The Troubles

"Troubles" redirects here. For other uses, see Troubles (disambiguation).

The Troubles
a map showing the outline of Ireland in the colour green with the capitals of the North and South marked on it
Political map of Ireland
DateLate 1960s–1998[a][2][3][4][5]
Location
Northern Ireland
Violence occasionally spread to the Republic of Ireland, England and mainland Europe
Result
Belligerents
State security forces:
 Irish republican paramilitaries:
 Ulster loyalist paramilitaries:
Casualties and losses
  • PIRA: 292
  • INLA: 38
  • OIRA: 27
  • IPLO: 9
  • RIRA: 2
  • Total: 368[9]
  • UDA: 91
  • UVF: 62
  • RHC: 4
  • LVF: 3
  • UR: 2
  • UPV: 1[10]
  • Total: 162[9]
  • Civilians killed: 1,840[11]
  • (1,935 including ex-combatants)[9]
  • Total dead: 3,532[11]
  • Total injured: 47,500+[12]
  • All casualties: c. 50,000[13]

The Troubles (Irish: Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist[14][15][16][17] conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998.[18] Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict,[19][20][21][22] it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.[3][4][23][24][25] Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.

Sometimes described as an "asymmetric" or "irregular" war[26][27][28] or a "low-intensity conflict",[29][30][31] the Troubles were a political and nationalistic struggle fuelled by historical events,[32] with a strong ethnic and sectarian dimension,[33] fought over the status of Northern Ireland. Unionists and loyalists, who for historical reasons were mostly Ulster Protestants, wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists and republicans, who were mostly Irish Catholics, wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland. Despite the division between Protestants and Catholics, it was not primarily a religious war.[14][34]

The conflict began during a campaign by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association to end discrimination against the Catholic-nationalist minority by the Protestant-unionist government and local authorities.[35][36] The government attempted to suppress the protests. The police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), were overwhelmingly Protestant and known for sectarianism and police brutality. The campaign was also violently opposed by Ulster loyalists, who believed it was a front for republican political activity. Increasing tensions led to the August 1969 riots and the deployment of British troops, in what became the British Army's longest operation.[37] "Peace walls" were built in some areas to keep the two communities apart. Some Catholics initially welcomed the British Army as a more neutral force than the RUC, but soon came to see it as hostile and biased, particularly after Bloody Sunday in 1972.[38]

The main participants in the Troubles were republican paramilitaries such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA); loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA); British state security forces such as the British Army and RUC; and political activists. The security forces of the Republic of Ireland played a smaller role. Republicans carried out a guerrilla campaign against British forces as well as a bombing campaign against infrastructural, commercial, and political targets. Loyalists attacked republicans/nationalists and the wider Catholic community in what they described as retaliation. At times, there were bouts of sectarian tit-for-tat violence, as well as feuds within and between paramilitary groups. The British security forces undertook policing and counterinsurgency, primarily against republicans. There were incidents of collusion between British state forces and loyalist paramilitaries (see Stevens Inquiries). The Troubles also involved numerous riots, mass protests, and acts of civil disobedience, and led to increased segregation and the creation of temporary no-go areas.

More than 3,500 people were killed in the conflict, of whom 52% were civilians, 32% were members of the British security forces, and 16% were members of paramilitary groups.[9] Responsibility for deaths were divided between republican paramilitaries (60%), loyalists (30%), and security forces (10%).[39] Civilian casualties were caused by: loyalists 48%, republicans 39%, and the security forces 10%.[40]

The Northern Ireland peace process led to paramilitary ceasefires and talks between the main political parties, which resulted in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. This Agreement restored self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of "power-sharing" and it included acceptance of the principle of consent, commitment to civil and political rights, parity of esteem, police reform, paramilitary disarmament and early release of paramilitary prisoners.

There has been sporadic violence since the Agreement, including punishment attacks,[41] loyalist gangs' control of major organised crime rackets (e.g., drugs supply, community coercion and violence, intimidation),[42][43][44][45][46][47] and violent crime linked to dissident republican groups.[4][24][48]

