The Year of Chaos

Northern Ireland on the Brink of Civil War, 1971-72

Malachi O'Doherty

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781838951245
• eBook ISBN: 9781838951238
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

'Frank and incisive - an insightful look at the most tumultuous period of the Troubles.' Ian Cobain 'This is the Belfast I grew up in. Malachi writes from first-hand experience and brings back memories that will always resonate with those who lived in those times.' Eamonn Holmes In the eleven months between August 1971 and July 1972, Northern Ireland experienced its worst year of violence. No future year of the Troubles experienced such death and destruction. The 'year of chaos' began with the introduction of internment of IRA suspects without trial, which created huge disaffection in the Catholic communities and provoked an escalation of violence. This led to the British government taking full control of Northern Ireland and negotiating directly with the IRA leadership. Operation Motorman, the invasion of barricaded no-go areas in Belfast and Derry, then dampened down the violence a year later. During this whole period, Malachi O'Doherty was a young reporter in Belfast, working in the city and returning home at night to a no-go area behind the barricades where the streets were patrolled by armed IRA men. Drawing on interviews, personal recollections and archival research, O'Doherty takes readers on a journey through the events of that terrible year - from the devastation of Bloody Sunday and Bloody Friday to the talks between leaders that failed to break the deadlock - which, he argues, should serve as a stark reminder of how political and military miscalculation can lead a country to the brink of civil war.

Index

Abercorn Restaurant bombing, 251–5, 257, 260–61, 285–6

Adams, Gerry, 7, 10–11, 100, 133, 144, 257, 276, 280, 298, 304–8, 314

Adams, Margaret, 10, 144

Agnew, Sydney, 203

Amnesty International, 52–4

Anderson, Gerry, 239–40

Anderson, Robert, 134, 220

Andrews, Alexander, 187

Andrews, David, 320

Andrews, Tommy, 13–15, 18–21, 29, 146–7, 151–2, 254, 288–9, 330

Anglo–Irish Treaty (1921), 106

Arbuckle, Victor, 150

Armagh Prison, 49, 133

Armstrong, Ian, 161

Arthurs, Francis, 330

Assembly of the Northern Irish People, 165, 290–91

Atwell, William, 60

Ballymurphy, 21, 33, 58

‘Ballymurphy Massacre’, 58–9, 73, 98, 141, 146

Balmoral Furniture Company bombing, 189, 191

Barnhill, Jack, 184, 186

barricades, 215, 296, 300, 313, 333–4, 337

Barry, Tom, 8

Bates, Ernie, 187

Bateson, John, 182

Beadon, Raymond, 128–31

Beattie, Desmond, 100, 236

Beattie, John, 60

Beaves, Harry, 170, 322, 326, 332–3, 335–6

Beckett, Ingram, 268

Before the Dawn (Adams), 257

Behan, Brendan, 10

Belfast Citizens’ Defence Committee, 101

Belfast riots (August 1969), 15–17, 31–2, 44–5

Belfast Telegraph, 173

Bell, Ivor, 314

Bereen, Janet, 253

Best, W...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Prologue
• Introduction
• The Boy Soldiers
• Gearing Up
• Internment
• One of Those Things That Happen in War
• Summitry
• Shooting Women
• The Army Gets It Wrong
• Deepening Deadlock
• Living in the Middle of It
• Routines of Murder
• It’s Normal Now
• A New Year
• Bloody Sunday
• Britain Is Now the Problem
• The Abercorn
• London Takes Control
• New Strategies
• Dublin’s Pitch for Unity
• The Building Backlash
• Hunger Strikes
• Negotiations for a Ceasefire
• Breakdown
• Bloody Friday
• Motorman
• Conclusion: Not Like Other Wars
• Notes
• Acknowledgements
• Picture Credits
• Index
• Picture Sections