Making History

Abstract

This essay intends to address specifically the question of how and why Catholic Nationalist history in Northern Ireland has been revised and rewritten over the last 50 years to suit the narrative being espoused by Northern Irish Republicans. This will be done by analysing the Republican interpretation of events espoused in primary autobiographical sources, as well as histories written after the events. This Republican narrative will be contrasted against opposing narratives (e.g. Civil Rights activists) and other non-orthodox Republican narratives to show how the telling of the events has been changed, or what has been omitted, in order to alter the social memory of the Troubles, particularly that of Ulster Catholics. The events focused upon in this essay are the Northern Ireland Civil Rights movement in late 1960s, and the Republican factionalism of 1972 and 1975 respectively.