To understand the extreme intensity of this conflict, it is necessary to look back at the history of the Irish nation.

The first British involvement in Ireland began in 1169, when Anglo-Norman troops arrived at Bannow Bay in County Wexford. During the next half of the millennium, successive English rulers attempted to colonize the island, waging battles to increase their holdings- moves that sparked periodic rebellions by the Irish.

As the English gradually expanded their reach over the island by the 16th century, religious persecution of the Catholic Irish grew- particularly after the accession of Elizabeth I, a Protestant, to the throne in 1558. Oliver Cromwell’s subsequent siege of Ireland in 1649 ended with the massacres of Catholics at Drogheda and Wexford and forced the resettlement of thousands that had lost their homes during the struggle. By 1691, with victory of Protestant English King William

June ushered in a new wave of violence in Belfast, including a report that almost 1,000 people were involved in street rioting between loyalist and nationalist communities. On 5 June, Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party held talks at Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly, aimed at ending the violence in east Belfast. The talks end with no agreement in sight. Two days later senior Ulster Unionist officials call for the exclusion of Sinn Fein from power-sharing bodies after security sources tell the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) that that the IRA has tested new weapons in Columbia. The violence continues throughout June as the political parties begin a game of finger pointing and mud slinging.

March of 2002 was a month that began as turbulent as it ended. David Trimble, the First Minister, publicly called for a referendum on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom, to take place to the same day as next year’s Assembly elections. He then went on to describe the Irish Republic as “pathetic, sectarian, mono-ethnic, mono-cultural state” and called for the IRA to continue the decommissioning process.

During the next two years, arguments over disarmament, withdrawal of the IRA cease-fire, and a wave of bombings would further to threaten to slow Northern Ireland’s process toward peace. In 1996, an international panel headed by former US Senator George Mitchell offered a compromise to end the deadlock. Mitchell suggested that Britain drop it’s insistence that the IRA begin disarming before entering negotiations.

The next year, Sinn Fein boycotted Westminster, declaring the formation of its own “Dail Eireann” or Irish Parliament in Dublin with de Valera as its President. Violence escalated as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), led by Michael Collins, and fought Britain in a bloody war for independence- one that ended with the partitioning of the northern and southern parts of the island by the Government of Ireland Act in 1920.

Movements on Mitchell’s six principles of non-violence entry into all-party talks progressed into 1997 as the IRA renewed its cease-fire in July. In September, both Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist agreed to the Mitchell principles and entered the all-party talks.

One of the most infamous acts of “The Troubles” came in 1972. British paratroopers, at this time common place in Northern Ireland, opened fired on a group of Catholic demonstrators, killing 14 people. Soon after “Bloody Sunday,” Britain disbanded the parliament and would impose direct rule on Northern Ireland for the next 26 years.

Both 2000 and 2001 continued in what seemed like an unending cycle-the continued resistance of the IRA to decommission it’s weapons and therefore leading to the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The violence continued throughout the new millennium with three separate bomb attacks in London alone, thought to be the work of dissident Irish republicans. The talks and negotiations continued between both the British and Irish governments but all resulted in political deadlock. Sadly, riots, protest, and violence were once again becoming the norm in Belfast.

Some topics in this essay:
Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein, British Irish, Ireland Assembly, Irish Republic, Unionist Party, Northern Ireland’s, Ireland Catholics, Sands IRA, Republican Army, northern ireland, sinn fein, irish republic, northern ireland assembly, ulster unionist, irish republican army, ireland assembly, republican army, irish republican, british irish, gerry adams, peace process, 26 counties northern, minister tony blair, suspension northern ireland,