Ira Essay Research Paper Friday July 21

Ira Essay, Research Paper

Friday, July 21, 1972 started as any other day of the week. As

the sun rose, people everywhere began to go about their normal

daily business, as did the people of Belfast, N. Ireland.

Suddenly, there is a great noise and a violent shaking, as the

city of Belfast is rocked by the explosion of bombs. 22

separate bombs detonate within the city of Belfast, destroying

buildings and ejecting the life from anyone caught in the blast.

As the violent noise dies away, the people of Belfast, too

startled to know what has happened, survey the scene. As they

look over the demolished structures, and rummage through the

ashes, they know the bombs were meant for certain members of the

British government. The explosions, however, did not kill only

government members, as nine civilians lie dead in the rubble.

As the emergency vehicles arrive at the scene, the police know

who has caused this destruction, and that the bombers are none

other than the members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

The Irish Republican Army or IRA, is a paramilitary group

who s stated goal is to free Ireland from the bounds of British

rule, and unite the island under one government. The IRA is an

old organization that had it s beginnings in the past after

Britain first took control of Ireland. At the heart of the

conflict between IRA and Britain lies religious differences,

mostly between Protestants and Catholics. To better understand

the IRA we ll go back into the past, and see how it all started.

Ireland first began to fall under British control in the

dark ages when Lords and Nobles from Britain began conquering

the tribes and counties of Ireland. At one point the king of

England himself set out to conquer Ireland, saying the Pope had

commanded him to do so. During the dark ages different sections

of Ireland were ruled by different nobles of Britain, but

official British rule did not begin until 1541, when King Henry

VIII was named King of Ireland. From then until the 19th

Century small Irish groups would periodically rebel against the

King.

The Irish Republican Army first was formed in the 1860 s,

with the goal of freeing Ireland from Britain. In 1867 they

staged several insurrections, but none were successful, and the

movement died out in 1885.

In the early 1900 s the name IRA was adopted again by a

group of Irish volunteers with the same goals. The source of

the conflict had shifted from government, and was now centered

around religion. England was primarily Protestant, while

Ireland was mostly catholic. Being ruled by England, the

Catholic Irish had little say in the way they wanted things

done. There was also a small number of Protestant Irish, mostly

in the northern section of Ireland, who enjoyed English rule,

because they felt that their needs were met better than they

would be if they were ruled by Catholics. The mostly Catholic

IRA tried to free Ireland from Britain, while the Protestant

Irish tried to keep things as they were. In 1940 Ireland was on

the brink of Civil War.

In 1916 the IRA group attempted to free Ireland by

launching an assault on Dublin. The attack failed, and the

attackers were executed, but it stirred up a great sympathy for

the cause. In 1918 a new group for Irish freedom formed that

called themselves the Sinn Fein. The Sinn Fein wanted Irish

freedom, but went about it through political means instead of

violence. The Sinn Fein succeeded in winning many seats in the

government s House of Commons, and used their influence to try

to break Ireland free. In 1920 Britain passed the government of

Ireland Act that freed all of Ireland except the nine

northernmost counties. The nine northern counties became the

English province of North Ireland. Southern Ireland was for the

most part free, but still had to answer to certain rules of

Britain. This act was eventually accepted, but some factions of

the IRA continued to fight, saying that they wouldn t settle for

anything less than total Irish freedom. After this act things

began to decline steadily, and by the 1960 s, the IRA had very

little support.

Things seemed to have settled down, but this did not last

for long. In the late 1960 s a group of catholic protesters

held a march for increased representation in the government of

North Ireland. Protestant members of N. Ireland reacted with

violence to the protesters, and the Catholics also responded

with violence. The IRA surged to life again as more people felt

sympathy toward the Catholics. During this time the IRA split

into two different parties, the Official IRA , and the

Provisional IRA . The Official IRA favored diplomatic means to

achieve their goals, while the Provisional IRA favored violence.

<

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать