up and fight for the cause they all believed in. On 30 January 19725 in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland border, perhaps one of the largest single atrocities of the Troubles period occurred. During a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in the bogside stadium of the city members of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute regiment undetermined fire on many unarmed protestors. Twenty seven people are known to have been shot and fourteen of those were killed with at least(prenominal) quint of the latter confirmed as universe shot in the back.6 Witnesses, including bystanders and British journalists, testify that all those shot appeared to be unarmed. Many individual atrocities occur red that day witnessed by hundreds of people. Eye witness Michael McCallion testified that A cub came out with a white flag, no sooner had he through this when the middle of three British soldiers pulled the trigger and shot him through the base on balls.I have witnessed this as God is my judge and I say that it was frigorific blooded murder.7 Testimonies such as this confirm the extreme acts of violence the British committed unnecessarily on that day. One paratrooper who gave severalize testified that they were told by an officer to expect a gunfight and we want or so kills.8The reason for the uproar over such killings was the British soldiers were essentially not an occupying force alone a measure of peace between nationalist and loyalist paramilitary groups. As Catholic Bishop of Derry Edward Daly commented What really make crashing(a) Sunday so obscene was the fact that afterwards at the highest level British justice justified it.9 Acts such as this by official British f orces reaffirmed the belief of many that the British disposal was still the real enemy and behind the problems that continued in Northern Ireland. This justified the cause of the nationalist movement and subsequently the IRA and Sinn Fein as well. Both organisations had now developed a strong following throughout the Republic and Northern Ireland. Whilst such occurrences did cause much suffering and distressingness they proven useful to two the IRA and Sinn Fein in acquiring widespread support for the movement.Sinn Fein and the IRA were not officially linked but two strived for the same goal. The Provisional Irish Republican Army was a paramilitary organisation that considered it ego a direct continuation of the IRA that had fought in the Irish war of Independence.10 Its stated objective was to end British rule in Ireland and withdraw Northern Irelands status as part of the United Kingdom. The Provisionals advocated for armed defence of Catholic communities in the north and an offensive campaign to end British rule. As the violence in Northern Ireland steadily change magnitude the IRA began to call for a more aggressive campaign against British loyalists. Sinn Fein was a political party of the Republican movement. It was formed in 1970 but has traces back to the original party founded in 1905.11 The party is believed to be immediately associated with the IRA. Both Sinn Fein and the IRA played diverse but converging roles in the war for liberation.Whilst the movements were not officially linked it was widely thought that they were different faces of the same movement. In 2005 the British giving medication stated We had al personal manners tell all the way through that we believed the IRA and Sinn Fein were inextricably linked and that had diaphanous implications at leadership level.12 Throughout the early seventies there was much internal argument between factions of the IRA and Sinn Fein over whether their movements primary role should chiefly milit ary or political, although both groups viewed Britain as a colonial occupier and therefore viewed the political bear on as illegal. Until 1973 Sinn Fein had elfin interest in politics as the party was still deemed illegal by the British Government.Political activity began in 1973 when Sinn Fein opened the Republican press centre on Falls Road. In 1973 the first attempt at negotiations to resolve the situation led to the Sunningdale Agreement, which devised a power sharing system in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Although this did no let in Sinn Fein and quickly collapsed under pressure from loyalist luck intos.13 In whitethorn 1974 British secretary of State Merlyn Rees legalised Sinn Fein as a political party.14 This was perhaps the scratch line of tacit recognition by the British Government that negotiations were only substantive if they were directly with the IRA. Whilst local politicians such as John Hume, of the Nationalist Party, were respected they did not command enoug h power to have any effect. individual(a) meetings between Provisional IRA leaders Ruairi OBradaigh and Billy McKee with writing hedge of State for Northern Ireland Merlyn Rees resulted in a ceasefire which began in February 1975.15 The truce turn out to be disastrous for the IRA leading to infiltration by many British informers into their ranks. After a build up of tensions and a serial of sectarian killings the ceasefire broke down in January 1976.16 It was clear that the original aims of the IRA leadership for a quick military advantage were receding. It was acts of violence by British authorities that justified the military side of the movement and ensured tensions would continue for years to come.As Sinn Fein began to move into the political process so did many former revolutionaries and IRA members. One such person was Gerry Adams after being in prison for alleged IRA membership17 he turned himself in a new direction a moved towards the political process. In 1978 he was el ected as the vice president of Sinn Fein. This most apt(predicate) came as a result of the realisation by many fourth-year figures that it was becoming more and more unlikely that a military supremacy could be achieved. Whilst significant events such as bloody(a) Sunday lead to anti-British sentiment to sky rocket many