Selected dates in Irish history

"Blanket Protest" mural, (Derry, Northern Ireland). The Republican political detainees refused to wear standard prison gear and wore blankets in protest.

Selected dates in Irish history and more...



1st century: The celts (Gaels ) rule the island and divide it into several kingdoms

432 a.d. Saint Patrick arrives and brings christianity.

Norman rule in the middle ages

1348: the Black Death arrives

1603: Complete British conquest of Ireland. 600,000 people die during Cromwell conquest

17th century: massive English and Scottish settlers arrive: ‘plantations’ colonisation start, mostly in Northern Ireland (Ulster). The protestants get more and more power, land and wealth. Catholics are displaced and dispossessed. The tensions start, but protestants have upper hand already.

1641: Irish rebellion

1690: Battle of the Boyne. William III of Orange defeats the ‘catholic’ James II of England at Drogheda. 1801: The British and Irish parlements are ‘united’, crushing the Irish voice.

1840: The Great Famine (potato). The island is devastated. One million die, mostly catholics from the southers provinces and one million others emigrate all over the world.

Daniel O’connell starts the catholic emancipation crusade, demands right and recognition.

1916-1919: Easter rising and war of Independance (mostly in the south). Republicans mean business and they want their independence.

1920: the island is divided into two: Free state in the 26 counties (Republic, Dublin as capital). The Northern six counties forming with Belfast as capital remain part of the United kingdom, with a protestant majority loyal to London.

1921 Ratification of the Anglo-Irish treaty and Irish Civil war over the treaty.

1922 Irish Free State

1920-1970: The North politics and power are dominated by the protestants. Catholics are mostly suppressed in many aspects from social housing to jobs and government.

1969-1970: The Troubles in the North begin over Civil rights. Battle of the ‘Bogside’ in Derry.

1972: Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry. British troops openly cooperate with Unionists. The North is directly ruled from London as the NI ‘government’ in Stormont collapses after events escalate.

1980/81: The hunger strikes by republican prisoners over civil and political rights.

1998: the Belfast (Good Friday) agreements are signed for new power sharing in NI. Catholics and Protestants sit together to rule Northern Ireland. The ceasefire still holds.

Somewhere in Northern Ireland, a very unequal showdown...



A no-win situation for all the parties. Brutal force has its limits everywhere around the globe.

The Troubles: Northern Ireland Civil Unrest / War 1968-1998









•Start with decades old grievences of the catholics – civil, social and political mass and systematic segregation and domination by the protestant dominated government and power structure in NI, supported by the British (collusion).



•The Derry (Londonderry) civil rights protest escalate, culminating with the Battle of the ‘Bogside’ Derry, where the real modern ‘troubles’ start (August 1969). Attacks on catholic communities in Belfast (Bombay street carnage) and the eventual formation of the new Provisional I.R.A.)



•1972:Bloody Sunday (Sunday Bloody Sunday) 26 catholic civil rights protesters are shot dead by British soldiers in Derry. The world is shocked, the violence reached its peak.The NI government and parlement almost collapses.



• in 1973. The country is at the brink of total civil war. Sunningdale agreement brings just temporary relief. The violence continues. Real reform is very far. Both sides arm themselves with heavy weapons and the tension escalates.



•1980/81: The catholic prisoners protests reaches an international crisis point. The Republican prisoners demand political status and human rights and go on hunger strike. The entire world follows the events. After a few weeks Bobby Sands is the first to die in H-Blocks followed by nine other PIRA/INLA prisoners, shaming the British and the Unionist government. The British government considered them as terrorist petty criminals, while most of the world seems to disagree with that view.



•1980’s: The Sinn Fein under Tony Adams emerges as the new political voice of the Republican side from under the IRA. The ‘Armalite in one hand and the Ballot Box in the other’ strategic policy is adopted, formulated mainly by activist Danny Morrison. The IRA shows it is ready for political business and power sharing at Stormont Parliement but still not sending their elected officials to Westminster, London (abstentionism).



•1998: The Good Friday agreements are signed and the power sharing is achieved between the two sides and approved by two referenda, one in the North and in the Irish Republic.







Another senseless bombing and innocent victims all around



•REPUBLICAN / mostly Catholic: IRA, Provisional IRA, Real IRA, Continuity IRA, INLA and other political, social and splinter groups.



•LOYALIST / Mostly protestants: Ulster Volunteer Forces, Ulster Defense Association, Ulster Defense Regiment and various other groups, mostly supported by the NI government, the security forces and the British Army.





The very symbolic and defiant "Free Derry" monument in Londonderry. Note the use of the name "Derry" without the official prefix"London". This catholic section of the town was very much at the heart of the conflict with the initial protests to the Bloody Sunday massacres in 1972.



The Troubles: Estimated casualties



•3500 or more dead:

•1855 civilians

•1125 security forces

•520 british soldiers / navy /army /air force

•394 Republican catholic activist/fighters

•197 NI (protestant dominated) police

•151 Protestant / Unionist activist/fighters

•24 prison guards

•47,000 people were injured and received treatments.

•37,000 shootings

•22,500 armed robberies during the anarchy.

•19,600 people were imprisoned

•16,200 bombings

•Billions of dollars of damage both in Ireland and the UK with terror bombings.





The five demands of the republican Prisoners



•In 1981, ten men sacrificed their lives for the freedoms of many; in a hunger strike at the HM Maze Prison in North Ireland. One by one, ten young men embarked on the agonizing protest of hunger strike until death to secure the basic human rights and Politica; Status for all Irish Republican Political Prisoners.

•As Irish Republican Political Prisoners, these men recognized that the pursuit of freedom and sovereignty for their native land was not a crime. They refused to be labeled as criminals, and the fight for Political Status was launched from their prison cells.

•A "Blanket Protest" and "No-Wash Protest" followed by the unimaginably difficult Dirty Protest, had galvanized the male and female Republican prisoners for five long years but had resulted in no real gains toward Political Status. A decision was made by the prisoners to Hunger Strike.



•Their Five Demands were:

•The right not to wear a prisoner uniform

•The right to free association with Republican political prisoners

•The right as political prisoners not to do prison work

•The right to organize their own educational and recreational facilities

•The right to one weekly visit, letter and parcel.