51 year old woman here who was born and raised in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. I was almost killed in 1974 at 3 years of age, when my Mum and Grandmother brought me into town to "size" me for a rocking horse my mother was buying me for my 4th birthday the next day: 18th May. A bomb went off in Talbot Street, myself, my Mum and Grandmother were just about to turn the corner onto Talbot Street. Only for my Grandmother wanted to stop in a shop to look at something, we would have been in the thick of it. Growing up in the 70's, we went up north for some reason or another. If you were protestant and living in the Republic of Ireland & visiting/passing through the North of Ireland, you were fair game for the British Army, the RUC, (Royal Ulster Constabulary) now the PSNI, the UDF, (Ulster Defence Force), the UDA, (Ulster Defence Association), the LVF, (Loyalist Volunteer Force). If you were Roman Catholic living in the North of Ireland, you were fair game as far as these same groups were concerned. Imaging being a Roman Catholic from the Republic of Ireland going into the North of Ireland for shopping or just passing through? I remember seeing a wall with huge towers, the checkpoint lookout. We were stopped, all taken out of the car, the car searched thoroughly, me at around 9 or 10 being patted down by this huge man with his finger on the trigger of his rifle. My life in Dublin, until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, was filled with always keeping one eye scanning the bus I was on, shop aisles for any suspicious packages/parcels etc.. I have lost count of the number of times in picture houses, shops etc., we were evacuated because a "call" was made. Once we heard a "call" was made, we knew that a bomb threat was made on the building, some were genuine, most were bogus calls. Even today, when I'm in a shopping centre, I am still scanning for suspicious packages etc. and I hear the "bing" sound just before an announcement is made, I drop what I am doing and head straight for the exit. That is the result of how often I was evacuated in my life until 1998. I have 4 nieces and 4 nephews and I am so glad that they never got to experience what we did. I never want Ireland to go back to those days again.
I grew up in Dublin too, ive lost count of the number of bomb scares ive been in. It just becomes part of life. I also remember listening to the news every morning reporting about bombings, kidnappings and punishment shootings that happened the night before, I remember Bobby Sands dying eventhough I was quite young and being so sad. I had many nightmares that the UVF, or UDA were trying to kidnap my dad. I think everyone on the Island of Ireland was affected by the troubles in some way, but Im so sorry you experienced the bombing of Dublin, you were all very lucky to go home unscathed that day, over 300 injured and over 30 killed including a whole family and two little baby girls 😢
I am Irish, a Catholic and living in the republic of Ireland. I was never effected by the troubles personally although my mother was from Northern Ireland. I would consider myself very patriotic though only in the sense of the fact that I love being Irish and I love our culture. I may have a very Innocent view of politics, but I think war is absolutely stupid and unnecessary. The fact that there was war in Northern Ireland is due to England's greed for power. And of course that will lead to retaliation and uprisings etc And as you say innocent people lives being lost. I am not saying what the Irish did in retaliation ( was right) it was far from right, but then it was very wrong on both sides . What I am saying however is it wouldn't have happened at all if England hadn't invaded the country in the first place. Wars wether they are here in Ireland or any other country are usually started by ( one) country. It is the same as what's going on now between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine have to defend themselves as they are being attacked. And innocent people are losing their lives. The same old story, just different countries. I honestly don't know why countries have to go to War. I suppose it's just greed for power. It's like people fighting over private land for years, families that is and they fall out never talking to one another again and then they die of natural causes etc and the land is still there but they're not. That's why war in any country makes no sense. It is as simple as that to me. I wonder about the need for war all the time. It makes no sense to me. We are not going to here forever none of us, so why can't we all just get along. As I said, maybe an innocent point of view, but my view. God bless.
@@barneymagee3285 That started up the top of O'Connell Street & moved down as far as the Quays. During the troubles, the bombings could & DID happen outside of the city centre. The number of times there were emergency evacuations from local shopping centres and pubs because the "Trademark" phone call was placed was received by the shopping centre/pub! I'm talking the suburbs during the troubles. So, no, I don't see you point at all!
The IRA killed more civilians during the troubles than all Loyalist paramilitaries & the British army combined. Don’t think you’d have much to worry about other than the IRA bombs that was going off trying to wipe out anyone including kids.
Sensitive topic for all Irish people on both sides. It wasn t just about religion, it was also due to discrimination in the north against catholics receiving work and the presence of british soldiers stationed in northern counties. Real strife was ugly result of colonisation. X
@freebeerfordworkers Nonsense, while the Irish were starving. The English land stealers sent tons of food to England. Look up the exports of food to England during the famine
It’s easy to conflate English Rule with the English people. The English / British ruling class acted on their own behalf throughout history, they did not represent the views of most ordinary Brits. The Irish famine was made much worse by the actions of the anglo Irish ruling group, who didn’t care how many starved as long as they continued to make profits from grain sales - grain that could not be afforded in ireland
In my experiences, Joe Soap Englishman is as sound as any you'd meet, especially the Northerners. The silver spoon, Eaton educated and aristocracy types are the ones who make my shxt itch. I just do not understand how the British public can sit back passively and watch these types who are currently pillaging and destroying your country. You badly need a French style revolution over there...guillotine et al.
The Famine was, more than anything, architected by the British government and their Laissez-Faire Malthusian economics, sprinkled with anti-Irish sentiment and the greed of landlords.
Queen Victoria gave £3.00 to the Genocide relief Fund. At the same time she gave £5.00 to the Battersee Dogs Home. What does that tell you about the British government and the so called "royal family".
My gran is from Co. Antrim, and my mum remembers going over (from Scotland) to visit family through the 70s and 80s. She recounts it as visiting a war zone and I would say thinking of the troubles as a civil war is a very good way of understanding what was going on. In the UK the general consensus is 'IRA = Terrorists / British Army = defenders & peace keepers'. But it was alot more complicated than that and horrendous atrocities where committed by both Republicans and loyalists - for every 'Omagh bomb' there was a 'Bloody Sunday'. Ultimately? Catholic or protestant - it was Northern Irelands civilian population that suffered most.
Omagh was carried out by a splinter group not aligned with the provos, I agree bad has been done on both sides but the difference we faced the legal consequences the British army did not
If you want a deeper unbiased view on the troubles, there is a 6 part series looking at the troubles. It was made as part of the troubles at 50 anniversary. Its called spotlight on the troubles, a secret history and all 6 episodes are available on RUclips. It looks at everything that went on from the 60's until the good Friday agreement, with interviews from members of the IRA, UVF and British army.
Natasha I am amazed at this subject being raised yet again, if it causes people to start up again after all of the years that it took to get to the present
@@veronicawilliams7427 It's important to learn from the past, even when it's painful, to ensure that the next generation understands where they came from. And there is no better way than to learn from the people who were there at the time. If you took the time to watch the series I mentioned, you will see that those interviewed do not tell people to commit more sectarian violence, but instead tell you an unglamorized reality of what is an incredibly important part of our history and national identity. And gives clear and conscise information about how much effort all sides put into the peace process which has brought over 20 years of peace to Northern Ireland.
I grew up in a loyalist part of Belfast during the Troubles. I've got a Catholic granny from County Sligo (in Southern Ireland). So I can understand both points of view. It's crazy what people can get used to. It seemed completely normal for us, to have bombs going off & people getting shot all the time & army checkpoints etc.. Luckily my 15 year old daughter has never known any of that part of our history. It wasn't until I thought about her upbringing compared to my own, that I realised how fucked up, our wee country was back in the day lol.
I am similar to you Matthew. I grew up with a Catholic Mum and a Protestant Dad in Liverpool. I met my partner who is also from a Loyalist part of Belfast, I spent a lot of time there over the years, she grew up through it all so I have always tried to understand things from both points of view. I have met many people in Belfast, from both sides of the divide and the one thing that has always struck me is how warm and friendly they are, in fact they are very like the people from my own city. I just hope that there is a permanent peace and that the people can move forward together because Man, they sure do deserve it 🙏
I was brought up in Ballymurphy but my granny was protestant and my father used to take us to the marches on the 12th for the spectacle and yellaman. The peace was long overdue and let's hope it stays this way, but the extremists on the Loyalist side are drumming up fear because of Brexit. Ironically the part of the UK they most relate to want Independence and voted to remain in Europe. They may call themselves Ulster Scots rather than Irish, but they're not in tune with the Scots at all.
@@iriscollins7583 I am, yes. But, the dyed in the wool "Ulster men" are not. The name of Scotland comes from an Irish tribe but, even though their families have been in Ireland for more than 400 years, some protestants refuse to call themselves Irish.
For anyone watching this and developing an opinion, bear in mind, without excusing or justifying any of the killing, NONE of this would have happened if Britain had left Ireland alone.
I lived in London through the Troubles and was within a mile or within 30 minutes of where more than half a dozen big bombs went off. I always supported a unified Ireland, but consider myself lucky I was never directly affected. I hope the peace lasts and resolutions are found that are satisfactory to the population of Northern Ireland.
Loving these reaction vids Steve, hope you’re learning a lot about the UK and Ireland so far. Can’t wait for you to do a reaction to the top 10 things to see/do in Belfast or indeed Northern Ireland as most of the “UK” or “British” themed videos seem to only really focus on England and excludes Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.
The videos good for a brief outline but definitely worth digging deeper into a lot of the points in the video. As an aside you rightly highlight the “civilian”deaths during the troubles and I would recommend listening to and watching the music video by the Cranberiies a song called zombie. (About the very sad death of two young children )
The majority of Irish people wanted a United Ireland, the minority Unionists/Loyalists didn't, they got their own way and divided our country. The IRA were NOT the only terrorists operating at the time or the only ones killing innocent civilians, that started with Britain's state sponsored terrorists, the Black and Tans forcing the division of our country to placate a minority of bigots, whose own terrorists, the UVF and UDA, murdered people on both sides of the border, but not in mainland Britain, because the British, mainly the Tories, gave in to their demands.
@@dyreadtheyre talking about the home rule act, not the now autonomous irish state. The home rule act would have given very minimal freedoms to the irish government on what they could decide on, basically limiting their power to internal affairs. But the home rule act never got implemented due to WWI (even though alot of irish men went to fight in the war at the promise of the bill being implemented after the war if they fought for england). we instead got the government of ireland act in the 1920s which made ireland a part of the common wealth and was a spring board to get the country to an independent Republic
@davebrayfb tell that to micheal collins and all of the the pro treaty government that accepted the anglo irish treaty. While they may not have ever had moral the right to legislate for ireland as they were colonialists, that does not mean that the legislation they passed did not have real life and practical implications.
To give you an idea how pointless the killing was, my Mum's uncle was shot dead outside his shop. He was a Catholic and he was only killed because a protestant shopkeeper had been killed by the IRA earlier, and then a protestant gunman wanted to get revenge for that protestant shopkeeper whom he had never even met, so he killed a random Catholic shopkeeper he also didn't know and that was my great uncle.
@@reactingtomyroots There is a group called the shankill butchers you can look into ,but i don't blame you if you don't.They were a loyalist gang who killed catholics just for being catholic.
