How Did Bloody Sunday Affect The Civil Rights Movement

What was the effect of Bloody Sunday on The Civil Rights Movement and The Troubles in Northern Ireland?

Throughout the mid to late twentieth century Northern Ireland was an area of social upheaval. This period is known as The Troubles and lasted for over twenty years. In order to comprehend how the events of Bloody Sunday affected the Civil Rights Movement and Militancy in Northern Ireland leading to the escalation of The Troubles, one must first understand the social climate in Northern Ireland. In this essay I will discuss how discrimination led to the march in Derry on 30 January 1972, the events of 30 January, actions taken by the British Government, and how these factors combined to damage the Civil Rights Movement and increase militancy

Local councils often favoured Protestants when allocating housing; on one occasion awarding a house to a single protestant woman while many large catholic families were effectively homeless. Areas were gerrymandered: the borders of an area would be altered to allow for a protestant majority government. Munck argues that the ‘perception of being second-class citizens was probably felt most by Catholics’ in Derry as the Catholics were in the majority but they held little power in comparison to the Protestants due to gerrymandering. As a result of this, tensions were high amongst the Catholic and Protestant communities. These growing tensions and an increase in violence between the Nationalist Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Protestant Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) led to the beginning of The Troubles: a period of civil unrest and killings that lasted for over twenty years. This conflict was increased by the introduction of the British army in Northern Ireland. The introduction of internment without trial in August 1971 further increased tensions amongst Catholic and Protestant communities. Of the 342 men interned on the suspicion of violent acts, none were Protestants. While the Irish Republican Army believed in the use of violence in order to achieve equal rights for the Catholic community in Northern Ireland, The Civil Rights Movement, led by The Northern Ireland

Twenty bombs were detonated by the Provisional IRA in Belfast city centre, killing nine and seriously injuring a further one hundred and thirty civilians. As a result of the intensified attacks by the IRA, unionist paramilitary groups also intensified their attacks. The Ulster Volunteer Force(UVF) and Ulster Defence Association(UDA) launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings against Catholic citizens. By the end of 1972, four hundred and seventy-two people had died as a result of the violence, and hundreds more had been injured. This was the highest recorded number of deaths since The Troubles began in