Research on Troubles of Northern Ireland

David García Castro TY2

The Troubles refers to the violent thirty-year conflict framed by a civil rights march in Derry on 5 October 1968 and the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998.

The goal of the unionist and overwhelmingly Protestant majority was to remain part of the United Kingdom.

The goal of the nationalist and republican, almost exclusively Catholic, minority was to become part of the Republic of Ireland.

The province of Ulster was immersed in a constant violence and tension. Nevertheless the violence exceeded the boundaries of the Republic of Ireland as well as the United Kingdom (even some European capitals). It wasn’t never an official declared war, however the great loss of casualties, the investment from the British government and the visible destruction caused in villages and towns made it a real war.

The violence’s boom was degenerating from disturbs till the large Batlle of the Bogside where the situation became uncontrolled.

One of the most remarkable events were the Hunger Strikes of 1981, where Bobby Sands was elected as a Member of the Parliament. They asked for the right of wear their own clothes among other rights. Ten strikers died.One of the most famous facts is the experience of Gerry Conlon, that was unfairly accused of the murder of British people through a bombing. He spent along his father 15 years in prison, meanwhile the British government knew the truth. His story inspired the film in The Name of the Father.

After the Omagh bombing in 1998, perpetrated by the New IRA, both governments decided to sign the Good Friday Treaty . It was the most brutal attack in Northern Ireland with the death of 29 people and 220 injured.

The car that contained the

bomb.