@@reactingtomyroots It was an horrendous time all round Steve. Many of the terrorists (on both sides) were little more than armed thugs who, in many cases probably didn't really know what they were fighting for :(
I'm from Belfast and grew up there I remember one day on the lower End of Newtown Ards road 40 Car Bombings went off plus many more from Bangor Hillsborough Shankill I've been dead 9 times so you can quess my opinions expressed Newtown Ards I was only 10 mins after my hair cut and a 500pound bombing as for the English bastard's they call me white Niggers and Semtex Bog Trotter White Trashed and leprechaun Navies Paddy's English bastard's we're both as Bad as eachother my own family have murdered my old school friend Philip Strickland and Lisa Dorrien I know because I was there my hands on Lisa Dorrien body in a barrel fuckin drugs don't work Evil bastard's
Interestingly, I think his - the narrator's - accent has an Australian (antipodean at any rate) twang. It is certainly neither an Ulster (The North) nor a Southern Irish accent.
Born and raised in Derry and was never involved in any paramilitary forces. I was hijacked and was made drive a bomb to fort George in Derry. The RUC battered me and tried to make me drive it away. I refused and was kicked and punched. The whole base had to be evacuated and I was held in a police vehicle for 6 hours. If you want to hear more details let me know.
I grew up in Belfast during the troubles. The best thing to do is try not to understand what went on. It stirs up a lot of emotions especially in those experts who weren't there at the time.
I was born in 98 in Dublin so I wasn't there but as a teenager and as adult I lived in ulster on both sides of the border and have close friends in both camps that were there for the worst of it and hearing there stories don't you think it's best study what happened and so are sons don't make the mistake are father's did
Sinn Fein think they’ve won - but currently losing support in the republic. Realistically - if I was a loyalist in the 50s/60s - I’d have seen the south as a backward church run state ( it was), but now most educated, middle class loyalists can see that the ‘south’ is more socially and economically progressive than tne ‘mainland’. As for culturally diehard unionists - there isn’t the money for a ‘fight’ I’d love an island where orange men can March, beat lambay drums, burn millions of pallets, but do it as tradition, without hate. My best mate - Irish army, became great friends with a Glasgow Rangers British soldier in the Leb / we’re all just folk.
I'd got off the train in Manchester at about 10.45 on Saturday 15th June 1996 to meet a friend for lunch, she worked at Marks & Spencer's just about where the 3300+ lb bomb went off at about 11.15. We missed lunch and she was unhurt, I was also unhurt. As he said nobody was killed but many injured and the area around Corporation Street was devastated. Absolutely awful and heartbreaking. We met up two weeks later and had lunch and a few drinks in Manchester. The city has rebuilt and is growing fast with lots of exiting new buildings and businesses along with a thriving night life and social culture. The rebuilding of the bombed area sort of spread out and is still spreading. The city had been a bit dormant after WW11 and the collapse of the textile and other industries. Always was and is an exiting city.
Steve, thanks for putting this up. It was a very good video. As you say, it is very complicated, and barely comprehensible to an outsider. Thanks again.
I went to Belfast before the pandemic as my husband lived there during the troubles, there are many walls still there and we went to areas he remembered not being allowed to go to, as you never crossed to the other side,
I have lived in Co. Cork all my life. My husband is American. He asked me many questions about the troubles. Told him all I knew which I had learned from the daily news on Tv. I have been to Belfast several times in recent years. A few years, myself and my husband and his sister visited Belfast; it was then that they learned the real story of the troubles. We visited sites of fierce battles and bombings, causing loss of lives and serious injuries. Belfast is a wonderful city today. We visited Derry city last year and we had a guided tour at sites of major battles.
@@leeburwood3073 Of course it is, but the IRA are still out there and are still a threat, their last bomb attacks were only back in 2019 so not that long ago.
@@leeburwood3073 shouldn't have been there then. you dont open fire on civilians, collude with RUC, UDR and loyalist terrorists and expect people to ignore it. its interesting how he Brits ALWAYS paint themselves as victims when recent court cases show collusion with loyalist terrorists.
@@artl7796 Yeah accept the troop deployment was supported by the NI government and both the loyalists and PIRA blow the British army out of the water in terms of civilian killings, even when collisions estimates are included
Ah, yes, The Troubles. Trouble was, we were a Catholic family living in Belfast, while my father served as an Army Officer, we lived off barracks, I went to a Protestant school, went through at least one bomb scare a week while out shopping, and knew that if any of us slipped up then a car bomb would likely be incoming...
@@reactingtomyroots Its important to note that for most of the troubles ,the vast majority of people of the republic and the irish government didn't support the IRA and there aim was to overthrow the democratically elected government and replace it with a socialist dictatorship.Unfortunately the young people have forgotten this ,but at the time they had little support. They were in no sense an arm of the Irish state.Most people in ireland would have supported an united ireland ,but not by the methods the IRA chose.
@@gallowglass2630 Yes only a tiny minority of hardliners in the Republic supported the actions of the I.R.A. British people dont seem to realise this. We were just as appalled by the violence as they were. We do generally hate the hardline loyalists though, lets be honest. Its hard not to hate the Paisleys and John Taylors and the that messed up mindset.
My uncle’s cousin was one of the “Disappeared”. One of the people who was kidnapped and murdered by the IRA. The cousin had no involvement with either side.
Sometimes simply not choosing a side was considered a crime to the people of either side, who often had the mindset of "you're either with us or against us". As far as they're concerned if you don't join them you're part of the problem and so an enemy
It's important to remember as well that the population was only 1.5 million too so if you look at the 50,000 injured that's 1/300 people injured so huge direct impact on people.
Worth looking into ‘Stakeknife’. The IRA had a huge problem with people in their ranks becoming informers for the British. So they set up a group to seek out these moles. Just so happened that the head of this this group was Freddie Scappaticci - who was also the biggest informer for the Brits.
I was born in 1979 & grew up in a town only 9 miles outside Belfast, so this was just everyday life, it was normal to hear of bombs, riots, 'punishment beatings' etc & to see a huge presence of police & army, with their bulletproof vests & semi-automatic rifles etc, patrolling around both the towns & rural roads. The soldiers were always on camouflage & at times would be found lying along the edges of the roads in grass verves or in hedges. Although Northern Ireland is Ulster, Ulster is not just Northern Ireland... N.I. has 6 Counties, (Antrim, Down, Armagh, Fermanagh, Tyrone & Londonderry... Ulster has 9 Counties , the 6 from N. I. & 3 from the Republic, Donegal, Monaghan & Cavan. It is technically the County Londonderry & City of Derry. This also doesn't mention the killing of Lord Mountbatten in 1979. He was a distant cousin of the Queen & also uncle to Prince Philip. It also doesn't mention the erecting of the 'Peace Lines', where republican/nationalist & loyalist/unionist neighbourhoods came together. The very 1st temporary 'Peace Wall' was placed in 1920s in Ballymacarrett & another in the 1930s in Sailortown but the main 'Peace Lines' were erected in 1969. These walls/fences between the 2 communities & are still in place today. There are more than 20 miles of them, mainly in Belfast but also in several other areas. Also, though the media state the Omagh bombing killed 29 people, they don't always mention that these were all innocent people,just out shopping in the town on a Saturday morning, parents & kids etc out buying things they needed for school that was due to start just a couple weeks later. They also don't always mention that technically there were 31 people killed that day, as 1 woman killed was 8 months pregnant with twins...
This was on the TV so much when I was a kid. It felt like every week something awful happened. So glad my grand daughter won't have to live thru what we did.
like most who are old enough to grow up in these times (either side) ,the fear of something was going to happen was always there , i remember the bombs and shootings ... 2 went off no more that 300 yards away from my family and myself in belfast .. i was maybe 10 at the time... i still remember the smell.... we were brought up to fear the other side ... as they were brought up to fear our side ..... ( the cranberries song,zombie is about this exact thing) .. ireland is a very different place now ..and the north of ireland is stunning ..relationships are much much stronger and better these days .. but those of us old enough to remember still fear the return of the old ways ...
That video was an endless string of facts delivered so fast that it was impossible to keep up. Added to that, he was half mumbling/ not articulating his words clearly. (btw he had an Australian accent.)
I'm 46. And I love in northern Ireland. And this video hurts me so much. I'm young enough to remember how bad things were. Yet I lived through the peace process
Quite a lot of tension has returned in recent years due to Brexit, for example there has been no parliament for most of this year in NI because some refuse to form one.
22:13 if i recall correctly, the bomb detonated in Manchester was the single largest bomb ever intentionally exploded on UK soil, the only reason nobody was killed was because the IRA telephoned in a warning about the bomb's presence The guy who made the video is from Australia btw
As a young Soldier in the British army i was sent to N/Ireland in 1975, we were sent there as 'peacekeepers' or so we were told, i doubt the narrative changed at all within our government as this was after Bloody sunday and we were no longer peacekeepers to the population so ended up piggy in the middle, It was a horrible time and i'm afraid to admit that a minority in the RUC were just out to cause disruption and we bore the brunt of it, i grew up in north east England, our communities were mixed between Catholics and Protestants and we got along fine so it was hard to get your head around this religeous violence happening over there, I hated being there, as did many soldiers, we were sent to do a job we could never succeed in , for me Operation Banner was a mess, i was given a campaign medal which i threw in the North sea during leave at home.
You should check out the movie 'in the name of the father's starring Daniel Day Lewis. Absolutely brilliant movie about one of the of the IRA bombs in England.
When I was living in roscommon, a friend of mines daughter was asked by her school to do a family history project. It went back further than the troubles but it was amazing at the same time. Her great uncle on her mother's side was an RIC officer who was killed in Ballaghaderreen by the IRA, and her great uncle on her father's side was the IRA man who killed him.....
One thing that the video didn't mention, aside from the death toll is the shear amount of bombings that happened during the trouble. Well over 10,000 bombs throughout the period of the Troubles. That's at least 1 bomb per day, every day for 30 years.. in an area that is smaller than the State of Connecticut. I drive within a 3 mile radius of my house and there's 12 different memorial plaques/sites that I know of as a result of people dying in roadside bombings. Northern Ireland also holds a bizarre record of the most bombed building in the world, the Europa Hotel in Belfast.. Which has been bombed 36 times.
It was bloody auwful , remember all the bombings in England through the 80s and 90s just tragic all round . Mo molan was instrumental in ensuring a resolution an amazing lady I urge you to look into her . 🙂
I am English, from Manchester, and was born in the 80s so remember the troubles quite well...from an English perspective. By the way, my sisters were shopping in Manchester in 1996 when the IRA bombed it with the biggest bomb, in England, since WWII; they managed to get to their car and get out before the Police totally shut down the city. Scary times around then as the IRA had a lot of top quality Semtex explosives and some of the best bomb producers the world had ever seen. However, what England got, in terms of bombings, was a tiny fraction of what Northern Ireland got on an almost daily basis, especially in the 1970s and 80s - notwithstanding the constant shootings/assassinations. Those poor people really did suffer.
My father was the head altar boy at the bloody sunday funerals and had the foresight to save a newspaper and a mass card which we treasure to this day. My uncle was also a first aider on bloody sunday and there's some pictures of him on the day floating about the Internet. Both of them still remember vividly the events of those days and many many more
My mother was born in 1912 in Derry and died in the late 2000s. She lived through most of the conflict and was so happy to finally see peace in her lifetime 🙏
I went to school with a girl from Northern Ireland. Her family moved to Australia in 1972 and we were amazed to see how her experiences affected her. Every time. she heard a loud bang ( like balloon bursting etc). She would dive to the floor with her hands over her head.
