What did the civil rights movement want?

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, founded in 1967, campaigned peacefully for equal rights within Northern Ireland, not for a united Ireland. Its demands included one man one vote in local elections, an end to gerrymandering, fair housing allocation, an end to job discrimination, the repeal of the Special Powers Act, and the disbanding of the B Specials, summed up in the slogan British rights for British citizens.

Why was internment such a turning point?

Internment without trial, introduced in August 1971, was meant to weaken the IRA but did the opposite. Because it targeted almost only nationalists, relied on out-of-date intelligence and detained the wrong people, it boosted IRA recruitment and convinced the nationalist community that the state was its enemy. It led directly to the anti-internment march that ended in Bloody Sunday and to the fall of Stormont, a classic unintended consequence.

Why did Sunningdale fail but the Anglo-Irish Agreement survive?

The Sunningdale power-sharing Executive of 1974 fell because it lacked unionist consent, expressed in the Ulster Workers' Council strike that cut power and paralysed Northern Ireland. The Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, despite the Ulster Says No campaign, survived because it was a deal between two sovereign governments with no power-sharing Executive that a strike could bring down.

How did the peace process lead to the Good Friday Agreement?

A recognition that the conflict could not be won by force opened the way to politics. The Downing Street Declaration of 1993 set out the principle of consent, the ceasefires of 1994 created space to negotiate, and inclusive multi-party talks under George Mitchell produced the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement of 10 April 1998, with power-sharing institutions, North-South and British-Irish bodies, and the principle of consent, approved by referendums.

Northern IrelandHistory

CCEA GCSE History Changing Relations: Northern Ireland and its Neighbours 1965 to 1998, a complete local-study overview

A complete overview of CCEA's distinctive Northern Ireland local study, Changing Relations 1965 to 1998. Covers O'Neill and the civil rights movement, the escalation to British troops, internment and Bloody Sunday, Sunningdale, the hunger strikes and Anglo-Irish Agreement, and the peace process to the Good Friday Agreement.

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What this option demands
Origins: O'Neill and civil rights
Escalation to violence
Internment, Bloody Sunday and direct rule
Power-sharing and the 1980s
The peace process
Check your knowledge

What this option demands

Changing Relations: Northern Ireland and its Neighbours 1965 to 1998 is Section B of Unit 1, CCEA's distinctive local study and the part of the course found nowhere else. It examines the origins of the Troubles, the conflict itself, and the road to peace, tested through source and short-answer questions leading to an essay. The exam rewards precise dates and names, an understanding of how each event deepened or eased the conflict, and balanced judgement. This overview ties the dot-point pages together.

Origins: O'Neill and civil rights

The story opens with discrimination against the nationalist minority in housing, jobs and the local franchise, and with Terence O'Neill's cautious reforms from 1963. NICRA, founded in 1967, campaigned peacefully for equal rights, not a united Ireland. O'Neill's reforms satisfied neither side, and he resigned in 1969.

Escalation to violence

Civil rights marches escalated through the Derry march of October 1968, the Burntollet ambush of January 1969 and the Battle of the Bogside, until British troops were deployed in August 1969. The crisis also produced the Provisional IRA.

Internment, Bloody Sunday and direct rule

Internment without trial in August 1971 backfired, boosting the IRA. Bloody Sunday on 30 January 1972, when soldiers shot dead thirteen unarmed marchers, made normal politics impossible, and Stormont was suspended and direct rule introduced in March 1972.

The Sunningdale Agreement of 1973 created a power-sharing Executive and a Council of Ireland, brought down by the loyalist Ulster Workers' Council strike of 1974. The 1981 hunger strikes and the death of Bobby Sands drove the rise of Sinn Fein, and the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 gave the Republic a consultative role, surviving the Ulster Says No campaign.

The peace process

The Downing Street Declaration of 1993, the ceasefires of 1994 and inclusive talks under George Mitchell produced the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement of 10 April 1998, with power-sharing institutions and the principle of consent, approved by referendums.

CCEA's distinctive Northern Ireland local study runs from Terence O'Neill and the civil rights movement, through the escalation to violence and the deployment of British troops in 1969, internment in 1971 and Bloody Sunday in 1972, the fall of Stormont and direct rule, the failed Sunningdale power-sharing experiment brought down by the Ulster Workers' Council strike of 1974, the 1981 hunger strikes and the rise of Sinn Fein, the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 and the Ulster Says No campaign, to the peace process. The Downing Street Declaration of 1993, the ceasefires of 1994 and inclusive talks under George Mitchell produced the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, with power-sharing institutions and the principle of consent. The thread throughout is the rise and fall of trust and the slow learning that no settlement could last without the consent of both communities.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall questions covering the whole option. Attempt them, then check the solutions.

When was NICRA founded and what did it want? (2 marks)
What happened at Burntollet Bridge in January 1969? (1 mark)
When were British troops deployed and why? (2 marks)
Why did internment backfire? (2 marks)
What happened on Bloody Sunday, and what followed for Stormont? (2 marks)
What brought down the Sunningdale power-sharing Executive? (1 mark)
Who was Bobby Sands and what was the political effect of the 1981 hunger strikes? (2 marks)
Name three institutions created by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. (3 marks)

Solutions

Q1: Founded in 1967, NICRA campaigned peacefully for equal rights within Northern Ireland, including one man, one vote, not a united Ireland.
Q2: A People's Democracy march was ambushed by loyalists with stones and clubs while the police gave little protection.
Q3: In August 1969, because order had collapsed in the Battle of the Bogside and in Belfast and the exhausted RUC could not cope.
Q4: It targeted almost only nationalists on poor intelligence, detained the wrong people, and boosted IRA recruitment, the reverse of its aim.
Q5: On 30 January 1972 soldiers shot dead thirteen unarmed marchers in Derry; in March 1972 Stormont was suspended and direct rule introduced.
Q6: The loyalist Ulster Workers' Council strike of May 1974, which cut power and paralysed Northern Ireland.
Q7: A republican hunger striker elected an MP who died in 1981; the strikes drove the rise of Sinn Fein into electoral politics.
Q8: Any three: a power-sharing Assembly and Executive, a North-South Ministerial Council, and a British-Irish Council.

Sources & how we know this

CCEA GCSE History specification — CCEA (2017)