Centuries of sectarian tension in Northern Ireland erupted into war in 1969. Northern Ireland's Irish Catholic residents had been marginalized, ostracized, and strategically oppressed by the mostly Protestant Unionist powers that controlled the region for the British Crown. The outnumbered minority eventually fought the British to a standstill thanks to an increase in new recruits and, most importantly, an influx of high-powered guns. The West Belfast ghetto was filled with American ArmaLite rifles.
Vince Conlon, legendary IRA gunman living peacefully in Philadelphia, rose to the top of the American organization that aided Ireland, the Clan-na-Gael. In 1969, after Catholic riots in Derry, the government asked for help and London sent in the Royal Army. The first shots and fatalities of the Troubles were in Belfast and led to the creation of a new aggressive wing of the IRA, the Provisionals (Provos). The institutional IRA and the Provos split, and David O'Connell became chief of staff of the Provos. One of the first things he did was head to America to visit his old comrade in arms, Vince Conlon. Philadelphia had a long history of providing the IRA with weapons. Vast amounts of money were raised by NORAID, under the guise of helping the downtrodden, and a portion was siphoned off for the real need—guns. “It was a fragile arrangement, having a public-facing organization as the front for a decidedly illegal transcontinental gun-smuggling operation.” ArmaLites began to trickle into West Belfast. In 1971, both sides began accumulating casualties. “The IRA was earning a reputation as one of the most violent guerilla outfits of the twentieth century.”
The British response to the escalation was to jail Catholics without trial, which drove a new generation of volunteers into the IRA. The fighting crippled the city’s ability to deliver services. The IRA was winning the public opinion war because of the army’s ruthless approach to civilians as well as fighters. In January 1972, the RAF massacred thirteen protestors in Derry on the day that became known as Bloody Sunday.
The Troubles continued until 1998 and, along the way, reached unimaginable depths of vitriol and violence. In 1979, the IRA assassinated Lord Louis Mountbatten and two of his teenage grandsons. Twenty-seven-year-old Irishman Bobby Sands starved himself to death in Maze Prison in 1981. I’m not sure why I am not going to finish this book. I’m interested in the topic, find the Philadelphia connection fascinating, and the author is an accomplished journalist. I suspect it’s the grinding detail of a very good story, but one perhaps not justifying a full-length book.
