Bloody Sunday Aggravated Tensions

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According to the sources, the event of Bloody Sunday aggravated tensions between the Irish nationalist and British forces to a large extent. However, this event was not the first to aggravate tensions and many other smaller events, issues and factors which contributed to this aggravaProtestantted tension.

Source A shows that pre1972 there were multiple events and mistreatments which led to hatred and mistrust between not only the Irish and the British nationalists, but also between the Irish and the Protestants. As stated in source one, Catholic Ireland was ruled by Great Britain for a lengthy period of time despite numerous revolts by the Catholics. The source states that this was a factor which contributed towards the tension as well as …show more content…

According to source A, the British soldiers fired into the unarmed crowd and killed thirteen people. This attack on unarmed civilians resulted in an outcry from the Catholics. This event aggravated tensions immense the Irish nationalists and British forces. (A) The British army stated that their troops had responded after coming under fire however the people of Derry saw it as murder. (B) The first inquiry into the event was led by the British Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery in which his description of the days events exonerated the army and made the victims look as if they had initiated the attack. Lord Widgery implied that hand guns and bombs were handled by the victims. However Tony Blair requested a fresh public inquiry in which established the innocence of the victims and held the army responsible for the events. David Cameron also stated that the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable.” (B) The reason why the first inquiry aggravated tensions between the British forces and Irish nationalists was because the army was not seen at fault but rather the civilians in the march, meanwhile the army was to

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