Not really I lived in Germany and was with a girl from Belfast ,a car backfired and she hit the ground .she looked at me and said I forgot where I was.
@@TheNoSuchThingPodcastHow on earth can you judge someone who has been traumatised, a person you've never met and accuse them of acting? You know nothing about her mental state or how her experiences affected her. You've clearly never been through anything traumatic if you don't understand how that affects some people. That's great for you but how dare you make a statement like that about a complete stranger? Your arrogance is astounding.
@@faithpearlgenied-a5517 I grew up through the troubles. Heard bombs all the time, had friends brutally murdered, lived in constant fear and this is the very first time I’ve “ever” heard a person from Northern Ireland jumping to the ground when a car backfired. It was an every day way of life. You were so used to it it hardly registered. I’m thinking maybe the person in question has severe anxiety. But this is definitely a first on my 50 years, 30 of them spent on a warzone. That I have ever heard this. We never reacted like this because it wasn’t a shock to our system. We were used to it. If this person hit the ground every time she heard a bang on Northern Ireland every bone in her body would be broken
Its a very complex situation a member of my family was in the british army that went there , i always remember s photo in the 70’s of a catholic girl who had a prod boyfriend she was hung tarred an feathered. It was a terrible time
Please read more about the troubles, they've certainly lasted more than 50 years! So many more have died than stated in this video. It's very complex and breaks my heart.
Two classic films to watch just for fun and remember that they are just films are "Brave Heart" & !The Quiet Man" am 56 and remember the troubles but I had the British news/properganga so only the one side of the coin as a child/teenager growing up!
I remember the London bombings when all rubbish bins were removed from the streets buses and trains I remember the fear of wondering where next when the 2 little boys were blown up. Difficult times.
i’m from the republic and i go to belfast fairly regularly and there are parts of belfast that i wouldn’t go through with a southern reg on my car (north and south have different reg’s). when my dad was younger he was staying in belfast with his mother and someone was shot outside their hotel, my dad turns 50 this year so that’s how recent the troubles were
And the IRA planted no warning bombs in cafes. No one comes out of this shit with any glory or people like you who can't look at both sides of that horrible time.
While I was in the Army I had to go to NI 3 times on 6 month tours we did get shot at few times. But to be honest the way we looked at it was to help the innocent on both sides. As far as I know the song was writen after a Soldier gave his life to save the life of innocent people . ruclips.net/video/7NaKRwNSJyE/видео.html
@@conallmclaughlin4545 I totaly understand why your feelings after something like that happening. I didn't really want to tell people this but the 1st time I went to NI I was 18 and only been there for 2 hrs and got shot by by a 22 round in the neck, But the way I look at it is thank god it wasn't a 7.62 round
The song was inspired by an event in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1971 Sergeant Michael Willetts of 3 PARA cleared a room in Springfield Road RUC Police Station of civilians because a bomb with a short burning fuse had been planted by the Provisional IRA. After the room had been cleared, an Inspector who helped local people flee then slammed the door to the room which contained the bomb, but realizing the door was not strong enough to absorb the blast, he pressed his body against the door, shielding the people on the other side. The charge exploded, and he was seriously injured. Sgt Willetts whose post was actually down a hall heard the screams, instead of saving himself he choose to run toward the bomb after shouting orders to another soldier to evacuate upstairs. He was left with a man and woman with their two children. He pushed them into a corner and stood between them and the bomb. A chunk of metal from a locker was blasted into the back of his head and he died on the operating table two hours later. As his and other bodies were carried out Irish Republican supporters clapped, jeered and sang rebel songs to the disbelief of other soldiers and police
@@crazydave53 WOW.. Such a selfless act. I am sure there are more stories (and hero's) like this that far outweigh the number of criminal acts done by the British Army at the time. Shame its only the bad apples that hit the headlines at the time.
I'd say it was a lot of things, political and national differences, fusing into religious differences, just descending into utter, us versus them chaos. I feel it's a case study everyone should learn about, lessons a few countries, the US included, could learn. To try and prevent disagreements ever turning into, this.
The Irish have been repressed, suppressed, depressed and oppressed for at least a thousand years but the Irish are resilient and tenacious- still here! 💚🤍🧡💚🤍🧡
There was a massive info-dump in those two videos- I thik it would be worth finding additional videos which might fill out some of the details which were understandably rushed through. I was born at the start of the '60's, and so for a huge part of my life The Troubles were there in the background, and The Good Friday Agreement seemed unbelievable when it came! Sadly there are still tensions in the region, and Brexit has made things a lot trickier, as Northern Ireland has left the EU, but Eire is still a member nation. Because of the cross border trade that happens, and must be secured, this has caused a lot of issues to rise to the surface again. It's so important that this is resolved before everything goes bad again!
The Easter Rising is worth exploring in greater detail. The British journalist Peter Taylor made a lot of programmes on Northern Ireland; his interview with the late Brendan Duddy who was a go-between between the British government and the IRA is fascinating. With regard to the potato famine, in the 1840's government aid or welfare was very limited and many politicians thought the market economy would solve a nation's problems. The tragedy of the potato famine proved them wrong.
Potato famine ? I just found out a few years as I got a plumber to come to house and he was Irish, I said "poor Irish that potato famine was awful" He said "yes there was a potato blight, but we had other vegetables growing and the British army came and took all the vegetables" not what I was taught at school. I believed him, he told me that with passion his family had suffered greatly. I'm in Australia
I was at university in London in the early 1970s. I was in the student union bar which overlooked Euston Station.and I suddenly saw a cloud of dust and debris fly out of the station although I didn’t hear anything. I can remember hearing one or two bombs going off and I saw the Post Office Tower, at the top of which a bomb had gone off. However, with the foolishness of youth, I don’t ever remember being worried.
1996 when I came back to the UK from 9 Years in Holland, I went to a UK Collage to get some qualifications in Electronics, Programing, IT and Computer Aided Design (CAD). The internet was new; I still remember the first website I came across when I was looking for information on Radiation and how to make a bunker with all of the filters. The Website said: If you are a member of the IRA please do not access this site, at the time I didn't know who they were; I clicked on it and came across 2 schematics (Down to the nuts and bolts) for 2 devices, 1 requiring Plutonium and the other Uranium. 1 Year later I knew who they were.
It also was the most dangerous place in the world to be a catholic. Wrongs were done on both sides of the divide and it’s great that no sane person would want our society to go back to our joint dark past.
I'm from London UK and yes I grew up ever watchful of bombs as the army barracks and the pub nearby were bombed having said that I and not bias one way or the other. The Irish need to find the own peace, it is a very complicated subject and the only way to understand it properly, is to go there and listen to both sides.
During my career in Cinema management in the early 1970s I was duty manager one night when an executive from head office called in to see how the latest confectionery promotion was going. The phone rang and it was an Irish accented voice saying that a bomb had been planted on our premises. I thought to myself that it must surely be a hoax but we were not allowed the luxury of exercising our own possibly deficient judgement and the staff and I evacuated the premises quickly. This cinema was a very large one in West London notable for a very large Irish population, and indeed a good proportion of our staff were from the Republic. The police were unable to find anything, and the only thing that the hoaxer had achieved was just a spoiled evening’s entertainment for the audience. However, this was in the days when bombs were going off regularly and ordinary people were being mutilated and/or killed. The Irish staff were just as irate and disgusted by the whole waste of time as the British born. A certain female Nationalist MP visited the area on one occasion to address the locals in the open air and we were told by the police later that she attracted a minimal number.
I know you don’t react to music videos but the following music video is relevant. Zombie by The cranberries, it’s very powerful and was released at the time of the conflict. I would love your reaction to this iconic song . ❤
The troubles impacted so much on all of the UK, growing up bomb threats were quite a common occurrence and so forth - not just for those in northern Ireland
I remember being in my aunt's car with her and mum and they were rushing me to hospital because I was having an asthma attack. The army stopped us at gunpoint, put us out of the car and searched us and the car, I nearly died. I'm Catholic, my aunt was born in England although raised here in the North of Ireland, the only reason why we were let go. Both sides have innocent blood on their hands. Ironically, Sinn Fein are now the main party and DUP are refusing to share government with them and stormont has collapsed. As a result people, children are dying. Hospitals are closing all because loyalists are no longer the main party. A shift is happening but innocent people are still dying but this time because of poverty.
i was in a car outside edware tube station when the bomb went of with the radio saying there were bombs on buses i had three buses boxing me in when all the passengers were ordered off very frightening
I grew up in London in the 80s ..we had shit yeah but we never blamed the Irish, in fact I married a Irish girl 3 children all grown up now, I love Ireland my great nan was Irish , other side great nan Scottish, rest English..
The Warrenpoint ambush is actually called narrow water massacre its just beside where i live. The troubles was an awful time to grow up for both Catholic and protestant people
Quite interesting to watch an American watching this. It has made me wonder if the US is sleepwalking into similar sectarianism and "troubles" in a similar vein. It brings to mind George Santayana/Winston Churchill/Edmund Burke - Those that cannot remember the past...
Britains involvement in Ireland has been nothing but tragedy ,murder and suffering and as far as I know is not thought in British history as most of the british people I've met know zip about this
As someone who grew up in Newry right on the boarder with ROI during the troubles it was a case of life has to go on even thou most weeks something happened.
My then girlfriend lost her leg in the bombing of a nightclub by the US NORAID funded IRA. She committed suicide aged 26 as she could live with her "disability"
the bombings had a massive effect on everyone, 47,000 people were injured in one way or the other and almost everyone in Northern Ireland has a story to tell about the IRA bombings, terrible thing that happened to your Ex.
@@georgebarnes8163 I remember the girl who was trapped and died in a hole created by a bomb. She was incredibly brave, but they could not get her out before she died. I also remember a time in London at an army band service when there was an IRA bomb went off and one of the soldiers horses tried to get up, but wasn’t aware that it had been blown in half. There was an a foiled IRA attempt to kill the Queen’s horses. Shocking times. The IRA even tried to blow up an army recruitment office in Leicester, but the bomb fell off the army vehicle, nobody was killed. Thank goodness. I live there and it was too close to home, i felt sick.
I wonder if Biden realised his gaff early on in his presidency about Britain/Ireland and Brexit. Also, too many Americans (including Biden's family, I suspect - see above) gave money to the IRA without understanding the consequences.
My dad served 2 tours in Northern Ireland when he was in the army it was a messed up time it was believed that round about 1500 British soldiers died in Northern Ireland that’s more British soldiers than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. And that’s only soldiers never mind the added number of civilians
I suggest you do some reading. This is a very complicated subject. Start with “making sense of the troubles”. At first Catholics were marching for civil rights but the point became an all Ireland due to security force blunders (ballymurphy massacre, falls curfew, Bloody Sunday) although there was a nationalist movement from the start and there had been since Northern Ireland’s inception
As an English older millennia. I remember when Al khalida went Jahdi in the 2000s and turning round to my friends saying that they didn't worry me anyway near as much as the IRA did. This got general agreement.
