699. The Troubles: Return of the IRA (Part 3)

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their deep dive into The Troubles, picking up the narrative in the tumultuous summer of 1970. This episode, the third in their series, chronicles the dramatic escalation of violence, the emergence of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and the British government's increasingly desperate and often misguided attempts to quell the unrest in Northern Ireland.

The Fall of Harold Wilson and the Rise of Ted Heath

The episode opens with a significant political shift in Britain: the unexpected defeat of Harold Wilson's Labour government in the June 1970 general election. Wilson, who had been Prime Minister since 1964, lost to the Conservative Party, led by Ted Heath. This change in leadership would have profound implications for Northern Ireland. Heath, a self-proclaimed "conscious modernizer," had little interest in the archaic complexities of Northern Irish politics, viewing it as an "antediluvian 17th-century bog." His primary focus was on overhauling the British economy and securing Britain's entry into the Common Market, alongside Ireland. Ironically, Heath, despite his disinterest, would oversee some of the most brutal and controversial periods of The Troubles.

Heath's lack of engagement with Northern Ireland was stark. He possessed "absolutely no knowledge of Northern Ireland and no interest in it whatsoever." This ignorance, coupled with his desire not to alienate Protestant opinion, led to his first major miscalculation: refusing to ban the traditional Unionist Orange Order marches in the summer of 1970. This decision, made against the advice of some British officials, proved disastrous. The marches, particularly in Belfast, quickly devolved into widespread street fighting and gun battles, escalating the violence to unprecedented levels. The fiercest fighting occurred in the Short Strand, a Catholic enclave in East Belfast, around St. Matthew's Church.