turned away from violence and embraced the political system.Protests by a number of imprisoned IRA members in desire Kesh gaol showed the power of political tactics, leading to the dominance of Sinn Fein as a political force. The 1981 hunger strike was the climax of a five year protest by Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest originally began in 197618 when the British Government removed(p) its special syndicate status for convicted paramilitary prisoners. This status had provided them with Prisoner of War privileges as qualify in the Geneva Convention.19 Prisoners did not have to wear prison uniforms, do prison work and were allowed to be hous ed within their own paramilitary factions. They were also entitled to receive extra food parcels and have extra visits. When these rights were removed by the British Government, as recommended by the Gardiner Committee20, the prisoners began a protest to gain them back. It started with a blanket protest in which prisoners refused to wear uniforms but preferably wrapped themselves in prison blankets they stated that they were not criminals but political prisoners.In 197821 the dispute escalated into a dirty protest in which prisoners refused to stifle and covered their cell walls with excrement. In 1980 the first hunger strike took place but to no avail ending after 53 days.22 The hour strike in 1981 is perhaps one of the best know instances of protest throughout the campaign. The strike was lead by former IRA incumbent Commanding in the prison, Bobby Sands.23 At the beginning of the strike there was little progress and it didnt receive much outside support. But after five days the strike received a much ask boost the Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone died and a by-election was called to constitute his replacement. It was decided that Bobby Sands would stand against the Ulster Unionist Party candidate harry West.24 On 9 April 1981 Sands won a narrow victory and was elected to the British House of Commons.25 The victory attracted worldwide attention and meters of media personnel descended on Belfast. On the sixty sixth day of the hunger strikes, May 5, Sands died causing riots across Northern Ireland.One hundred thousand people lined the route of his funeral a few days later.26 In the weeks after Sands death three more hunger strikers died,27 and some other by-election had to be held for the seat of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Due to the fact that the British Government had rushed through the Representation of the People Act,28 which meant prisoners serving more than one year could not run for parliament, so Sands election actor Owen Carron had to run instead. He claimed a similar victory gaining a bigger percentage of the votes.The success of hunger strike created a firm computer program for Irish republicanism and paved the way for the formal entry of Sinn Fein into electoral politics the following year. It was also around this period that the British Government began reforming its policies in relation to the IRA and Sinn Fein. They now viewed Sinn Fein as a legitimate political movement who would be included in official negotiations. The achievements of the hunger strikers proved the power of political activism as opposed to violence they also clear the falseness of the British Governments claim that the Republican movement had no support.The events of 1969-82 transformed the Republican movement from a violence orientated force to a significant political force. As Sinn Fein began to grow as a political force the IRA slowly, and with considerable internal difficulties, changed its ways. This eventually paved the way for an official ceasefire in 1994. Their sympathy to decommission their weapons meant that Sinn Fein was allowed to come to the negotiation table and play a significant role in the Good Friday agreement of 1998.That agreement resulted in a devolved power sharing structure of self government for Northern Ireland, whilst it still remained within the United Kingdom.29 In 2007 Martin McGuiness of Sinn Fein was ordained deputy first minister and held equal power alongside Ian Paisely of the DUP in the Northern Ireland Assembly Government.30 From the split in the nationalist movement in 1969 to its reemergence throughout the seventies, alongside the IRA, there was much change. Events such as Bloody Sunday increased the military overtone of the movement but last peaceful political power prevailed. Acts such as the 1981 hunger strike proved the power of political protest as compared to violence. Ultimately Sinn Fein grew into a legitimate political party and as of 2009 the y became the largest party in Northern Ireland following European Parliamentary elections.31_______________________________________________________BibliographyLiterary SourcesEnglish, Richard (2003), gird Struggle The taradiddle of the IRA, Pan Books, Stuttgart, Germany________________________________________________________________________Geraghty, Tony (2000), The Irish War The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Maryland, USA________________________________________________________________________Hastings, Max (1970), Ulster 1969 The Fight for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland, Victor Gollancz LTD, London, United Kingdom________________________________________________________________________McEvoy, Kieran (2001), Paramilitary Imprisonment in Northern Ireland Resistance, Management, and Release, Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom________________________________________________________________________Moloney, E d (2002), A conundrum fib of the IRA, Penguin Books, new(a) Jersey, USA________________________________________________________________________Mullan, Don (1997), eyewitness Bloody Sunday The Truth, Wolfhound Press, Dublin, Ireland________________________________________________________________________OBrien, Brendan (1995), the Long War, the IRA and Sinn Fein, Syracuse University Press, New