I caveat my post here by saying I'm born, bred and living in the Republic. Many of my family of my grandparents generation fought in the war of independence. Some other distant relatives took part in the troubles.
The original "cause" of this is that after a number of rebellions in Ireland centuries ago, the lands of many who were deemed to have taken part were seized by the Crown in retaliation. Poor Protestant settlers from Britain were incentivised to move over and these lands were given to them. This is not the fault of anyone alive today.
The whole establishment of NI was bungled from the get go. The border was drawn in the wrong place. Tyrone, Armagh and Derry were Catholic majority and they did not want to be separated from the Irish Free State as it was at the time.
Secatarianism was rife from day 1. James Craig, the initial First Minister from NI described the province as "A protestant land for protestant people". Catholics could not vote and were banned from the best jobs, shipbuilding and heavy industry at the time. The Civil Rights movement started peacefully, marches etc. These were attacked by the RUC and Loyalist mobs. Things began to spiral, but the Bloody Sunday massacre lit the fuse. The exact causes are heavily disputed, but ultimately unarmed civilians were fired upon. Things exploded. A number of people's minds turned from justice to revenge. This was utterly tragic and decades of senseless bloodshed ensued. There were no innocent organisations or Governments. There is documented collusion between the British Army, RUC, Intelligence Services and the Loyalist Paramilitaries. It is also an open secret that a blind eye was turned to Republican Paramilitaries at many levels in the Republic. Nobody benefitted from this situation, but everyone lost.
Churchill offered NI to De Valera, Thatcher tried to wash her hands of it in private meetings with Haughey before that leaked to the press and she had to reverse course. In recent years it is obvious May and Johnson wanted rid. It is my opinion that the only resolution to the NI question is within NI itself. Both the Republic and Britain should distance themselves as much as reasonably practicable until a real solution is proposed by the people of NI themselves.
I feel so tremendously sorry for the kids in the British Army thrust into that cauldron. Some small amount of them were as evil as the Paramilitaries and we saw that in their actions, but the vast majority were in a situation they did not ask for.
In this particular case, a soldier fired a bullet into the back of a civilian, and the judge deemed he was lying to protect himself. I think the right verdict was reached, but I certainly bear no angry intentions or feelings for him.
Last edited by Una Due Tfc; 28th Nov 2022 at 20:51.