Hey, great video! Northern Irish unionist here. It’s hard to get a video without bias on the troubles but this one did a fairly good job at it. The one thing it doesn’t get across is just how big the cultural divide is. It may have been a Protestant/Catholic divide a long time ago, but it hasn’t been that for a long while, especially as the younger generation (I’m 22) are a lot less religious than those that came before. However, the cultural/identity divide is as big as ever. Warning for generalisations ahead. I’m British and would never describe myself as Irish (I correct people if they ever say that) and many on the “other side” feel the same way in reverse (plus many nationalists just use the term Ireland to describe here and refuse to say “Northern Ireland”). We have different cultural celebrations, identify with the British/Irish anthems and flags respectively, unionists tend to support the royal and family and celebrate their special occasions, nationalists tend to feel neutral towards them and ignore them or actively dislike them, I could count the number of times I’ve been to the Republic of Ireland on one hand, whilst I would be on the UK mainland numerous times every year, for nationalists it’s often the reverse. I can’t get it across without writing a novel, but that’s just a flavour of it. As you said, the nation you identify with is something that stirs a lot of passion and feeling. It’s particularly intense in our wee country.
I feel like it's slightly biased to the Unionist side as it fails to mention a lot of important but minor details such as how he says after the Manchester bombing "Surprisingly nobody died". He knowingly, completely ignores and fails to state how the IRA generally warned about bombs before blowing them up.
@@cubethelad8394 It is in that case and referencing segregation as if it was a natural process rather than being policy of the northern devolved government.
@@gallowglass2630 True. There needs to be the context of gerrymandering to explain why the civil rights marches kicked off. He also fails to explain that Catholics attempted to gain civil rights peacefully but it didn't work which explains why it escalated so quickly.
Do you not notice that when you go to your “mainland” that the people view you as Irish and not British. The British have no clue about Northern Ireland and that even shows at government level. Brexiteers don’t care about Ireland in any way. I would suggest you increase your visits to Ireland (nobody says Republic of Ireland) and see how there’s more connection than you realise. Northern affairs covered more in Irish media etc.
My uncle served 3 tours in Northern Ireland through the 70's and 80's, he saw a lot of things that haunted him for the rest of his life. He never really talked about it much, but when he did, it sounded horrible. He talked of being shot at by the IRA in streets full of civilians and having to investigate car bomb aftermaths. He remembered the "Droppin' well" bomb massacre in 1982 where 11 off duty soldiers and 6 civilians were killed. All of them just having an ordinary night out. He was understanding of what the IRA wanted, but he hated them so much for their methods and what they did to all the innocent people they killed in the crossfire. I think he also had a lot of regrets from it and was conflicted about what he was doing there. In all reality there were no good sides in the troubles, some may have had noble causes but only ended up killing countless innocent civilians in the process. Truly a sickening and shameful time in the history of these islands, for everyone involved.
The United Kingdom is such a complex nation, not just in recent years but going back 100s of years, even today Im learning about my countries history that I know nothing about...
Kudos for actually wanting to learn. At least 52% have a beer goggled, romantic view of the Empire not actually knowing what it was. The education system is to blame for that
My elser son was at Birmingham University when the pub bombings where done. I was distraught of quite a long time whilst that was going on. One of my colleauges in the Court in England had gone to visit her family and was caught up in a large car bombing. which killed women and children a pregnant woman as well..none of whom where just crossing the street at the same time the ITAm detonated the bomb
My ex's sister husband and 5 children moved over to Ireland. They were looking for a house to rent and had stopped in Dublin for food. They were gone max 1 1/2 hour's and returned to everything stripped from their car. Took babies bottles the lot. They found out it was because they had an English number plate. So they traded it in for scrap and bought a second hand Irish reg. The eventually bought a house in county Mayo.
Outside British Isles there was also Troubles spill-over onto Mainland Europe with IRA attacks on British military installations in Belgium, Netherlands, West Germany and Gibraltar.
As a teenager growing up in London during the 1980's I remember people being terrified of not knowing what the IRA were going to blow up next. Woolwich in South London had the infamous Woolwich pub bombings and I distinctly remember the the Grand Hotel bombing in Brighton. I heard the blast from the Canary Wharf bomb. I had my bedroom windows open and heard the explosion. We were probably 5 miles or so away.
I grew up in the Midlands, and was so un-nerved by the Birmingham Pub Bombings, that still to this day I feel spooked if I am in Birmingham City Centre- which I know is ridiculous, but the feelings remain!
The reason those places were bombed was because the IRA realised that they could erase Belfast off the face of the earth with bombs and nobody in Westminster or London or England cared one bit. In the grand scheme of the troubles, there was very few bombings in England but they got attention in a way that no bombings in Northern Ireland did.
I was at university in York, going out with a lass from Warrington, when the IRA bombed Warrington in 1993, killing 2 children and injuring 56 others. I very distinctly remember my girlfriend as she tried desperately phoning all the people she could think of to check if they were okay (they all were, luckily - but several of her family's neighbours were not so fortunate). To this day, I've never seen such a terrified look of panic like I did that day and I hope I never will again.
my childhood memories of Manchester city centre is all cranes and construction - they spent a decade rebuilding the destruction caused in 1996 by the IRA setting off a 1,500KG bomb - the biggest bombing of England since the Germans in WW2.
If you search for "Warographics Ireland" on youtube the top 4 results should explain Irish history pretty well for the past few hundred years. And very well explained too, more fact and less propaganda / popular (simple) explanation, though this video was as unbiased as any IMO it covers the famine, the easter rising, the war of independence and the civil war to the troubles. If you think the troubles were painful, you NEED to see the rest. Free Derry, Also known as the Bogside. Knew the man who was the boy in the gasmask on one of the famous murals, He died a few years ago. :(
Innocent men woman and even children even died its a sad situation I'm from Northern Ireland and as a kid remember my father's car being checked coming across the border.
Having been deployed several times during my military career (1978-2008) it felt as though no matter what we did we were wrong. The IRA were no different to the Sicilian Mafia, being involved in raising funds in certain major cities in America with a large ex-pat Irish community, which funded arms purchases etc though Gaddafi tended to supply them free of charge. The IRA, for all their idealistic claims, were nothing more than a bunch of terrorists coupled with running drugs, prostitution, “punishment” beatings (RUclips censorship would not allow me to describe the things they did, it was beyond cruel sadism), robbing businesses, enforcing “protection” payments, you know - typical mafia, but with even fewer morals. Would love to provide some background about experiences but between RUclips censorship and the Official Secrets Act it would be pointless. It’s a relief that things have improved enormously, but after Brexit it’s already started off some attacks by whatever the IRA are now called. Don’t believe for one second that 1996 was the end of the fighting as it’s continued regardless, just not at the same intensity as before and the IRA have plenty of hidden weapons caches if they decide they’re not getting their way. Edit - troops are not the right choice for carrying out police duties, unless it’s the UN keeping the peace between two recognised combatants, but when it’s civilians using religion as a pretext then the military aren’t the ones to do that job. I’m still surprised that so few civilians were killed by the military despite the constant provocation and sniping but that’s the result of damn good training.
Catch yourself on. The official secrets act? Really? It’s no secret that the UDR and the RUC colluded with the loyalist paramilitaries and that the military intelligence branch fed the loyalists with names of people they’d prefer to no longer exist. Its no secret that the total number of state sponsored killings is probably higher that what has been exposed. It’s no secret that catholics/nationalists were imprisoned without crime or without trial. It’s a real shame that a lot of the actions of the British establishment in the North of Ireland are covered by the Official Secrets Act because if the truth were told, there’d be no hiding places (other than prison cells) for the people who ordered and facilitated such brutal acts and treated the North of Ireland as it’s own military training ground.
Can't believe they didn't mention the Warrington bombings, 2 babies killed, came very close to levelling half the town with the gasworks bomb (if that had worked properly I wouldn't be here) and killed a cop.
51 year old woman here who was born and raised in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. I was almost killed in 1974 at 3 years of age, when my Mum and Grandmother brought me into town to "size" me for a rocking horse my mother was buying me for my 4th birthday the next day: 18th May. A bomb went off in Talbot Street, myself, my Mum and Grandmother were just about to turn the corner onto Talbot Street. Only for my Grandmother wanted to stop in a shop to look at something, we would have been in the thick of it. Growing up in the 70's, we went up north for some reason or another. If you were protestant and living in the Republic of Ireland & visiting/passing through the North of Ireland, you were fair game for the British Army, the RUC, (Royal Ulster Constabulary) now the PSNI, the UDF, (Ulster Defence Force), the UDA, (Ulster Defence Association), the LVF, (Loyalist Volunteer Force). If you were Roman Catholic living in the North of Ireland, you were fair game as far as these same groups were concerned. Imaging being a Roman Catholic from the Republic of Ireland going into the North of Ireland for shopping or just passing through? I remember seeing a wall with huge towers, the checkpoint lookout. We were stopped, all taken out of the car, the car searched thoroughly, me at around 9 or 10 being patted down by this huge man with his finger on the trigger of his rifle. My life in Dublin, until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, was filled with always keeping one eye scanning the bus I was on, shop aisles for any suspicious packages/parcels etc.. I have lost count of the number of times in picture houses, shops etc., we were evacuated because a "call" was made. Once we heard a "call" was made, we knew that a bomb threat was made on the building, some were genuine, most were bogus calls. Even today, when I'm in a shopping centre, I am still scanning for suspicious packages etc. and I hear the "bing" sound just before an announcement is made, I drop what I am doing and head straight for the exit. That is the result of how often I was evacuated in my life until 1998. I have 4 nieces and 4 nephews and I am so glad that they never got to experience what we did. I never want Ireland to go back to those days again.
I grew up in Dublin too, ive lost count of the number of bomb scares ive been in. It just becomes part of life. I also remember listening to the news every morning reporting about bombings, kidnappings and punishment shootings that happened the night before, I remember Bobby Sands dying eventhough I was quite young and being so sad. I had many nightmares that the UVF, or UDA were trying to kidnap my dad. I think everyone on the Island of Ireland was affected by the troubles in some way, but Im so sorry you experienced the bombing of Dublin, you were all very lucky to go home unscathed that day, over 300 injured and over 30 killed including a whole family and two little baby girls 😢
I am Irish, a Catholic and living in the republic of Ireland. I was never effected by the troubles personally although my mother was from Northern Ireland. I would consider myself very patriotic though only in the sense of the fact that I love being Irish and I love our culture. I may have a very
Innocent view of politics, but I think war is absolutely stupid and unnecessary. The fact that there was war in Northern Ireland is due to England's greed for power. And of course that will lead to retaliation and uprisings etc And as you say innocent people lives being lost. I am not saying what the Irish did in retaliation ( was right) it was far from right, but then it was very wrong on both sides . What I am saying however is it wouldn't have happened at all if England hadn't invaded the country in the first place. Wars wether they are here in Ireland or any other country are usually started by ( one) country. It is the same as what's going on now between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine have to defend themselves as they are being attacked. And innocent people are losing their lives. The same old story, just different countries. I honestly don't know why countries have to go to War. I suppose it's just greed for power. It's like people fighting over private land for years, families that is and they fall out never talking to one another again and then they die of natural causes etc and the land is still there but they're not. That's why war in any country makes no sense. It is as simple as that to me. I wonder about the need for war all the time. It makes no sense to me. We are not going to here forever none of us, so why can't we all just get along. As I said, maybe an innocent point of view, but my view. God bless.
