Recent research has shown that Nazi Germany was not the efficient, strictly-organised society that everyone once thought; in fact, it was a complete shambles. Different departments competed with each other and often cancelled each other's efforts out as they vied to do the same job. Hitler himself had no interest whatsoever in the day-to-day running of the country; he was only concerned with his grand vision. Others did what they thought he wanted and, if they did not end up against a wall facing the business end of a bullet, they could be sure that Hitler approved. Hitler did not personally kill anyone, did not send the Jews to the gas chambers and did not give explicit orders for political opponents being sent to concentration camps or disabled children being murdered. Hitler's orders were just in general terms. He might say that he wanted no Jews left in Germany, but did not specifically say how. It would be a brave historian, however, who tried to make a case for Hitler not being responsible for all this. He inspired it all and he was behind it all; it's as simple as that.
A similar case is the Reverend Ian Paisley. He never actually got his hands dirty but was always there goading things on, even if not explicitly. He was the inspiration behind the attacks on the civil rights movements, led by Bernadette Devlin and others. His rhetoric about 'never giving an inch' was correctly interpreted as a rallying call for Protestant supremacy. His open hatred for Catholics and his stubborn refusal to compromise inspired others to be the same. He might not have participated but his speeches would be ringing in the ears of the attackers at the Burntollet Bridge Incident and his hate-filled oratory led directly to the Battle of the Bogside.
It has often been said that the IRA never targeted him because he was their biggest recruiter. Paisley did more to inspire fear and terror in Northern Ireland than any other single individual. He was not for giving in to the civil rights movement; a movement that had nothing to do with Republicanism or a united Ireland. All these people wanted was parity; to be treated equally. Paisley and his followers, however, were having none of it. Is it any wonder that NI Catholics looked more and more to Republican terrorists when they were burned out of their homes, beaten by the police and killed by Protestant extremists, all at the instigation of this supposed man of God?
Even when the need for compromise became obvious, as there was no other way possible to guarantee peace, Paisley was against it. Those that supported the Good Friday Agreeement were 'traitorsh' and there was no way he was going to sit down and talk with 'terrorishtsh'. Meanwhile his anti-Catholic rants even got him thrown out of a meeting of the EU that was being addressed by the Pope.
But compromise he did and he ended up First Minister in the new power-sharing arrangement. Many observors, however, have noted that this had nothing to do with conviction or a change of heart. It was more to do with the fact that he was terrified that the limelight would fall on somebody else. He could not bear the thought that he would no longer be at the heart of things.
So now he's dead and all the encomiums have started. Apparently he should be remembered as a 'peacemaker' a 'giant of politics' and a 'brilliant orator'. The first, 'peacemaker', is at best debatable, at worst a downright lie. The other two descriptions, of course, are highly accurate but the same could also be said of Hitler, Stalin and any other dictatorial despot you care to mention. In reality, it is arguable, indeed plausible, to suggest that Paisley held back the cause of peace in Northern Ireland. In fact it even plausible to suggest that without him the Troubles might never have happened. That is Ian Paisley's real legacy and it is not one to boast about.
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