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History of Terrorism in Ireland
Northern Ireland's Struggles

A Brief History of Ireland: Ireland has been inhabited for more than 9,000 years, but much is unknown of Ireland before Great Britain claimed Irish lands in 1172 AD. For the next 750 years, Great Britain ruled Ireland with a suffocating hand. In the middle of the 19th century, Ireland suffered a horrible potato famine, which led to wide scale emigration from Ireland. Many people in Ireland to this day blame England for not helping Ireland in their time of need. In the wake of the famine, many revolts attempting to liberate Ireland from Britain occurred, none which were successful.

Irish Split: It wasn't until the latter stages of World War One when Great Britain initiated a conscription of Irish men for the war that a rebellion began that started the move towards Irish Independence.
In April 1916, in what was called the Easter Rising, a small group of revolutionaries, led by Padraig Pearse and James Connolly, captured key sections of Dublin and proclaimed Irish Independence. The revolt was not that popular amongst the common people of Ireland, but when the revolt was crushed, and the British executed many of the leaders of the revolt, it turned the tide of acceptance and by 1918, Sinn Fein, the political party of the rebellion, had won a majority of the seats in the election. But instead of sitting in Great Britain, they formed an independent parliament in Ireland and declared Irish Independence. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) fought a guerilla movement against Great Britain. The Anglo-Irish war was to last from 1919 to 1921 until a truce was called. This truce resulted in the Anglo-Irish treaty, which created a Free Irish State. But in this treaty was a provision that would allow Northern Ireland to break from the Free Irish State and reunite with Great Britain, which they did. In 1949 the Free Irish State formally declared itself the Republic of Ireland and left the British Commonwealth. This left Northern Ireland still being controlled by the British.

Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland is essentially made up of two groups: Unionists and Nationalists. Unionists are mostly Protestant and like Northern Ireland the way it is and Nationalists are mostly Catholic and want a United Ireland without British interference. The majority Unionists were in charge of the country and discriminated against the Nationalists. The Irish Republican Army and other groups that splintered from the original IRA began the struggle for their independence from Britain in earnest in the late 60's.

The Troubles: January 30, 1972 a group of civil rights protestors in Dublin were shot and killed by British soldiers in an event dubbed, "Bloody Sunday." The British claimed they were fired upon, but testimony seems to disagree with that claim. Whatever caused the outbreak, the result was the people of Northern Ireland no longer trusted the British army. This was the beginning of what many people in the region called, "The Troubles." Paramilitary organizations killed between 3 and 4 thousand people, mostly civilians from the late 60's until the mid 90's when the Belfast Agreement was signed, calling a cease-fire to hostilities. Currently, under a cease-fire, both Britain and Northern Ireland are in negotiations to settle the dispute, but no agreement seems to be forthcoming in the near future.

Timeline of Events

Terror acts and their organizations:

Bloody Sunday: January 30, 1972, a group of civil rights protestors marching in Derry, Northern Ireland in response to internments (People held in jail without due process of law) turned bloody when British soldiers, sent in to break up the protest, fired on the group, killing 13. While not considered a terrorist act, it is a tragic event that begat "The Troubles." A inquiry into the tragedy in 1974 found the British army to be without fault in the incident, but most people believed that to be a whitewash.

Bloody Friday: July 21, 1972 the Provisional Irish Republican Army, (PIRA, a more radical splinter group from the IRA which was now more political) planted 22 bombs around Belfast. Some of these bombs were defused, but others exploded, killing 9 and injuring 130.
The PIRA officially apologized for those bombings in the 90's.

1971: Three British soldiers killed in a bomb attack in Belfast. A Catholic mother of ten is kidnapped and killed by the PIRA for supposedly giving information to Britain.

1974: A bomb explodes on a train carrying British military personnel and their families. 9 soldiers, a wife and two kids die. The Guilford and Birmingham Pub Bombings, where bombs in pubs kill 24 and injures nearly 200, effect a quick arrest of the Birmingham Six, who are found guilty and sent to jail. It is later discovered that evidence was fabricated and the Birmingham Six are released. The real bombers are arrested the next year.

1976: A bomb planted by the PIRA kills the newly appointed British Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland.

1979: The PIRA explodes a bomb that kills Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the British Queen's first cousin. On the same day, in a guerrilla attack in Narrow Water, the PIRA kills 18 British soldiers.

1981: Two bombs in London kill three and injure 39.

1982: July 20th, Hyde Park bombing kills two calvary men and seven horses, while in Regents Park on the same day, seven members of the band, "Royal Green Jackets", are killed when a bomb explodes under the stage.

1983: A bomb planted by the PIRA in Harrods' department store during Christmas season kills three policeman, three civilians and injures 90 others.

1984: A Brighton Hotel bombing kills five in a failed assassination attempt of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

1987: Called the "Enniskillen Massacre", the PIRA bombs a Remembrance Day parade killing 11 and injuring more than 60.

1989: Ten Royal Marine band members are killed and 22 wounded in a bombing at their base in Kent.

1990: Car bombings kill 7 and injure 37 in Northern Ireland during the year.

1991: Victoria Station bombing kills one and injures 38. Two PIRA members are killed when their bomb detonates while being placed.

1992: February 28th, a bomb explodes at the London Bridge railway station, injuring 29. April 10, a large bomb is detonated in London, killing three and injuring 91. The Baltic Exchange, a freight futures and freight price exchange, is completely destroyed in the explosion. 8 builders on their way to work at a military base in Omagh are killed by a bomb.

1993: A bomb planted by the PIRA in Warrington kills two children. A truck bomb in London explodes killing two and causing almost half a billion dollars in damage. A bomb explodes prematurely in a fish and chips restaurant, killing the bomber and ten others, including two children.

1994: The PIRA declares a cease-fire.

Other incidents: The PIRA breaks it's cease-fire in 1996 and bombs several other places. It declares a second cease-fire in 1997. Two large bank heists in 2004 have been attributed to the PIRA.