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The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the "B-Specials" or "B Men'") was a quasi-military〔English:Townshend p96〕 reserve Special constable police force in Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the partition of Ireland. It was an armed corps, organised partially on military lines and called out in times of emergency, such as war or insurgency.〔Alan F. Parkinson, Belfast's Holy War, p83-84〕 It performed this role in 1920–22 during the Irish War of Independence and in the 1950s, during the IRA Border Campaign. During its existence, 95 USC members were killed in the line of duty. Most of these (72) were killed in conflict with the IRA in the years 1921 and 1922. Another 8 died during the Second World War, in air raids or IRA attacks. Of the remainder, most died in accidents but two former officers were killed during the Troubles in the 1980s. 〔http://www.policerollofhonour.org.uk/forces/n_ireland/usc/usc_roll.htm〕 The force was almost exclusively Ulster Protestant and as a result was viewed with great mistrust by Catholics. It carried out several revenge killings and reprisals against Catholic civilians in the 1920–22 conflict.〔Michael Hopkinson, The Irish War of Independence, p263〕〔http://www.historyireland.com/revolutionary-period-1912-23/belfasts-unholy-war/〕 Unionists generally supported the USC as contributing to the defence of the Northern Ireland polity from subversion and outside aggression.〔Thomas Hennessey (1997) ''A History of Northern Ireland 1920 – 1996'', p.15. Gill & Macmillan:Dublin. ISBN 0-7171-2400-2〕 The Special Constabulary was disbanded in May 1970, after the Hunt Report, which advised re-shaping Northern Ireland's security forces to attract more Catholic recruits〔(CAIN: HMSO: Hunt Report, 1969 )〕 and disarming the police. Its functions and membership were largely taken over by the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.〔Sydney Elliott, William D. Flackes, Conflict in Northern Ireland: an encyclopaedia〕 ==Formation== The Ulster Special Constabulary was formed against the background of conflict over Irish independence and the partition of Ireland. The 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence, saw the Irish Republican Army (IRA) launch a guerilla campaign in pursuit of Irish independence. Unionists in Ireland's northeast – who were against this campaign and against Irish independence – directed their energies into the partition of Ireland by the creation of Northern Ireland as an autonomous region within the remaining United Kingdom. This was enacted by the British Parliament in the Government of Ireland Act 1920.〔''Arming the Protestants: The Formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary and the Royal Ulster Constabulary 1920–27'', Michael Farrell, Pluto Press (London/Sydney 1983), ISBN 0-86104-705-2, pp. 7–8〕 Two main factors were behind the formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary. One was the desire of the unionists, led by Sir James Craig (then a junior minister in the British Government, and later the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland), that the apparatus of government and security should be placed in their hands long before Northern Ireland was formally established.〔Michael Hopkinson, ''The Irish War of Independence'', p. 155〕 A second reason was that violence in the north was increasing after the summer of 1920. The IRA began extending attacks to Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks and tax offices in the north and there had been serious rioting between Catholics and Protestants in Derry in May and June and in Belfast in July, which had left up to 40 people dead.〔Hopkinson, pp. 155–156〕 With police and troops being drawn towards combating insurgency in the south and west, unionists wanted a force that would both take on the IRA and also help the under-strength RIC with normal police duties. Furthermore, many unionists did not trust the RIC, which being an all-Ireland force was mostly Catholic. A third aim was to control unionist paramilitary groups, who threatened, in the words of Craig, "a recourse to arms, which would precipitate civil war".〔''Arming the Protestants: The Formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary and the Royal Ulster Constabulary 1920–27'', Michael Farrell, Pluto Press (London/Sydney 1983), ISBN 0-86104-705-2, p. 13〕〔Alan F. Parkinson, ''Belfast's Unholy War'', p. 84〕 Craig proposed to the British cabinet a new "volunteer constabulary" which "must be raised from the loyal population" and organised, "on military lines" and "armed for duty within the six county area only". He recommended that "the organisation of the Ulster Volunteers (UVF, the unionist militia formed in 1912) should be used for this purpose".〔Parkisnon p 84〕 Wilfrid Spender, the former UVF quartermaster in 1913–14, and by now a decorated war hero, was appointed by Craig to form and run the USC. UVF units were "incorporated en masse" into the new USC.〔http://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/tit-for-tat-the-war-of-independence-in-the-northern-counties/〕 The idea of a volunteer police force in the north appealed to British Prime Minister David Lloyd George for several practical reasons; it freed up the RIC and military for use elsewhere in Ireland, it was cheap, and it did not need new legislation. Special Constabulary Acts had been enacted in 1832 and 1914, meaning that the administration in Dublin Castle only had to use existing laws to create it. The formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary was therefore announced on 22 October 1920.〔Parkinson p84.〕〔Hezlet, p. 19〕 On 1 November 1920, the scheme was officially announced by the British government.〔Liz Curtis, The Cause of Ireland: From the United Irishmen to Partition, Beyond the Pale Publications 1995, Belfast, ISBN 0-9514229-6-0, pp. 346–7〕〔Richard Bourke, Peace in Ireland: The War of Ideas, Pimlico 2003, ISBN 1-84413-316-8, p. 48〕〔The Crowned Harp: Policing Northern Ireland, Graham Ellison, Jim Smyth, Pluto Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7453-1393-0, pp. 25–6〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ulster Special Constabulary」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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