York, USA________________________________________________________________________Electronic SourcesBBC (2009), on this day 9 Decmeber1973 (online), BBC, London, United Kingdom. purchasable from http//news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/9/newsid_2536000/2536767.stm (Accessed 26 July 2009)________________________________________________________________________BBC (2009), Profile Martin McGuinness (online), BBC, London, United Kingdom. obtainable fromhttp//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/1303355.stm (Accessed 29 July 2009)__________________________________________ ______________________________CAIN weathervane Service (2009), A chronology of the conflict (online), University of Ulster, Belfast, United Kingdom. Available fromhttp//cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch76.htm (Accessed 27 July 2009)________________________________________________________________________manufacturing business Gardiner (1975), Report of a Committee to consider, in the context of civil liberties and military personnel rights, measures to deal with terrorism in Northern Ireland Extract (online), University of Ulster, Belfast, United Kingdom. Available from http//cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/gardiner.htm1 (Accessed July 28 2009)________________________________________________________________________McClean, Raymond, The Road to Bloody Sunday Extracts (online), University of Ulster, Belfast, United Kingdom. Available from http//cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/mcclean.htm (Accessed 28 July 2009)________________________________________________________________________National Archi ves of Ireland (no date), Documents on Irish abroad constitution series text of the Anglo-Irish Treaty (online), Irish Government, Dublin, Ireland, Available from http//www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/anglo_irish/dfaexhib2.html (Accessed 1 heroic 2009)________________________________________________________________________Prime Ministers Office (2005), Briefing from the Prime Ministers semiofficial Spokesman on Anti Terror Law, President Bush/EU, Foreign Doctors in NHS, Hunting and Northern Ireland (online), British Government, London, United Kingdom, Available from http//www.number10.gov.uk/Page7148 (Accessed 29 July 20090________________________________________________________________________Sinn Fein functionary wind vanesite (2009), chronicle made Sinn Fein is now the largest party in the six counties (online), Belfast, United Kingdom, Available fromhttp//www.sinnfein.ie/contents/16580 (Accessed 29 July 2009)_______________________________________________________________ _________University College Cork (2009), Multitext project in Irish tarradiddle Movements for Political and fond Reform, 1870 1914 (online), University College Cork, Cork, Ireland, Available from http//multitext.ucc.ie/d/Ireland_politics__administration_1870-191412TheFirstSinnFeacuteinParty (Accessed 25 July 2009)________________________________________________________________________1 National Archives of Ireland, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy Series text of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, n.d, (1 August 2009)2 Moloney, Ed (2002), A deep History of the IRA, Penguin Books. p. 2463 English, Richard (2003), Armed Struggle The History of the IRA, Pan Books. p. 1364 OBrien, Brendan, the Long War, the IRA and Sinn Fein (1995)5 Moloney, Ed, A Secret History of the IRA. p. 806 McClean, Raymond, The Road to Bloody Sunday Extracts, 1997, http//cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/mcclean.htm (28 July 2009)7 Mullan, Don, Eyewitness Bloody Sunday The Truth, Wolfhound Press8 Geraghty, Tony, The Irish War The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence, unknown p. 659 Mullan, Don, Eyewitness Bloody Sunday The Truth10 Moloney, Ed, A Secret History of the IRA. p. 43211 University College Cork, Multitext project in Irish History Movements for Political and Social Reform, 1870 1914, 2009, http//multitext.ucc.ie/d/Ireland_politics__administration_1870-191412TheFirstSinnFeacuteinParty (25 July 2009)12 Prime Ministers Office, Briefing from the Prime Ministers Official Spokesman on Anti Terror Law, President Bush/EU, Foreign Doctors in NHS, Hunting and Northern Ireland, 21 February 2005, http//www.number10.gov.uk/Page714813 BBC, On this day 9 Decmeber1973, 2009, http//news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/9/newsid_2536000/2536767.stm (26 July 2009)14 Moloney, Ed, A Secret History of the IRA15 Moloney, Ed, A Secret History of the IRA16 English, Richard, Armed Struggle The History of the IRA, p. 13617 Moloney, Ed, A Secret History of the IRA p. 140.18 McClean, Raymond, The Road to Bloody Sunday Extracts19 McEvoy, Kieran, Paramilitary Imprisonment in Northern Ireland Resistance, Management, and Release, Oxford University Press20 sea captain Gardiner, Report of a Committee to consider, in the context of civil liberties and tender-hearted rights, measures to deal with terrorism in Northern Ireland Extract, 1975, http//cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/gardiner.htm1 (July 28 2009)21 CAIN blade Service, A chronology of the conflict, 2009, http//cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch76.htm (27 July 2009)22 CAIN Web Service, A chronology of the conflict23 English, Richard, Armed Struggle The History of the IRA p. 19624 Moloney, Ed, A Secret History of the IRA p. 21125 CAIN Web Service, A chronology of the conflict26 CAIN Web Service, A chronology of the conflict27 CAIN Web Service, A chronology of the conflict28 CAIN Web Service, A chronology of the conflict29 CAIN Web Service, A chronology of the conflict30 BBC, Profile Martin McGuinness, 2009, h ttp//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/1303355.stm (29 July 2009)31 Sinn Fein Online, History made Sinn Fein is now the largest party in the six counties, 2009, http//www.sinnfein.ie/contents/16580 (29 July 2009)