Bloody Sunday in Historical Perspective

Bloody Sunday tends to be viewed as a key spark of “the Troubles” and as a switchpoint of Northern Irish politics. On the face of it, this seems plausible enough, but if one were to indulge for a moment in the hypothetical question of “what if Bloody Sunday never happened?” a good case could be made that “the Troubles” would have unfolded anyhow — considering that by its own account the IRA began its violent challenge to British state power before Bloody Sunday. 1 At the same time, Bloody Sunday was a godsend to the recruiting sergeants of militant Irish republicanism because what happened in Derry in 1972 articulated with longstanding historical grievances among nationalists towards the British state connected with a long experience of colonialization and imperialism. These grievances were sparked off by Britain’s colonial project and a chronicle of this antagonistic Anglo-Irish colonial relationship helps to provide a socio-historical context to the events of 1972 and to place them in the context of a long history of division and discord. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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