Think you’ve more to worry about in Dublin today than those big bad Protestants…
@@barneymagee3285 That started up the top of O'Connell Street & moved down as far as the Quays. During the troubles, the bombings could & DID happen outside of the city centre. The number of times there were emergency evacuations from local shopping centres and pubs because the "Trademark" phone call was placed was received by the shopping centre/pub! I'm talking the suburbs during the troubles. So, no, I don't see you point at all!
The IRA killed more civilians during the troubles than all Loyalist paramilitaries & the British army combined. Don’t think you’d have much to worry about other than the IRA bombs that was going off trying to wipe out anyone including kids.
Sensitive topic for all Irish people on both sides. It wasn t just about religion, it was also due to discrimination in the north against catholics receiving work and the presence of british soldiers stationed in northern counties. Real strife was ugly result of colonisation. X
These videos did an alright job talking about the modern Troubles, but REALLY glossed over how they started.
despite it's bias, I'm surprised it admitted that the Ulster Plantation was colonisation, and not just "migrants".
Very true!
Very biased video if you listen to it it’s like he mocks Bobby sands very subtly but I noticed it, when he says Bobby died
England’s role in the potato famine went far past mismanagement
Does the word "GENOCIDE" ring a bell!????? Famine my ass! 🤬✌️
Genocide
The 'famine' was a planned genocide by the btit government.
@freebeerfordworkers Nonsense, while the Irish were starving. The English land stealers sent tons of food to England. Look up the exports of food to England during the famine
Famine happened in most countries , it’s only the Irish that whine about it for hundreds of years..
It’s easy to conflate English Rule with the English people. The English / British ruling class acted on their own behalf throughout history, they did not represent the views of most ordinary Brits. The Irish famine was made much worse by the actions of the anglo Irish ruling group, who didn’t care how many starved as long as they continued to make profits from grain sales - grain that could not be afforded in ireland
yeah the brits are a fine people even if there food is a bit bland
edit im jokeing
In my experiences, Joe Soap Englishman is as sound as any you'd meet, especially the Northerners.
The silver spoon, Eaton educated and aristocracy types are the ones who make my shxt itch. I just do not understand how the British public can sit back passively and watch these types who are currently pillaging and destroying your country.
You badly need a French style revolution over there...guillotine et al.
The Famine was, more than anything, architected by the British government and their Laissez-Faire Malthusian economics, sprinkled with anti-Irish sentiment and the greed of landlords.
@kellynolen498 haha bladder because it's not fake like anerican😂
Queen Victoria gave £3.00 to the Genocide relief Fund. At the same time she gave £5.00 to the Battersee Dogs Home. What does that tell you about the British government and the so called "royal family".
My gran is from Co. Antrim, and my mum remembers going over (from Scotland) to visit family through the 70s and 80s. She recounts it as visiting a war zone and I would say thinking of the troubles as a civil war is a very good way of understanding what was going on.
In the UK the general consensus is 'IRA = Terrorists / British Army = defenders & peace keepers'. But it was alot more complicated than that and horrendous atrocities where committed by both Republicans and loyalists - for every 'Omagh bomb' there was a 'Bloody Sunday'. Ultimately? Catholic or protestant - it was Northern Irelands civilian population that suffered most.
❤ 100%
The data confirms 98.98 % of all troubles harm was at hand of ira terrorists.. Terminate faith schools terminates division.
British army also commented atrocities and we're never charged with murder, rape erc
Omagh was carried out by a splinter group not aligned with the provos, I agree bad has been done on both sides but the difference we faced the legal consequences the British army did not
If you want a deeper unbiased view on the troubles, there is a 6 part series looking at the troubles. It was made as part of the troubles at 50 anniversary. Its called spotlight on the troubles, a secret history and all 6 episodes are available on RUclips. It looks at everything that went on from the 60's until the good Friday agreement, with interviews from members of the IRA, UVF and British army.
Natasha I am amazed at this subject being raised yet again, if it causes people to start up again after all of the years that it took to get to the present
@@veronicawilliams7427 It's important to learn from the past, even when it's painful, to ensure that the next generation understands where they came from. And there is no better way than to learn from the people who were there at the time. If you took the time to watch the series I mentioned, you will see that those interviewed do not tell people to commit more sectarian violence, but instead tell you an unglamorized reality of what is an incredibly important part of our history and national identity. And gives clear and conscise information about how much effort all sides put into the peace process which has brought over 20 years of peace to Northern Ireland.
Fantastic. I'll be watching it today. Thank you. ✌️
@@veronicawilliams7427 it's called "history". 🤦♀️
I grew up in a loyalist part of Belfast during the Troubles. I've got a Catholic granny from County Sligo (in Southern Ireland). So I can understand both points of view. It's crazy what people can get used to. It seemed completely normal for us, to have bombs going off & people getting shot all the time & army checkpoints etc.. Luckily my 15 year old daughter has never known any of that part of our history. It wasn't until I thought about her upbringing compared to my own, that I realised how fucked up, our wee country was back in the day lol.
I am similar to you Matthew. I grew up with a Catholic Mum and a Protestant Dad in Liverpool. I met my partner who is also from a Loyalist part of Belfast, I spent a lot of time there over the years, she grew up through it all so I have always tried to understand things from both points of view. I have met many people in Belfast, from both sides of the divide and the one thing that has always struck me is how warm and friendly they are, in fact they are very like the people from my own city. I just hope that there is a permanent peace and that the people can move forward together because Man, they sure do deserve it 🙏
I was brought up in Ballymurphy but my granny was protestant and my father used to take us to the marches on the 12th for the spectacle and yellaman.
The peace was long overdue and let's hope it stays this way, but the extremists on the Loyalist side are drumming up fear because of Brexit.
Ironically the part of the UK they most relate to want Independence and voted to remain in Europe.
They may call themselves Ulster Scots rather than Irish, but they're not in tune with the Scots at all.
@@gastrickbunsen1957 You are aware that the Scots came from Ireland.
@@iriscollins7583
I am, yes.
But, the dyed in the wool "Ulster men" are not.
The name of Scotland comes from an Irish tribe but, even though their families have been in Ireland for more than 400 years, some protestants refuse to call themselves Irish.
now I understand Zombie song much more
For anyone watching this and developing an opinion, bear in mind, without excusing or justifying any of the killing, NONE of this would have happened if Britain had left Ireland alone.
800 years ago!
I lived in London through the Troubles and was within a mile or within 30 minutes of where more than half a dozen big bombs went off. I always supported a unified Ireland, but consider myself lucky I was never directly affected. I hope the peace lasts and resolutions are found that are satisfactory to the population of Northern Ireland.
Loving these reaction vids Steve, hope you’re learning a lot about the UK and Ireland so far. Can’t wait for you to do a reaction to the top 10 things to see/do in Belfast or indeed Northern Ireland as most of the “UK” or “British” themed videos seem to only really focus on England and excludes Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.
Thanks for taking this one on. A very scary time in our history.
The videos good for a brief outline but definitely worth digging deeper into a lot of the points in the video.
As an aside you rightly highlight the “civilian”deaths during the troubles and I would recommend listening to and watching the music video by the Cranberiies a song called zombie. (About the very sad death of two young children )
The majority of Irish people wanted a United Ireland, the minority Unionists/Loyalists didn't, they got their own way and divided our country. The IRA were NOT the only terrorists operating at the time or the only ones killing innocent civilians, that started with Britain's state sponsored terrorists, the Black and Tans forcing the division of our country to placate a
minority of bigots, whose own terrorists, the UVF and UDA, murdered people on both sides of the border, but not in mainland Britain, because the British, mainly the Tories, gave in to their demands.
The Home Rule Act gave Ireland limited autonomy, pretty much on a par with a county council.
@@geoffpoole483 Ireland is independent. Hardly a county council.
@@dyreadtheyre talking about the home rule act, not the now autonomous irish state. The home rule act would have given very minimal freedoms to the irish government on what they could decide on, basically limiting their power to internal affairs.
But the home rule act never got implemented due to WWI (even though alot of irish men went to fight in the war at the promise of the bill being implemented after the war if they fought for england). we instead got the government of ireland act in the 1920s which made ireland a part of the common wealth and was a spring board to get the country to an independent Republic
@davebrayfb tell that to micheal collins and all of the the pro treaty government that accepted the anglo irish treaty. While they may not have ever had moral the right to legislate for ireland as they were colonialists, that does not mean that the legislation they passed did not have real life and practical implications.
To give you an idea how pointless the killing was, my Mum's uncle was shot dead outside his shop. He was a Catholic and he was only killed because a protestant shopkeeper had been killed by the IRA earlier, and then a protestant gunman wanted to get revenge for that protestant shopkeeper whom he had never even met, so he killed a random Catholic shopkeeper he also didn't know and that was my great uncle.
That's disgusting. People that kill innocent people are the lowest of the low no matter what side of an issue someone is on.
@@reactingtomyroots There is a group called the shankill butchers you can look into ,but i don't blame you if you don't.They were a loyalist gang who killed catholics just for being catholic.
@@reactingtomyroots It was an horrendous time all round Steve. Many of the terrorists (on both sides) were little more than armed thugs who, in many cases probably didn't really know what they were fighting for :(
I'm from Belfast and grew up there I remember one day on the lower End of Newtown Ards road 40 Car Bombings went off plus many more from Bangor Hillsborough Shankill I've been dead 9 times so you can quess my opinions expressed Newtown Ards I was only 10 mins after my hair cut and a 500pound bombing as for the English bastard's they call me white Niggers and Semtex Bog Trotter White Trashed and leprechaun Navies Paddy's English bastard's we're both as Bad as eachother my own family have murdered my old school friend Philip Strickland and Lisa Dorrien I know because I was there my hands on Lisa Dorrien body in a barrel fuckin drugs don't work Evil bastard's
As for castle Reagh terror centre United Nations weren't happy neither am I English bastard's
Interestingly, I think his - the narrator's - accent has an Australian (antipodean at any rate) twang. It is certainly neither an Ulster (The North) nor a Southern Irish accent.
Yes he definitely sounds like an Aussie or maybe New Zealand
It's Feature History, Australian. - He's made a bunch of really good history videos
Definitely Aussie I am A Kiwi so I should know😂
Born and raised in Derry and was never involved in any paramilitary forces. I was hijacked and was made drive a bomb to fort George in Derry. The RUC battered me and tried to make me drive it away. I refused and was kicked and punched. The whole base had to be evacuated and I was held in a police vehicle for 6 hours. If you want to hear more details let me know.
I grew up in Belfast during the troubles. The best thing to do is try not to understand what went on. It stirs up a lot of emotions especially in those experts who weren't there at the time.
I was born in 98 in Dublin so I wasn't there but as a teenager and as adult I lived in ulster on both sides of the border and have close friends in both camps that were there for the worst of it and hearing there stories don't you think it's best study what happened and so are sons don't make the mistake are father's did
That BBC programme / once upon a time in the north was amazing / so much regret from ol’fells on both sides.
Sinn Fein think they’ve won - but currently losing support in the republic.
Realistically - if I was a loyalist in the 50s/60s - I’d have seen the south as a backward church run state ( it was), but now most educated, middle class loyalists can see that the ‘south’ is more socially and economically progressive than tne ‘mainland’.
As for culturally diehard unionists - there isn’t the money for a ‘fight’
I’d love an island where orange men can March, beat lambay drums, burn millions of pallets, but do it as tradition, without hate.
My best mate - Irish army, became great friends with a Glasgow Rangers British soldier in the Leb / we’re all just folk.
