● They also felt that the Northern Irish economy would suffer more by being cut off from the British market.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was formed in 1922 as an armed police force. It had a mostly Protestant membership. It was helped by the B-Specials, a part-time police force. ● They could use the Special Powers Act (1922) to arrest and imprison anyone. ● Nationalists felt that the B-Specials and the Special Powers Act were used to keep them down.
Riots
In the sectarian riots in the early 1920s between Protestants and Catholics, Catholics suffered more than Protestants: ● More Catholics were killed. ● Thousands of Catholics lost their jobs – in the most famous incident, Catholics were driven out of the Harland and Wolff shipyards (July 1920).
● Catholic houses and businesses were burned.
The IRA continued a campaign in the north during 1922. RUC were attacked and killed, big houses were burned and railways stations were attacked. There were continued killings of Catholics and Protestants in Belfast. ● The outbreak of the Civil War in the south ended the violence. Over a period of two years from 1920 to 1922, 557 people had been killed in Northern Ireland – almost 60 per cent of these were Catholics.
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Assessing Your Learning
1. How did attitudes to World War I differ between Northern nationalists and unionists?
2. How did (i) southern unionists and (ii) northern unionists react to the Government of Ireland Act, 1920?
3. Explain (i) RUC (ii) B-Specials (iii) Special Powers Act?
4. What are sectarian riots?
5. What happened in Harland and Wolff?
6. What happened to end the violence in Northern Ireland in 1922?