Times of Troubles: Britain's War in Northern Ireland

by Andrew Sanders, Ian S. Wood

When do 'troubles', riots and insurgency become war? How does a liberal state respond to an internal war within its own borders? How does it define the rules of engagement for its armed forces? These questions, amongst others, faced the British government in 1969, when it decided to send the British Army to the streets of Northern Ireland.This is the first academic study of the British Army in Northern Ireland, featuring Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English regiments. It investigates the complex experiences of soldiers during the often-controversial Operation Banner (1969-2007). The experiences of these soldiers raise many important and difficult questions on war and policy. Featuring key interviews with former soldiers, paramilitaries and Special Branch detectives, amongst other key actors, the authors attempt to answer these questions and enhance our knowledge of conflict resolution by providing a deep analysis of one of the most significant British military operations since the Second World War.Andrew Sanders is the John Moore Newman Research Fellow at University College Dublin. He is the author of Inside the IRA: Dissident Republicans and the War for Legitimacy (Edinburgh, 2011)Ian S. Wood is a distinguished Military historian, lecturer and journalist. He is the author of Gods, Guns and Ulster (Caxton 2003); Crimes of Loyalty: a History of the UDA (Edinburgh 2006); Britain, Ireland and the Second World War (Edinburgh 2010) and is a contributing author to A Military History of Scotland (Edinburgh 2012).Key WordsNorthern Ireland, British Army, Scottish soldier, Troubles, Northern Ireland, Ulster, Operation banner, Bloody Sunday, Saville report, soldiers, IRA, British Army, military, occupation, RUC, UDA, UVF, conflict, Military history, counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, terrorism Key Features* First title to analyse the role of British Army in Northern Ireland* Draws on new primary sources including soldiers' diaries, log-sheets, in

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Abu Muahmmad Ibraheem Sanders (Andrew Sanders) is a Muslim convert who embraced Islam in 2002.

-From: Lumatul I'tiqad, About translator, page 18.

Reviews

[Michael Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The First Battalion of the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB). Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1970.

The reason I raise the issue, here, now, is that what we remember as the far-flung British Empire, from the sands of Aden (see The Last Post) to the rubber plantations of Malaya, to the humid jungles of Borneo, the British, for a time, were able to provide the unity a world so sadly needed. This wild immoral adventure had an amazing consequences, we have a world language. Was it worth the price? Probably not. Was it misguided? Probably so. But it is what it is. Now we will investigate why a nation able to unite the most diverse locations for a time was unable to control and govern the backstreets of Londonderry in its own backyard. This work gets to tell that story from the regimental journals.

The British government understood it needed to "win the hearts and minds," something the American government would not even consider in its wars in Southeast Asia. Of course, the Americans didn't care about the Vietnamese; they did consider the Soviet Union as an enemy. You might your enemy on a third-party's territory, rather than risk your own or a wider confrontation.

Back to the Irish "problem."

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up based on the Amazon recommendations for a good military history of the Troubles. Unfortunately it does not live up to the billing. Partly this is due to the type history I was looking for. I was looking for a history at the operational level-i.e., the perspective of the colonel or major, how they planned and how it did not go according to plan and how they adapted. Instead, this is a farrago of 'face of battle' style anecdotes of what it was like for the enlisted and junior officers to deploy to Northern Ireland divided into chapters based on where the units deployed: Belfast, Londonderry, etc.