@@irishstoner.9893 💯
If we don't know our history, we can't ever protect our future, ever.
I'd got off the train in Manchester at about 10.45 on Saturday 15th June 1996 to meet a friend for lunch, she worked at Marks & Spencer's just about where the 3300+ lb bomb went off at about 11.15. We missed lunch and she was unhurt, I was also unhurt. As he said nobody was killed but many injured and the area around Corporation Street was devastated. Absolutely awful and heartbreaking. We met up two weeks later and had lunch and a few drinks in Manchester. The city has rebuilt and is growing fast with lots of exiting new buildings and businesses along with a thriving night life and social culture. The rebuilding of the bombed area sort of spread out and is still spreading. The city had been a bit dormant after WW11 and the collapse of the textile and other industries. Always was and is an exiting city.
Aye, I remember it well.
Used to joke and say the IRA had detonated a bomb in the city centre and caused a £1,000,000 worth of improvements...
I'll never forget that, the post box was still there intact after the bomb, although they replaced it later.
@@paulleach3612 it's hard to make Manchester even worse
Aww you poor thing
@@von269 😀😀
Steve, thanks for putting this up. It was a very good video. As you say, it is very complicated, and barely comprehensible to an outsider. Thanks again.
I went to Belfast before the pandemic as my husband lived there during the troubles, there are many walls still there and we went to areas he remembered not being allowed to go to, as you never crossed to the other side,
I have lived in Co. Cork all my life. My husband is American. He asked me many questions about the troubles. Told him all I knew which I had learned from the daily news on Tv. I have been to Belfast several times in recent years. A few years, myself and my husband and his sister visited Belfast; it was then that they learned the real story of the troubles. We visited sites of fierce battles and bombings, causing loss of lives and serious injuries. Belfast is a wonderful city today. We visited Derry city last year and we had a guided tour at sites of major battles.
You also have to add 1441 British army deaths on top of that 3500. I think it’s probably a higher total than that overall
the total number killed including soldiers was 3, 720
@@georgebarnes8163 still 1441 soldiers killed. Tbh it’s a waste of lives which ever side you look from
@@leeburwood3073 Of course it is, but the IRA are still out there and are still a threat, their last bomb attacks were only back in 2019 so not that long ago.
@@leeburwood3073 shouldn't have been there then. you dont open fire on civilians, collude with RUC, UDR and loyalist terrorists and expect people to ignore it. its interesting how he Brits ALWAYS paint themselves as victims when recent court cases show collusion with loyalist terrorists.
@@artl7796 Yeah accept the troop deployment was supported by the NI government and both the loyalists and PIRA blow the British army out of the water in terms of civilian killings, even when collisions estimates are included
Ah, yes, The Troubles.
Trouble was, we were a Catholic family living in Belfast, while my father served as an Army Officer, we lived off barracks, I went to a Protestant school, went through at least one bomb scare a week while out shopping, and knew that if any of us slipped up then a car bomb would likely be incoming...
That's a horrible way to experience childhood. I'm thankful the kids today no longer have to experience that level of violence and fear.
@@reactingtomyroots Its important to note that for most of the troubles ,the vast majority of people of the republic and the irish government didn't support the IRA and there aim was to overthrow the democratically elected government and replace it with a socialist dictatorship.Unfortunately the young people have forgotten this ,but at the time they had little support. They were in no sense an arm of the Irish state.Most people in ireland would have supported an united ireland ,but not by the methods the IRA chose.
@@gallowglass2630 Yes only a tiny minority of hardliners in the Republic supported the actions of the I.R.A. British people dont seem to realise this. We were just as appalled by the violence as they were. We do generally hate the hardline loyalists though, lets be honest. Its hard not to hate the Paisleys and John Taylors and the that messed up mindset.
My uncle’s cousin was one of the “Disappeared”. One of the people who was kidnapped and murdered by the IRA. The cousin had no involvement with either side.
Not that you knew off. My dads best friend was in the IRA and he didnt know until he was killed.
Sometimes simply not choosing a side was considered a crime to the people of either side, who often had the mindset of "you're either with us or against us". As far as they're concerned if you don't join them you're part of the problem and so an enemy
It's important to remember as well that the population was only 1.5 million too so if you look at the 50,000 injured that's 1/300 people injured so huge direct impact on people.
Unfortunately innocent people will always be a consequence of War. RIP all those who lost their lives in this conflict and all conflicts.
Worth looking into ‘Stakeknife’. The IRA had a huge problem with people in their ranks becoming informers for the British. So they set up a group to seek out these moles. Just so happened that the head of this this group was Freddie Scappaticci - who was also the biggest informer for the Brits.
I was born in 1979 & grew up in a town only 9 miles outside Belfast, so this was just everyday life, it was normal to hear of bombs, riots, 'punishment beatings' etc & to see a huge presence of police & army, with their bulletproof vests & semi-automatic rifles etc, patrolling around both the towns & rural roads. The soldiers were always on camouflage & at times would be found lying along the edges of the roads in grass verves or in hedges.
Although Northern Ireland is Ulster, Ulster is not just Northern Ireland... N.I. has 6 Counties, (Antrim, Down, Armagh, Fermanagh, Tyrone & Londonderry... Ulster has 9 Counties , the 6 from N. I. & 3 from the Republic, Donegal, Monaghan & Cavan.
It is technically the County Londonderry & City of Derry.
This also doesn't mention the killing of Lord Mountbatten in 1979. He was a distant cousin of the Queen & also uncle to Prince Philip.
It also doesn't mention the erecting of the 'Peace Lines', where republican/nationalist & loyalist/unionist neighbourhoods came together. The very 1st temporary 'Peace Wall' was placed in 1920s in Ballymacarrett & another in the 1930s in Sailortown but the main 'Peace Lines' were erected in 1969. These walls/fences between the 2 communities & are still in place today. There are more than 20 miles of them, mainly in Belfast but also in several other areas.
Also, though the media state the Omagh bombing killed 29 people, they don't always mention that these were all innocent people,just out shopping in the town on a Saturday morning, parents & kids etc out buying things they needed for school that was due to start just a couple weeks later. They also don't always mention that technically there were 31 people killed that day, as 1 woman killed was 8 months pregnant with twins...
This was on the TV so much when I was a kid. It felt like every week something awful happened. So glad my grand daughter won't have to live thru what we did.
It goes to show how important it is to learn your history
like most who are old enough to grow up in these times (either side) ,the fear of something was going to happen was always there , i remember the bombs and shootings ... 2 went off no more that 300 yards away from my family and myself in belfast .. i was maybe 10 at the time... i still remember the smell.... we were brought up to fear the other side ... as they were brought up to fear our side ..... ( the cranberries song,zombie is about this exact thing) .. ireland is a very different place now ..and the north of ireland is stunning ..relationships are much much stronger and better these days .. but those of us old enough to remember still fear the return of the old ways ...
That video was an endless string of facts delivered so fast that it was impossible to keep up. Added to that, he was half mumbling/ not articulating his words clearly. (btw he had an Australian accent.)
The narrator also got some of the names wrong... eg DPU instead of DUP
I just made a similar point before I read your comment Stu. You are absolutely right, and it entirely devalues the whole video.
Maybe Australian, but has a lot of American accent in there as well.
I'm 46. And I love in northern Ireland. And this video hurts me so much. I'm young enough to remember how bad things were. Yet I lived through the peace process
Quite a lot of tension has returned in recent years due to Brexit, for example there has been no parliament for most of this year in NI because some refuse to form one.
22:13 if i recall correctly, the bomb detonated in Manchester was the single largest bomb ever intentionally exploded on UK soil, the only reason nobody was killed was because the IRA telephoned in a warning about the bomb's presence
The guy who made the video is from Australia btw
As a young Soldier in the British army i was sent to N/Ireland in 1975, we were sent there as 'peacekeepers' or so we were told, i doubt the narrative changed at all within our government as this was after Bloody sunday and we were no longer peacekeepers to the population so ended up piggy in the middle, It was a horrible time and i'm afraid to admit that a minority in the RUC were just out to cause disruption and we bore the brunt of it, i grew up in north east England, our communities were mixed between Catholics and Protestants and we got along fine so it was hard to get your head around this religeous violence happening over there, I hated being there, as did many soldiers, we were sent to do a job we could never succeed in , for me Operation Banner was a mess, i was given a campaign medal which i threw in the North sea during leave at home.
You should check out the movie 'in the name of the father's starring Daniel Day Lewis. Absolutely brilliant movie about one of the of the IRA bombs in England.
When I was living in roscommon, a friend of mines daughter was asked by her school to do a family history project. It went back further than the troubles but it was amazing at the same time. Her great uncle on her mother's side was an RIC officer who was killed in Ballaghaderreen by the IRA, and her great uncle on her father's side was the IRA man who killed him.....
Awful
Thats the old IRA. Without the old IRA we would not have the independence we have. It was a war of independence.
@@dyread That is correct 100%
Brexit has opened the door to the possibility of a United Ireland, NI wanted to stay within the EU but the UK as a whole voted to leave.
One thing that the video didn't mention, aside from the death toll is the shear amount of bombings that happened during the trouble. Well over 10,000 bombs throughout the period of the Troubles. That's at least 1 bomb per day, every day for 30 years.. in an area that is smaller than the State of Connecticut. I drive within a 3 mile radius of my house and there's 12 different memorial plaques/sites that I know of as a result of people dying in roadside bombings.
Northern Ireland also holds a bizarre record of the most bombed building in the world, the Europa Hotel in Belfast.. Which has been bombed 36 times.
It was bloody auwful , remember all the bombings in England through the 80s and 90s just tragic all round . Mo molan was instrumental in ensuring a resolution an amazing lady I urge you to look into her . 🙂
A lady who sadly died all to soon.
I am English, from Manchester, and was born in the 80s so remember the troubles quite well...from an English perspective. By the way, my sisters were shopping in Manchester in 1996 when the IRA bombed it with the biggest bomb, in England, since WWII; they managed to get to their car and get out before the Police totally shut down the city. Scary times around then as the IRA had a lot of top quality Semtex explosives and some of the best bomb producers the world had ever seen. However, what England got, in terms of bombings, was a tiny fraction of what Northern Ireland got on an almost daily basis, especially in the 1970s and 80s - notwithstanding the constant shootings/assassinations. Those poor people really did suffer.
My father was the head altar boy at the bloody sunday funerals and had the foresight to save a newspaper and a mass card which we treasure to this day. My uncle was also a first aider on bloody sunday and there's some pictures of him on the day floating about the Internet. Both of them still remember vividly the events of those days and many many more
My mother was born in 1912 in Derry and died in the late 2000s. She lived through most of the conflict and was so happy to finally see peace in her lifetime 🙏
I went to school with a girl from Northern Ireland. Her family moved to Australia in 1972 and we were amazed to see how her experiences affected her. Every time. she heard a loud bang ( like balloon bursting etc). She would dive to the floor with her hands over her head.
Well, that’s a bit extreme. I think there was a bit of acting involved there.
Not really I lived in Germany and was with a girl from Belfast ,a car backfired and she hit the ground .she looked at me and said I forgot where I was.
