Fucked up so much they said in Operation Banner report they basically created the IRA

    by alee137

    12 Comments

    1. DerGovernator on

      Yup. Hell, the military deployed to Northern Ireland in the first place to protect the nationalists from loyalist violence. It wasn’t until the fall of the moderate and conpararively compromising O’Neil government that things really went to shit.

    2. In 1971 the IRA wasnt very active still, by June probably only 400 members. The British state adopted drastic measures instead of reforming politically Stormont with power sharing, end of census voting (yes, in 1970s) gerrymandered by protestants, who also controlled the police and government.

      On 9 August 1971 Operation Demetrius was launched: the mass arrest of catholics suspected of links with paramilitaries. Except they were arrested without trials without any evidence of crimes, and subjected to torture, evidenced by dozens of ECHR cases against the UK.

      The operation led to a civilian massacre in Belfast by the Parachute Regiment, who proved to be in the whole conflict little more than murderers repeatedly, when they shot dead 11 civilians over 3 days, none armed, none in the IRA.

      In December loyalist terrorists planted a bomb in McGurk’s Bar targeting catholics: 15 killed including women and children. The MI5, suspected of being the mind behind the attack, tried a propaganda victory by saying a premature explosion caused the massacre. The UVF admitted to it in 1978.

      By the end of 1971 in Belfast alone there were 1200 members in the IRA, and these were the soldiers not all the apparatus.
      54 British soldiers were killed from July, zero wre in 1970.
      Source: Ed Moloney *A secret history of the IRA*

      30 january 1972 is a well known date: the Bogside massacre or Bloody Sunday: 14 unarmed civilians murdered by the paras, again.

      IRA numbers skyrocketed: estimates are in the many thousands, counting the OIRA i estimate something between 8000-11000. That year there were over 2000 shootings and 10000 bombs, 129 soldiers were killed, over 600 people died.

      I will wait from angry comments from some british guy, that i got under other Troubles posts, because of stating facts in a history sub.

      Sources: books from Moloney, Harnden, Taylor, McKittrick, English, Oppenheimer and more.

    3. They should have listened to Machiavelli, either treat people generously or destroy them utterly

    4. Duke_Frederick on

      I now wonder how truly bloody the Indian subcontinent could’ve been without Gandhi, considering the population.

      And I now also am beginning to see why gandhi is often praised while IRA demonised.

    5. Merkbro_Merkington on

      -Be the UK in Ireland in 1916
      -Have a few Irish Representatives declare Independence. Most Irish view them as misguided & performative.
      -Spend the next week HANGING THEM ONE-BY-ONE IN PUBLIC
      -Sneer and say “The Irish will never be free!”
      -Lose Ireland

    6. Billy_McMedic on

      I hate the PIRA because of how they explicitly targeted uninvolved civilians in their attacks on Great Britain, they deserve the terrorist designation because of how they explicitly committed terror attacks against civilian populations uninvolved in the conflict.

      However, this does not absolve the UK state of the string of failures that led to various massacres of civilians and their bias towards the Ulster Volunteers, the military intervention in Northern Ireland was a huge clusterfuck that the government did little to help themselves with. I am thankful for the Good Friday agreement and I hope the government continues to prioritise it. I hope NI as a whole continues to wish to remain part of the UK as I believe generally
      We are stronger together, but if a referendum ever proves they wish to join the republic, as per the Good Friday agreement, I wish them all power to join with the rest of the island and that we can continue to be as friendly as we can such as with the common travel area.

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