The Troubles | ||||||||
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![]() Political map of Ireland | ||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||
State security forces: |
Irish republican paramilitaries:
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Ulster loyalist paramilitaries:
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Casualties and losses | ||||||||
British Army: 705 Irish Army: 1 Gardaí: 9 IPS: 1 Total: 11[9] |
PIRA: 292 INLA: 38 OIRA: 27 IPLO: 9 RIRA: 2 Total: 368[9] |
UDA: 91 UVF: 62 RHC: 4 LVF: 3 UR: 2 UPV: 1[10] Total: 162[9] | ||||||
Civilians killed: 1,840[11] (1,935 including ex-combatants)[9] Total dead: 3,532[11] Total injured: 47,500+[12] All casualties: ~50,000[13] |
The Troubles (Irish: Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist[14][15][16][17] conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998.[18] Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict,[19][20][21][22] it is sometimes described as an "irregular war"[23][24][25] or "low-level war".[26][27][28] The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.[3][4][29][30][31] Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.
The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic, being fuelled by historical events.[32] It also had an ethnic or sectarian dimension[33] but despite use of the terms Protestant and Catholic to refer to the two sides, it was not a religious conflict.[14][34] A key issue was the status of Northern Ireland. Unionists and loyalists, who for historical reasons were mostly Ulster Protestants, wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists and republicans, who were mostly Irish Catholics, wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland.
The conflict began during a campaign by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association to end discrimination against the Catholic-nationalist minority by the Protestant-unionist government and local authorities.[35][36] The government attempted to suppress the protests. The police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), were overwhelmingly Protestant and known for sectarianism and police brutality. The campaign was also violently opposed by Ulster loyalists, who believed it was a front for republican political activity. Increasing tensions led to the August 1969 riots and the deployment of British troops, in what became the British Army's longest operation.[37] "Peace walls" were built in some areas to keep the two communities apart. Some Catholics initially welcomed the British Army as a more neutral force than the RUC, but soon came to see it as hostile and biased, particularly after Bloody Sunday in 1972.[38]
The main participants in the Troubles were republican paramilitaries such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA); loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA); British state security forces such as the British Army and RUC; and political activists. The security forces of the Republic of Ireland played a smaller role. Republicans carried out a guerrilla campaign against British forces as well as a bombing campaign against infrastructural, commercial, and political targets. Loyalists attacked republicans/nationalists and the wider Catholic community in what they described as retaliation. At times, there were bouts of sectarian tit-for-tat violence, as well as feuds within and between paramilitary groups. The British security forces undertook policing and counterinsurgency, primarily against republicans. There were incidents of collusion between British state forces and loyalist paramilitaries (see Stevens Inquiries). The Troubles also involved numerous riots, mass protests, and acts of civil disobedience, and led to increased segregation and the creation of temporary no-go areas.
More than 3,500 people were killed in the conflict, of whom 52% were civilians, 32% were members of the British security forces, and 16% were members of paramilitary groups.[9] Republican paramilitaries were responsible for some 60% of the deaths, loyalists 30%, and security forces 10%.[39] Loyalists were responsible for 48% of the civilian casualties, republicans 39%, and the security forces 10%.[40] The Northern Ireland peace process led to paramilitary ceasefires and talks between the main political parties, which resulted in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. This Agreement restored self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of "power-sharing" and it included acceptance of the principle of consent, commitment to civil and political rights, parity of esteem, police reform, paramilitary disarmament and early release of paramilitary prisoners. There has been sporadic violence since the Agreement, including punishment attacks,[41] loyalist gangs' control of major organised crime rackets (e.g., drugs supply, community coercion and violence, intimidation),[42][43][44][45][46][47] and violent crime linked to dissident republican groups.[4][30][48]
The troubles were over, but the killing continued. Some of the heirs to Ireland's violent traditions refused to give up their inheritance.
MODreport
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).secdef05
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).The most popular school of thought on religion is encapsulated in McGarry and O'Leary's Explaining Northern Ireland (1995) and it is echoed by Coulter (1999) and Clayton (1998). The central argument is that religion is an ethnic marker but that it is not generally politically relevant in and of itself. Instead, ethnonationalism lies at the root of the conflict. Hayes and McAllister (1999a) point out that this represents something of an academic consensus.
... these attitudes are not rooted particularly in religious belief, but rather in underlying ethnonational identity patterns.
The term 'the Troubles' is a euphemism used by people in Ireland for the present conflict. The term has been used before to describe other periods of Irish history. On the CAIN web site the terms 'Northern Ireland conflict' and 'the Troubles', are used interchangeably.
The Northern Ireland conflict, known locally as 'the Troubles', endured for three decades and claimed the lives of more than 3,500 people.
It should, I think, be apparent that the Northern Irish conflict is not a religious conflict ... Although religion has a place – and indeed an important one – in the repertoire of conflict in Northern Ireland, the majority of participants see the situation as primarily concerned with matters of politics and nationalism, not religion. And there is no reason to disagree with them.
suttonresponsible
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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