@@TheNoSuchThingPodcastHow on earth can you judge someone who has been traumatised, a person you've never met and accuse them of acting? You know nothing about her mental state or how her experiences affected her. You've clearly never been through anything traumatic if you don't understand how that affects some people. That's great for you but how dare you make a statement like that about a complete stranger? Your arrogance is astounding.
@@faithpearlgenied-a5517 I grew up through the troubles. Heard bombs all the time, had friends brutally murdered, lived in constant fear and this is the very first time I’ve “ever” heard a person from Northern Ireland jumping to the ground when a car backfired. It was an every day way of life. You were so used to it it hardly registered. I’m thinking maybe the person in question has severe anxiety. But this is definitely a first on my 50 years, 30 of them spent on a warzone. That I have ever heard this. We never reacted like this because it wasn’t a shock to our system. We were used to it. If this person hit the ground every time she heard a bang on Northern Ireland every bone in her body would be broken
Its a very complex situation a member of my family was in the british army that went there , i always remember s photo in the 70’s of a catholic girl who had a prod boyfriend she was hung tarred an feathered. It was a terrible time
She wouldn’t have been hung tied to a lamppost more like
Please read more about the troubles, they've certainly lasted more than 50 years! So many more have died than stated in this video. It's very complex and breaks my heart.
Does anyone remember a military individual who was on guard duty at a british barracks in NI 2008 ordered a pizza and was shot dead by the delivery
Massereene barracks in Antrim town , two young off duty, unarmed soldiers murdered by the Ira, in a time of ‘peace’ , and ‘ceasefire’…
Two classic films to watch just for fun and remember that they are just films are "Brave Heart" & !The Quiet Man" am 56 and remember the troubles but I had the British news/properganga so only the one side of the coin as a child/teenager growing up!
I remember the London bombings when all rubbish bins were removed from the streets buses and trains I remember the fear of wondering where next when the 2 little boys were blown up. Difficult times.
i’m from the republic and i go to belfast fairly regularly and there are parts of belfast that i wouldn’t go through with a southern reg on my car (north and south have different reg’s). when my dad was younger he was staying in belfast with his mother and someone was shot outside their hotel, my dad turns 50 this year so that’s how recent the troubles were
My uncle was killed in the Dublin bomb which was planted by loyalists with a lot of help from the British army.
4 ex British military were only caught a few days ago set to bomb irish government buildings in the Republic
Really? Wow, that was a savage attack (as all indiscriminate attacks were) but that one was particularly bad
And the IRA planted no warning bombs in cafes. No one comes out of this shit with any glory or people like you who can't look at both sides of that horrible time.
Lies don't work
@@joprocter4573u must be a prod
While I was in the Army I had to go to NI 3 times on 6 month tours we did get shot at few times. But to be honest the way we looked at it was to help the innocent on both sides. As far as I know the song was writen after a Soldier gave his life to save the life of innocent people . ruclips.net/video/7NaKRwNSJyE/видео.html
Great song!
@@conallmclaughlin4545 I totaly understand why your feelings after something like that happening. I didn't really want to tell people this but the 1st time I went to NI I was 18 and only been there for 2 hrs and got shot by by a 22 round in the neck, But the way I look at it is thank god it wasn't a 7.62 round
The song was inspired by an event in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1971 Sergeant Michael Willetts of 3 PARA cleared a room in Springfield Road RUC Police Station of civilians because a bomb with a short burning fuse had been planted by the Provisional IRA. After the room had been cleared, an Inspector who helped local people flee then slammed the door to the room which contained the bomb, but realizing the door was not strong enough to absorb the blast, he pressed his body against the door, shielding the people on the other side. The charge exploded, and he was seriously injured.
Sgt Willetts whose post was actually down a hall heard the screams, instead of saving himself he choose to run toward the bomb after shouting orders to another soldier to evacuate upstairs. He was left with a man and woman with their two children. He pushed them into a corner and stood between them and the bomb. A chunk of metal from a locker was blasted into the back of his head and he died on the operating table two hours later.
As his and other bodies were carried out Irish Republican supporters clapped, jeered and sang rebel songs to the disbelief of other soldiers and police
@@crazydave53 WOW.. Such a selfless act. I am sure there are more stories (and hero's) like this that far outweigh the number of criminal acts done by the British Army at the time. Shame its only the bad apples that hit the headlines at the time.
@@andrewcoupe9528 very few ‘criminal acts’ were carried out by British soldiers , that was the speciality of the Ira terrorists.
There's a great move call Hunger which does a really good job of capturing a small part of what the troubles were like
I'd say it was a lot of things, political and national differences, fusing into religious differences, just descending into utter, us versus them chaos. I feel it's a case study everyone should learn about, lessons a few countries, the US included, could learn. To try and prevent disagreements ever turning into, this.
The Irish have been repressed, suppressed, depressed and oppressed for at least a thousand years but the Irish are resilient and tenacious- still here! 💚🤍🧡💚🤍🧡
Add ‘obsessed’….
Not obsessed. We have been and are still treated like dogs. It isn't as bad as it used to be but it still happens. The brits need to leave period.
I'm fine here.....
There was a massive info-dump in those two videos- I thik it would be worth finding additional videos which might fill out some of the details which were understandably rushed through.
I was born at the start of the '60's, and so for a huge part of my life The Troubles were there in the background, and The Good Friday Agreement seemed unbelievable when it came! Sadly there are still tensions in the region, and Brexit has made things a lot trickier, as Northern Ireland has left the EU, but Eire is still a member nation. Because of the cross border trade that happens, and must be secured, this has caused a lot of issues to rise to the surface again. It's so important that this is resolved before everything goes bad again!
The Easter Rising is worth exploring in greater detail. The British journalist Peter Taylor made a lot of programmes on Northern Ireland; his interview with the late Brendan Duddy who was a go-between between the British government and the IRA is fascinating. With regard to the potato famine, in the 1840's government aid or welfare was very limited and many politicians thought the market economy would solve a nation's problems. The tragedy of the potato famine proved them wrong.
Potato famine ? I just found out a few years as I got a plumber to come to house and he was Irish, I said "poor Irish that potato famine was awful" He said "yes there was a potato blight, but we had other vegetables growing and the British army came and took all the vegetables" not what I was taught at school. I believed him, he told me that with passion his family had suffered greatly. I'm in Australia
I was at university in London in the early 1970s. I was in the student union bar which overlooked Euston Station.and I suddenly saw a cloud of dust and debris fly out of the station although I didn’t hear anything. I can remember hearing one or two bombs going off and I saw the Post Office Tower, at the top of which a bomb had gone off. However, with the foolishness of youth, I don’t ever remember being worried.
1996 when I came back to the UK from 9 Years in Holland, I went to a UK Collage to get some qualifications in Electronics, Programing, IT and Computer Aided Design (CAD). The internet was new; I still remember the first website I came across when I was looking for information on Radiation and how to make a bunker with all of the filters. The Website said: If you are a member of the IRA please do not access this site, at the time I didn't know who they were; I clicked on it and came across 2 schematics (Down to the nuts and bolts) for 2 devices, 1 requiring Plutonium and the other Uranium. 1 Year later I knew who they were.
Bobby Sands ('Slimmer of the Year' in 1981)... I was on my second 'tour of duty' in Ulster at the time...
My uncle was a police officer in Northern Ireland during the 80s. At that time it was the most dangerous place in the world to be a police officer
To live! I remember having to be relocated as a child, several times!
It also was the most dangerous place in the world to be a catholic. Wrongs were done on both sides of the divide and it’s great that no sane person would want our society to go back to our joint dark past.
RUC scum
I'm from London UK and yes I grew up ever watchful of bombs as the army barracks and the pub nearby were bombed having said that I and not bias one way or the other. The Irish need to find the own peace, it is a very complicated subject and the only way to understand it properly, is to go there and listen to both sides.
During my career in Cinema management in the early 1970s I was duty manager one night when an executive from head office called in to see how the latest confectionery promotion was going. The phone rang and it was an Irish accented voice saying that a bomb had been planted on our premises. I thought to myself that it must surely be a hoax but we were not allowed the luxury of exercising our own possibly deficient judgement and the staff and I evacuated the premises quickly.
This cinema was a very large one in West London notable for a very large Irish population, and indeed a good proportion of our staff were from the Republic. The police were unable to find anything, and the only thing that the hoaxer had achieved was just a spoiled evening’s entertainment for the audience. However, this was in the days when bombs were going off regularly and ordinary people were being mutilated and/or killed. The Irish staff were just as irate and disgusted by the whole waste of time as the British born. A certain female Nationalist MP visited the area on one occasion to address the locals in the open air and we were told by the police later that she attracted a minimal number.
I know you don’t react to music videos but the following music video is relevant. Zombie by The cranberries, it’s very powerful and was released at the time of the conflict. I would love your reaction to this iconic song . ❤
The troubles impacted so much on all of the UK, growing up bomb threats were quite a common occurrence and so forth - not just for those in northern Ireland
13 people on a peace march and 13 shot dead for no reason. By British soldiers... that guy passed that quickly
He passed everything quickly: it was a rapid summary of 30+ years.
“ peace march “ but didn’t ‘Marty’ admit he was armed with a Thompson gun on the day…
@@barneymagee3285 there was no guns they same paratroopers murdered a priest and a old woman only a few weeks earlier up the road
This was more a list of events than an explanation of the troubles.
I grew up in London in the 70s and my parents would be worried I might get blown up if I would go into the centre alone.
I remember being in my aunt's car with her and mum and they were rushing me to hospital because I was having an asthma attack. The army stopped us at gunpoint, put us out of the car and searched us and the car, I nearly died. I'm Catholic, my aunt was born in England although raised here in the North of Ireland, the only reason why we were let go. Both sides have innocent blood on their hands. Ironically, Sinn Fein are now the main party and DUP are refusing to share government with them and stormont has collapsed. As a result people, children are dying. Hospitals are closing all because loyalists are no longer the main party. A shift is happening but innocent people are still dying but this time because of poverty.
The IRA was funded mainly by the USA, but it's not something many Americans know about, thanks for another fascinating and informative video
The US themselves didn’t fund the IRA, Irish communities did .
@@joey0988 I don't, I am very much on the side of the Irish and very aware of how awfully we treated the Irish throughout the past 800+ years
@@mattyfrommacc1554 you have been propagandised.
@@tinytank6642 and Irish American companies such as MacDonalds.
@@tinytank6642ps. Yes they did via several Irish American presidents
It's not even about religion, it's an ethnic conflict.
The Ulster plantation (6 out of 9 counties) was never designed to encourage integration. It was designed for the opposite outcome.
@@McCRBen of course not, the Scots were sent there to colonise the place and have a firm British identity
i was in a car outside edware tube station when the bomb went of with the radio saying there were bombs on buses i had three buses boxing me in when all the passengers were ordered off very frightening
I grew up in London in the 80s ..we had shit yeah but we never blamed the Irish, in fact I married a Irish girl 3 children all grown up now, I love Ireland my great nan was Irish , other side great nan Scottish, rest English..
FeatureHistory makes some great videos, and he's got an Australian accent
The Warrenpoint ambush is actually called narrow water massacre its just beside where i live. The troubles was an awful time to grow up for both Catholic and protestant people
His accent is either Aussie or British, hard to tell but as an Aussie im pretty sure he's one of us
Quite interesting to watch an American watching this. It has made me wonder if the US is sleepwalking into similar sectarianism and "troubles" in a similar vein. It brings to mind George Santayana/Winston Churchill/Edmund Burke - Those that cannot remember the past...
