No troops sent to Northern Ireland in 1969

Following the recent riots in the UK and the suggestion by some that the army should have been used. Effectivily if law and order totally breaks down then the civil authority either declares martial law or loses control and something else moves into the vacuum in the case of Germany Hitlers storm troopers took control of the street.

In August 1969 Harold Wilson's cabinet decided to send in the Army following disturbances in Belfast and Londonderry. What would have happened if they hadn't?


A few points should be born in mind. Firstly they were initially welcomed in the Catholic areas where the RUC was percieved as a sectarian police force and it was over 12 months before they began to be regarded as an army of occupation. Winston's Churchill's despatch of troops to Tonypandy was similarly welcomed initially as the Chief Constable of Glamorgan was regarded as being on the side of the coal owners but their continued presence effectively broke the strike

Secondly any official attempt to send in troops from Eire would have almost certainly been opposed and would not have reached the trouble spots in time to have stopped any pogroms.

Thirdly the term IRA referring to the Official IRA had been derisively termed "I ran away" at the time.

Also could there have been a way in which the army could have been withdrawn possibly initially to the barracks after order was restored preventing any pogroms without becoming regarded as an army of occupation?
 
A major reason why the troops were sent in was because the RUC was exhausted trying to deal with widespread riots and didn't have the resources to regain control of the situation. Also sectarian clashes were breaking out with Catholics being burnt out of places like Bombay Street in Belfast. Without the arrival of the Army it's almost certain those clashes would have increased in spread and intensity with thousands of refugees being created. With Britain seeming indifferent those in the Dublin Government who wanted to invade NI would have pushed their case harder possibly resulting in the Irish Army crossing the border with all the dangers that would have created.

Really Wilson had no choice, either the troops went in or there was a real danger of a Bosnia type situation developing. On your final point, for that to happen I think Britain would have had to take a much firmer line about reform in NI. The big mistake that was made was Britain saw it's role as stabilising the situation so as to shore up Stormont. In reality the Nationalists were never going to accept Stormont rule and Britain wasted over 2 years following this strategy, it was only after Bloody Sunday that Heath realised that Stormont had to go. Had Wilson come to that conclusion in August 1969 then things could have been very different.
 
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yea really it would have been a disaster because things the RUC and the B specials which were horrible sectarians would have openly tortured Catholics really and tbh the IRA might not have reformed and got so organised if they did not such a visible simple of British presence in NI
 
Increased pogroms and ethnic cleansing against catholics! They were sent there originally to protect the minority community, but like almost all armies everywhere before them they became seen as occupiers and in this case proppers up of the establishment, which in the Jaffa Statelette were Afrikaner like sectarian thugs!
 
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