Assess Comparatively the Significance of Religion and Class as Factors in Our Understanding of the Conflict in Northern Ireland.

Assess Comparatively the Significance of Religion and Class as Factors in Our Understanding of the Conflict in Northern Ireland.

Assess comparatively the significance of religion and class as factors in our understanding of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

The conflict in Northern Ireland, widely referred to as the troubles, was a period of violence between the 1960s and the late 1990s, during this time, many great atrocities occurred that affected both sides of the community. At the root of this violence was Irish nationalists, mainly Roman Catholics and the Protestant Unionists. The main crux of this conflict was based around the United Kingdoms status within Northern Ireland, with the Nationalists pushing for Home Rule rather than British Rule. However, there are many other underlying factors to this conflict. Many theories have developed over time, yet no one theory seems to adequately describe the complex struggle. Theories that have emerged have pointed to causes such as land claims and a nationalist ideology, class and culture, and perhaps most frequently, religion when attempting to define the conflict. In fact, what is more likely is that elements of all of these issues lie at the root of what is commonly referred to as "The Troubles". In this essay I will analyze how class and religion have come to be seen as two of the most prominent factors in the conflict.
The catalyst for the beginning of intense violence in Northern Ireland was the civil rights movement. Irish catholics at the time believed that they were falling victim to oppression and discrimination by the Unionists, they had grown tired of this, and in 1968, the marches of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) were met with a violent backlash by police and civil authorities. This group had launched a peaceful civil rights campaign in 1967, which borrowed the language and symbolism of the Civil Rights Movement of Dr. Martin Luther King in the United States. NICRA was seeking a redress of Catholic and nationalist grievances within Northern Ireland. Specifically, they wanted an end to the...

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