Conclusion

Bloody Sunday showed a turn in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. Violence greatly increased after January 30, 1972 as well as membership for the Irish Republican Army.[1] The tensions between the Irish and the British were also heightened. The Stormont government ended due to the fallout of Bloody Sunday.[2] The tragedy that occurred on this day increased nationalists’ sentiment to protest British rule in Northern Ireland.

Bloody Sunday also highlighted the gender culture in Northern Ireland. Men died of gunshot wounds, not women. Although women were present at the march, the soldiers seemed to only aim for men who they thought could be members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).[3]  Bernadette Devlin received the worst treatment from society. Although she did some questionable actions, the criticism she encountered in 1972 and afterward does not seem justified. At the end of her time before Lord Saville in 2001, Devlin made an important speech,

“Before that day [Bloody Sunday], although people were being shot here and had been shot, I did not have a belief that death was an integral part of the equation of seeking justice in this country and after Bloody Sunday I believed that it was.”[4]


[1] Douglas Murray, Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry (London: Biteback Publishing, 2011), 311.

[2] David McKittrick and David McVea, Making Sense of the Troubles (Belfast: Blackstaff Press Limited, 2001), 82.

[3] Ministry of Defence, “Events in Londonderry on 30 January 1972,” 31 January 1972, Belfast: Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/proni/1972/proni_CAB-9-R-238-7_1972-01-31.pdf, 1.

[4] Murray, Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry, 91.