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.