1971 AD - 1 January / February

     The population of the Irish Republic was now at 2,978,248 and in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, still under the control of the British Imperial Government it was 1,536,065. The number of Irish people now speaking the Irish language / Gaelic was down to 70,000.   

     In the Irish Republic, Richard Mulcahy had died, who had been born in 1886, and was one of the original Irish National Volunteers in 1913 and then their commander, under Michael Collins, and the leader of the Fine Gael Party in 1944 after William. T. Cosgrave.

In the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, by the British Imperial Government and also still under the control of the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government, due to a review of their policy the Queen's University in Belfast in Co. Antrim now had 32% Catholic students attending there by now, giving them an opportunity to achieve a greater education and the opportunity to learn the ways and means of bringing about reform through Constitutional means.

January:  Francis Card, Liam Hannaway (Hanvey) and Patrick Martin from the Provisional I.R.A. in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, by now had nearly 1,200 men under their control in the area that they now protected, and at this time they had entered into secret discussions with the commander of the British Military Royal Anglian Regiment to try and settle the area down and maintain order, which also boosted their own confidence. The Royal Anglian Regiment had also opened up a discotheque in Springfield Road for public relation purposes, and to also gather local information on the area, and the youths there responded by overturning their vehicles and attacking them with stones and petrol bombs.

January 15th: In the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, the last riot occurred in Ballymurphy and 6 groups of I.R.A. men went to Belfast in Co. Antrim were they planted incendiary devices in the individual stores, which created great damage and havoc there, and rioting once again occurred in the suburbs, which led onto further rioting over the weekend with the British Imperial Military forces having 6 Battalions in place throughout the City.

      James Dawson Chichester - Clark the "Official" Unionist Stormont Prime Minister in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, went over to England to get further assistance from Edward Heath and the British Conservative Government, but received no direct results, and he was forced to return to Ireland to utilize his own resources. A week later 170 of the 900 members in the "Official" Unionist Party called for his resignation with the hard - liners led by William Craig and Harry West, moving a motion of, "No Confidence" in his leadership. Lord Carrington then arrived into the 6 Counties in Ulster from England, but stayed only for one day, where he spoke to the "Official" Unionist Cabinet at Stormont in Belfast in Co. Antrim without mentioning any further British Imperial Military input into the 6 Counties in Ulster still under their control. He did infer that the British Imperial Military would soon introduce a new weapon into the 6 Counties against the Irish Catholics, and also increased the local Defence Regiment to a force of 6,000 men.

     in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, the Provisional I.R.A. / Provos at this time were still keeping up their contact with the British Imperial Army commanders who agreed to keep out of the "No - Go" areas to keep the pressure off.

January 27th:  in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, William Craig the Unionist  hard - liner, remonstrated in the Stormont Parliament when he found out that the British Imperial Military forces had escorted two of the R.U.C. police out of Clonard so that there would be no clashes, and he accused the British Imperial Military of being in collusion with the I.R.A.

February 3rd - 6th: Ian Freeland, the British Imperial Military General, retired from his position as the British Army Commander - in - Chief in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, with the record of not losing any of his men, and now that he was gone certain members of the the R.U.C. police inferred to those who were now in charge of the British Imperial Military that the I.R.A. had obtained lists of the British Special Branch who were working undercover as Secret Agents in Belfast in Co. Antrim. They further specified that these lists were in the hands of certain leaders in the Catholic Falls Road area, and they also made accusations of collusion, which put pressure on those now in charge of the British Imperial Military forces. They then made a decision to go into the, "No Go" areas and sent in the British Royal Anglian Regiment who searched the homes there with great vigour, but found nothing. All they did was create further great turmoil among the Catholic Irish population there, and also made the mistake of compounding their error by staying in the area. Eventually they came under defensive attack by the I.R.A. defenders there, and by 12 p.m. the non - Catholics who were working in a factory across the road also decided to join in, but it was all over within an hour. The British Imperial Military forces still continued to stay there, so the I.R.A. together with the population in the area then erected barricades across the streets to hold their position against the intrusion of the British Imperial Military forces who with the R.U.C. police and the non - Catholics were now on the outside. The I.R.A. by now were prepared for full onslaught attacks from without, and were more then ready to defend the area if needed, and during the night the British Imperial Military forces began using machine guns, water cannons, rubber bullets, batons and gas, which they rained down on the residents there all night, while the I.R.A. and the residents returned their continuing aggression with bottles, stones, petrol bombs and gelignite, with the occasional nail bomb also thrown in. The next morning the British Conservative Government sent over another British Imperial Military Battalion of 500 more soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and put another 1,400 soldiers from the Defence Force on the job full time, and besides these also sent over the Royal Scots Greys under the command of the Duke of Kent.

       Major James Dawson Chichester - Clark the "Official" Unionist Stormont Prime Minister made a statement that the British Imperial Army will now defeat the Irish Republicans and the British Military commander, General Farrar - Hocking who had received compliance from the I.R.A. up until this present raid made the error of going on T.V and publicly naming the 5 members of the I.R.A. who had been co - operating with him to keep the peace. This included, Francis Card, Kevin Hannaway, William Hannaway, William Mac Kee and Patrick Martin.                  

       In the riots to follow during the Friday and the Saturday, Robert Curtis a British soldier from the Royal Artillery Regiment who was a gunner was the first English soldier to be killed near New Lodge in Belfast in Co. Antrim, and also killed were another 2 Catholic Irish men, Barney Watt, and the 19 year old James Saunders who was an I.R.A. member, and another 3 Irishmen were also to be arrested during his funeral. These 3 men were carrying hurling sticks for their protection, so they were charged under the Special Powers Act, "For wearing uniforms and carrying offensive weapons." Three weeks later due to their appearance in the court on these charges there were to be further riots, with more deaths and more arrests with even more agitation. The body of a non - Catholic man was found, who had been shot dead, on the Aldergrove Road to Belfast in Co. Antrim and 4 non - Catholic children were to be injured during a gunfight in New Lodge.      

February 10th: 2 B.B.C. technicians and 3 local workmen were killed near a B.B.C. Transmitter, which had been damaged by a bomb in Co. Fermanagh in the far - west of the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, when their vehicle ran over an explosive device that had been set up for the British Imperial Government Military patrol there.

February 25th: In the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, a Committee was now set up under the Chairmanship of Patrick Mac Rory to review the reorganization of the Local Government authorities.  A Housing Executive Act was also brought in for a central housing authority to be set up also.

     In the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, in the Ardoyne area the I.R.A. went after Inspector Cecil Patterson from the British Special Branch and they shot him dead, but during the attempt they also unintentionally killed Constable Robert Buckley an R.U.C. policeman.

     In the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, the British Conservative Government's Military commander who had taken over from General Freeland had died within a month of assuming command of the British Imperial Army forces, so Edward Heath the British Conservative Prime Minister appointed Sir Harry Tuzo to the position and their forces were now up to 8,000 British Imperial Military soldiers there and another further British Military Battalion was sent over from England to be placed into the Catholic Irish areas. To continue on with the aggression the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government were demanding that the British Imperial Military forces carry out further punitive raids into the Catholic Irish areas after the riots, and the request was signed by Major James Dawson Chichester - Clark their Prime Minister in the 6 Counties in Ulster.

     Meanwhile, back in England, Reginald Maudling the British Conservative Government's Overseerer for the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province,, made a decision to carry out a flying visit to the 6 Counties in Ulster, still under their control in Ireland, which was just another time wasting affair for all concerned as all he did was make a speech and left.   

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