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As paramilitary groups began to grow in size and support, splits began to emerge within some of them.

‘I Ran Away’ was an accusation levelled at the IRA because of its failure to defend Catholics during the violence of 1969.

Since the ending of its border campaign in 1962, the IRA had become more interested in Marxism.

However, some of its younger members were unhappy with this and wanted to take matters into their own hands, particularly the defence of nationalist areas.

Towards the end of 1969, therefore, the IRA membership split and two new groups emerged: the Official IRA (OIRA) and the Provisional IRA (PIRA).

• Made up mainly of older IRA members.

• More interested in setting up an Irish Republic that would be run along Marxist lines.

• Not as involved in the use of violence as the Provisional IRA, but until the group declared a ceasefire in May 1972 they still regarded violence as an option.

Two years later there was a further division within the OIRA with the more militant Irish Nationalist Liberation Army (INLA) being set up.

This group was supported by a political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).

• Members believed that the Official IRA (OIRA) hadn’t done enough to protect the nationalist community during the violence of the previous summer.
• With a younger membership, the PIRA saw itself as the defender of the minority community within Northern Ireland.

Towards the end of March 1970, the PIRA set out its objectives.

These were:

• The protection of the Catholic population.
• The achievement of civil rights.
• The destruction of the Northern Ireland Government.
• The creation of an Ireland free from British imperialism.

Paramilitary groups also began to emerge from within the Protestant community.

Two groups in particular began to gain prominence.

The Ulster Volunteer Force was by no means a new organisation. It could trace its origins back to the campaign against the Third Home Rule Bill.

The UVF:

• Re-emerged in the mid-1960s and grew in size as Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association’s campaign for civil rights gained momentum.
• Re-emerged due to anger at the implications for Protestants of O’Neill’s reform programme.
• Believed that the ideal future lay in turning back the clock to the days of absolute unionist control of Northern Ireland.
• Sought to oppose the actions of republican paramilitaries and to ensure that Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom.

The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was established in September 1971.

It:

• Aimed to defend loyalist areas from attacks by republican paramilitaries.
• Soon became very popular and within a year could claim a membership in excess of 30,000.
• Its size meant that the authorities saw the UDA as too large to ban.

Although the UDA was involved in attacks on members of the nationalist community, it remained a legal organisation for almost twenty years.

When such attacks took place, they were claimed using a cover name, the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).

The UFF was outlawed in 1973.

When the British Army was first ordered on to the streets of Northern Ireland it was welcomed by members of the nationalist community.

They viewed them as their protectors from what was seen as the bias of Northern Ireland’s police force, the RUC.

Their arrival was also considered to be a rejection by the British government of the security policy followed by the Stormont administration.

The Army, however, soon found itself in a difficult situation.

As the PIRA campaign of violence to achieve its aims took off in the early part of 1970, it became clear that sooner or later the group would target the British Army as the symbol of British imperialism in Ireland.

The Army decided to act to stop the PIRA growing too strong.

One of its first strategies was the imposition of a military curfew on the nationalist Falls Road area of Belfast.

This curfew – which took place in early July and which lasted for thirty four hours – was designed to allow thorough house-to-house searches for weapons and ammunition.

Locally this became known as ‘The rape of the Falls’.

In many ways, the curfew was a disaster for the Army.

Although some explosives, guns and ammunition were uncovered, the inconvenience of the curfew and the damage caused during the searches meant that:

• The Army’s positive relationship with the nationalist community was fatally damaged.
• PIRA membership increased.

Throughout the rest of 1970 and into 1971, Northern Ireland witnessed growing levels of violence and destruction.

In response, the Northern Ireland Government begged the new Conservative Government in London to take a stronger line.

This did not happen - the British Government did not want to damage its relationship with the nationalist community even further.

Eventually, Chichester Clark became so frustrated that, on 20th March 1971, he resigned as Prime Minister.

Following a short leadership campaign within the Ulster Unionist Party, Minister of Development Brian Faulkner defeated William Craig for the Party leadership and was duly appointed Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.