Religious and Ethnic Conflicts 1187

Religious and Ethnic Conflicts

Compared to the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, religious
conflicts have diminished in modern Europe, with several notable excep­
tions. In Northern Ireland, the bitter centuries-old rivalry between Catholics
and Protestants brought violence. Although the Catholic Republic of Ireland
obtained independence in 1922, Northern Ireland is primarily Protestant
(two-thirds of the population) and remains part of Britain. The Irish Repub­
lican Army (IRA), claiming to represent Ulster Catholics, struck at the
British army and Protestants alike. Several weeks of disturbances in 1969
unleashed decades of violence, “the troubles” that took at least 3,500 lives.
Secret Protestant paramilitary organizations, claiming that the British army
inadequately protected Protestants, struck back against Catholics. Ian
Paisley (1926- ), a Protestant clergyman, heightened tension by speaking
out provocatively against any compromise. On January 30, 1972—“Bloody
Sunday”—British troops killed thirteen demonstrators in the Northern Irish
town of Londonderry.
The economic crisis of the 1970s compounded Northern Irelands prob­
lems, making Catholics even more disadvantaged compared to Protestants.
The IRA, buying guns on the world weapons market with money stolen from
banks or contributed by sympathetic Irish Americans, struck not only in
Northern Ireland but also in England. Cease-fires in 1994 and 1996 could
not still the violence that continued periodically, particularly during the

The aftermath of a bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army in Belfast, North­

ern Ireland, 1972.