The Northern Ireland troubles, A LEVEL.?

Question

For history , i have to choose a particular period in history and create a question which i can answer about my desired period. I have chosen the troubles in Northern ireland. Has anyone got any advice on a particular part of the troubles and maybe a potential question which i could use!?

Answer 1

It was more about religion than anything else. Much like our difficulties in the Middle East today. In Ireland it was the Protestants vrs the Catholics. Now its the Muslims vrs the Christians. History keeps repeating itself.

Answer 2

What role did women play in the troubles?

Answer 3

You could always ask the obvious question: 'why did they start?'; or more accurately, since they were part of a wider Civil Rights impetus in the late 1960s (compare the US; also the 1968 student protests in Europe), why did they so rapidly become sectarian in nature? Many of the original civil rights marchers were socialist rather than republican, but class issues tend to get lost in the more immediately obvious sectarian element.

Bloody Sunday is such an over-researched area you might be wary of it.

The dirty protests and hunger strikes (you need to look at the first to understand the second) would be one way of limiting a huge area - oh, and everyone forgets dirty protests happened in women's prisons too...

(One answer below confuses the Anglo-Irish War and Civil War in the early 1920s with the post-1968 Northern Troubles, by the way.)

Answer 4

Hi J.J.

The suggestions put forward by Ok and Spartacus are excellent.

For example two questions you could consider based on their ideas are as follows:

[1] What role if any did Irish Taoiseach Berty Ahern play in the Norther Ireland Peace Process?

[2] How did religion divide Northern Ireland?

J.J. I would recommend a piece on the Civil Rights Movement.

e.g.

[3] Was the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement justified?

You will have no trouble J.J. in sourcing information on any of the above.

If you have any problems you know where we [Y/A] are.

Good luck my friend.

CATHORIO.

Answer 5

You could try bloody Sunday. Or have a look at the film 'in the name of the father' just to give you some ideas(to get the mood of the people)

Lenny's questions are good. The one for the battle of the Boyne I like, Bertie Ahern (Taoiseach at the time) and Rev Ian Paisley opened an information building at the site, so you could bring recent events into the end, make it look good.

One more thing there was peace for years but during the 60s/70s (can't remember anymore) there was gerrymandering, to keep Catholics(poor) out of government. Then it was just a basic human rights thing, there was a lot of issues.

Answer 6

I think the H Block hunger strikes of the early 1980's is a key time in the Northern Ireland.Research and concentrate on that.Good luck.

Answer 7

How the religious pursuit of a culture can lead to separatism, terrorism and murder.

Good luck.

Answer 8

I think I would check the Easter Rebellion or the Irish Civil War.  In terms of the Irish Civil War, I would ask the question about De Vilera's actions.  Why did he refuse to join the Free State Government, and why did he fight against Mick Collin's Army, and why did, after Collins was dead, De Villera then join the Free State Government?  I mean, the whole civil war could have been avoided, couldn't it?

Answer 9

Ok lazybones.

To what extent were the Republicans justified in their violent retaliation for Bloody Sunday?

The Orange Lodge marches are deliberatly provocative, marching as they do through Catholic areas. Discuss.

How was the Battle of the Boyne still relevant hundreds of years after the event?

How's that?