You need to watch the movie 'In the name of the Father" with Daniel Day Lewis. It's based on the Gifford bombing that is mentioned in this video 🇮🇪
It’s the Guildford Bombing.
Britains involvement in Ireland has been nothing but tragedy ,murder and suffering and as far as I know is not thought in British history as most of the british people I've met know zip about this
As someone who grew up in Newry right on the boarder with ROI during the troubles it was a case of life has to go on even thou most weeks something happened.
My then girlfriend lost her leg in the bombing of a nightclub by the US NORAID funded IRA. She committed suicide aged 26 as she could live with her "disability"
the bombings had a massive effect on everyone, 47,000 people were injured in one way or the other and almost everyone in Northern Ireland has a story to tell about the IRA bombings, terrible thing that happened to your Ex.
@@georgebarnes8163 I remember the girl who was trapped and died in a hole created by a bomb. She was incredibly brave, but they could not get her out before she died. I also remember a time in London at an army band service when there was an IRA bomb went off and one of the soldiers horses tried to get up, but wasn’t aware that it had been blown in half. There was an a foiled IRA attempt to kill the Queen’s horses. Shocking times. The IRA even tried to blow up an army recruitment office in Leicester, but the bomb fell off the army vehicle, nobody was killed. Thank goodness. I live there and it was too close to home, i felt sick.
@@sophiemaya3153 the British once drove a tank into a stadium and killed many innocent civilians including children
@@jaotick yes, I know, there were so many barbaric things going on in those days.
That's so sad. I'm sorry. 💔
US Presidents at the time tended to ignore the export of guns & Semtex to the IRA.
I wonder if Biden realised his gaff early on in his presidency about Britain/Ireland and Brexit.
Also, too many Americans (including Biden's family, I suspect - see above) gave money to the IRA without understanding the consequences.
And ?
@@andykane9866 parts of the US where funding it that's why. Seek the truth PLSE!
Semtex for Americans = c4
Lots of Irish around the world helped wasn't presidents ignoring anything
My dad served 2 tours in Northern Ireland when he was in the army it was a messed up time it was believed that round about 1500 British soldiers died in Northern Ireland that’s more British soldiers than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. And that’s only soldiers never mind the added number of civilians
I suggest you do some reading. This is a very complicated subject. Start with “making sense of the troubles”. At first Catholics were marching for civil rights but the point became an all Ireland due to security force blunders (ballymurphy massacre, falls curfew, Bloody Sunday) although there was a nationalist movement from the start and there had been since Northern Ireland’s inception
“ civil rights” my @rse..
There is a great movie about the Bobby Sands led hunger strike, called Hunger-Starring Michael Fassbender in an early leading role.
As an English older millennia. I remember when Al khalida went Jahdi in the 2000s and turning round to my friends saying that they didn't worry me anyway near as much as the IRA did. This got general agreement.
Hey, great video! Northern Irish unionist here. It’s hard to get a video without bias on the troubles but this one did a fairly good job at it. The one thing it doesn’t get across is just how big the cultural divide is. It may have been a Protestant/Catholic divide a long time ago, but it hasn’t been that for a long while, especially as the younger generation (I’m 22) are a lot less religious than those that came before. However, the cultural/identity divide is as big as ever. Warning for generalisations ahead. I’m British and would never describe myself as Irish (I correct people if they ever say that) and many on the “other side” feel the same way in reverse (plus many nationalists just use the term Ireland to describe here and refuse to say “Northern Ireland”). We have different cultural celebrations, identify with the British/Irish anthems and flags respectively, unionists tend to support the royal and family and celebrate their special occasions, nationalists tend to feel neutral towards them and ignore them or actively dislike them, I could count the number of times I’ve been to the Republic of Ireland on one hand, whilst I would be on the UK mainland numerous times every year, for nationalists it’s often the reverse. I can’t get it across without writing a novel, but that’s just a flavour of it. As you said, the nation you identify with is something that stirs a lot of passion and feeling. It’s particularly intense in our wee country.
Finally a comment that addresses the cultural aspect
I feel like it's slightly biased to the Unionist side as it fails to mention a lot of important but minor details such as how he says after the Manchester bombing "Surprisingly nobody died". He knowingly, completely ignores and fails to state how the IRA generally warned about bombs before blowing them up.
@@cubethelad8394 It is in that case and referencing segregation as if it was a natural process rather than being policy of the northern devolved government.
@@gallowglass2630 True. There needs to be the context of gerrymandering to explain why the civil rights marches kicked off. He also fails to explain that Catholics attempted to gain civil rights peacefully but it didn't work which explains why it escalated so quickly.
Do you not notice that when you go to your “mainland” that the people view you as Irish and not British. The British have no clue about Northern Ireland and that even shows at government level. Brexiteers don’t care about Ireland in any way.
I would suggest you increase your visits to Ireland (nobody says Republic of Ireland) and see how there’s more connection than you realise. Northern affairs covered more in Irish media etc.
Its called the Famine, Gort mór ( great hunger in irish) not the potato famine!
Sick hearing about it tbh.
My uncle served 3 tours in Northern Ireland through the 70's and 80's, he saw a lot of things that haunted him for the rest of his life. He never really talked about it much, but when he did, it sounded horrible. He talked of being shot at by the IRA in streets full of civilians and having to investigate car bomb aftermaths. He remembered the "Droppin' well" bomb massacre in 1982 where 11 off duty soldiers and 6 civilians were killed. All of them just having an ordinary night out. He was understanding of what the IRA wanted, but he hated them so much for their methods and what they did to all the innocent people they killed in the crossfire. I think he also had a lot of regrets from it and was conflicted about what he was doing there. In all reality there were no good sides in the troubles, some may have had noble causes but only ended up killing countless innocent civilians in the process. Truly a sickening and shameful time in the history of these islands, for everyone involved.
The United Kingdom is such a complex nation, not just in recent years but going back 100s of years, even today Im learning about my countries history that I know nothing about...
It is complex but I like living here!😂
Kudos for actually wanting to learn. At least 52% have a beer goggled, romantic view of the Empire not actually knowing what it was. The education system is to blame for that
Well the video is also about Ireland which is not in the UK.
My elser son was at Birmingham University when the pub bombings where done. I was distraught of quite a long time whilst that was going on. One of my colleauges in the Court in England had gone to visit her family and was caught up in a large car bombing. which killed women and children a pregnant woman as well..none of whom where just crossing the street at the same time the ITAm detonated the bomb
My ex's sister husband and 5 children moved over to Ireland. They were looking for a house to rent and had stopped in Dublin for food. They were gone max 1 1/2 hour's and returned to everything stripped from their car. Took babies bottles the lot.
They found out it was because they had an English number plate. So they traded it in for scrap and bought a second hand Irish reg. The eventually bought a house in county Mayo.
Outside British Isles there was also Troubles spill-over onto Mainland Europe with IRA attacks on British military installations in Belgium, Netherlands, West Germany and Gibraltar.
And Dublin which is not part of the British Isles no matter what you say.
As a teenager growing up in London during the 1980's I remember people being terrified of not knowing what the IRA were going to blow up next. Woolwich in South London had the infamous Woolwich pub bombings and I distinctly remember the the Grand Hotel bombing in Brighton. I heard the blast from the Canary Wharf bomb. I had my bedroom windows open and heard the explosion. We were probably 5 miles or so away.
I grew up in the Midlands, and was so un-nerved by the Birmingham Pub Bombings, that still to this day I feel spooked if I am in Birmingham City Centre- which I know is ridiculous, but the feelings remain!
The reason those places were bombed was because the IRA realised that they could erase Belfast off the face of the earth with bombs and nobody in Westminster or London or England cared one bit. In the grand scheme of the troubles, there was very few bombings in England but they got attention in a way that no bombings in Northern Ireland did.
I was at university in York, going out with a lass from Warrington, when the IRA bombed Warrington in 1993, killing 2 children and injuring 56 others. I very distinctly remember my girlfriend as she tried desperately phoning all the people she could think of to check if they were okay (they all were, luckily - but several of her family's neighbours were not so fortunate). To this day, I've never seen such a terrified look of panic like I did that day and I hope I never will again.
I remember Canary Wharf bombing and so scared
Growing up in the north I was afraid of getting gunned down by a random unionist with guns supplied but the British police.
I worked with a girl who was injured in the pub (tavern in the town ) bombing in Birmingham her boyfriend was killed
my childhood memories of Manchester city centre is all cranes and construction - they spent a decade rebuilding the destruction caused in 1996 by the IRA setting off a 1,500KG bomb - the biggest bombing of England since the Germans in WW2.
If you search for "Warographics Ireland" on youtube the top 4 results should explain Irish history pretty well for the past few hundred years.
And very well explained too, more fact and less propaganda / popular (simple) explanation, though this video was as unbiased as any IMO
it covers the famine, the easter rising, the war of independence and the civil war to the troubles. If you think the troubles were painful, you NEED to see the rest.
Free Derry, Also known as the Bogside.
Knew the man who was the boy in the gasmask on one of the famous murals, He died a few years ago. :(
Y. Good videos. Just watched them.
Innocent men woman and even children even died its a sad situation I'm from Northern Ireland and as a kid remember my father's car being checked coming across the border.
Having been deployed several times during my military career (1978-2008) it felt as though no matter what we did we were wrong. The IRA were no different to the Sicilian Mafia, being involved in raising funds in certain major cities in America with a large ex-pat Irish community, which funded arms purchases etc though Gaddafi tended to supply them free of charge.
The IRA, for all their idealistic claims, were nothing more than a bunch of terrorists coupled with running drugs, prostitution, “punishment” beatings (RUclips censorship would not allow me to describe the things they did, it was beyond cruel sadism), robbing businesses, enforcing “protection” payments, you know - typical mafia, but with even fewer morals.
Would love to provide some background about experiences but between RUclips censorship and the Official Secrets Act it would be pointless. It’s a relief that things have improved enormously, but after Brexit it’s already started off some attacks by whatever the IRA are now called. Don’t believe for one second that 1996 was the end of the fighting as it’s continued regardless, just not at the same intensity as before and the IRA have plenty of hidden weapons caches if they decide they’re not getting their way.
Edit - troops are not the right choice for carrying out police duties, unless it’s the UN keeping the peace between two recognised combatants, but when it’s civilians using religion as a pretext then the military aren’t the ones to do that job. I’m still surprised that so few civilians were killed by the military despite the constant provocation and sniping but that’s the result of damn good training.
Catch yourself on. The official secrets act? Really?
It’s no secret that the UDR and the RUC colluded with the loyalist paramilitaries and that the military intelligence branch fed the loyalists with names of people they’d prefer to no longer exist. Its no secret that the total number of state sponsored killings is probably higher that what has been exposed. It’s no secret that catholics/nationalists were imprisoned without crime or without trial.
It’s a real shame that a lot of the actions of the British establishment in the North of Ireland are covered by the Official Secrets Act because if the truth were told, there’d be no hiding places (other than prison cells) for the people who ordered and facilitated such brutal acts and treated the North of Ireland as it’s own military training ground.
Can't believe they didn't mention the Warrington bombings, 2 babies killed, came very close to levelling half the town with the gasworks bomb (if that had worked properly I wouldn't be here) and killed a cop.