  1. ^ "Beginning of the Troubles". Cain.ulst.ac.uk – CAIN. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
  2. ^ Melaugh, Martin (3 February 2006). "Frequently Asked Questions – The Northern Ireland Conflict". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Ulster University. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b Aughey, Arthur (2005). The Politics of Northern Ireland: Beyond the Belfast Agreement. London / New York: Routledge. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-415-32788-6. OCLC 55962335.
  4. ^ a b c Holland, Jack (1999). Hope Against History: The Course of Terrorist trouble in Northern Ireland. Henry Holt and Company. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-8050-6087-4. The troubles were over, but the killing continued. Some of the heirs to Ireland's violent traditions refused to give up their inheritance.
  5. ^ Gillespie, Gordon (2008). Historical Dictionary of the Northern Ireland Conflict. Scarecrow Press. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-8108-5583-0.
  6. ^ Taylor, Peter (1997). "Chapter 21: Stalemate". Behind the Mask: The IRA and Sinn Féin. New York: TV Books. pp. 246–261. ISBN 978-1-57500-061-9. OCLC 38012191.
  7. ^ Cox, Michael; Guelke, Adrian; Stephen, Fiona (2006). A Farewell to Arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreement. Manchester University Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-7190-7115-7.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference MODreport was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c d e f Sutton, Malcolm. "Sutton Index of Deaths". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  10. ^ Melaugh, Martin. "CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations – 'U'". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Ulster University. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  11. ^ a b Sutton, Malcolm. "Sutton Index of Deaths – Status Summary". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Archived from the original on 24 August 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference secdef05 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Kelters, Seamus (February 2013). "Violence in the Troubles". BBC History. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  14. ^ a b Mitchell, Claire (2013). Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland. Ashgate Publishing. p. 5. The most popular school of thought on religion is encapsulated in McGarry and O'Leary's Explaining Northern Ireland (1995) and it is echoed by Coulter (1999) and Clayton (1998). The central argument is that religion is an ethnic marker but that it is not generally politically relevant in and of itself. Instead, ethnonationalism lies at the root of the conflict. Hayes and McAllister (1999a) point out that this represents something of an academic consensus.
  15. ^ McGarry, John; O'Leary, Brendan (1995). Explaining Northern Ireland. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-631-18349-5.
  16. ^ Keogh, Dermot, ed. (1994). Northern Ireland and the Politics of Reconciliation. Cambridge University Press. pp. 55–59. ISBN 978-0-521-45933-4.
  17. ^ Coakley, John. "Ethnic Conflict and the Two-State Solution: The Irish Experience of Partition". Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2009. ... these attitudes are not rooted particularly in religious belief, but rather in underlying ethnonational identity patterns.
  18. ^ "What You Need to Know About The Troubles". Imperial War Museums. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  19. ^ Melaugh, Martin; Lynn, Brendan. "Glossary of Terms on Northern Ireland Conflict". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Ulster University. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019. The term 'the Troubles' is a euphemism used by people in Ireland for the present conflict. The term has been used before to describe other periods of Irish history. On the CAIN web site the terms 'Northern Ireland conflict' and 'the Troubles', are used interchangeably.
  20. ^ McEvoy, Joanne (2008). The politics of Northern Ireland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7486-2501-7. OCLC 232570935. The Northern Ireland conflict, known locally as 'the Troubles', endured for three decades and claimed the lives of more than 3,500 people.
  21. ^ McKittrick, David; McVea, David (2001). Making Sense of the Troubles: A History of the Northern Ireland Conflict (Rdevised ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-100305-4.
  22. ^ Edwards, Aaron; McGrattan, Cillian (2012). The Northern Ireland Conflict: A Beginner's Guide. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 978-1-78074-171-0.
  23. ^ Gillespie, Gordon (2007). Historical Dictionary of the Northern Ireland Conflict. Scarecrow Press. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-8108-5583-0.
  24. ^ a b Elliott, Marianne (2007). The Long Road to Peace in Northern Ireland: Peace Lectures from the Institute of Irish Studies at Liverpool University (2 ed.). Liverpool University Press. pp. 2, 188. ISBN 978-1-84631-065-2.
  25. ^ Goodspeed, Michael (2002). When Reason Fails: Portraits of Armies at War : America, Britain, Israel, and the Future. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 44, 61. ISBN 0-275-97378-6.
  26. ^ Lesley-Dixon, Kenneth (2018). Northern Ireland: The Troubles: From The Provos to The Det. Pen and Sword Books. p. 13.
  27. ^ Schaeffer, Robert (1999). Severed States: Dilemmas of Democracy in a Divided World. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 152.
  28. ^ Rainey, Mark (12 November 2016). "Special Branch officer's insider view of Northern Ireland's 'secret war'". The News Letter. Johnston Publishing (NI). Archived from the original on 21 February 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  29. ^ Taylor, Peter (26 September 2014). "Who Won The War? Revisiting NI on 20th anniversary of ceasefires". BBC News. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  30. ^ "Troubles 'not war' motion passed". BBC News. 18 February 2008. Archived from the original on 25 February 2008. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  31. ^ Hennessey, Thomas (2001). The Northern Ireland peace process: ending the troubles?. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 48. ISBN 978-0-312-23949-7.
  32. ^ English, Richard (2005). Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517753-4.
  33. ^ Storey, Michael L. (2004). Representing the Troubles in Irish Short Fiction. The Catholic University of America Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-8132-1366-8.
  34. ^ Jenkins, Richard (1997). Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations. SAGE Publications. p. 120. It should, I think, be apparent that the Northern Irish conflict is not a religious conflict ... Although religion has a place – and indeed an important one – in the repertoire of conflict in Northern Ireland, the majority of participants see the situation as primarily concerned with matters of politics and nationalism, not religion. And there is no reason to disagree with them.
  35. ^ English, Richard; Townshend, Charles (1998). The State: Historical and Political Dimensions. Routledge. p. 96. ISBN 0-415-15477-4..
  36. ^ Bryan, Dominic (2000). Orange Parades: The Politics of Ritual, Tradition and Control. Pluto Press. p. 94. ISBN 0-7453-1413-9..
  37. ^ "The Troubles: How 1969 violence led to Army's longest campaign". BBC News. 14 August 2019. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019.
  38. ^ Operation Banner, alphahistory.com Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  39. ^ Cite error: The named reference suttonresponsible was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  40. ^ "Sutton Index of Deaths: Crosstabulations (two-way tables)". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2020. (choose "organization summary" and "status" as the variables)
  41. ^ Moriarty, Gerry (5 August 2019). "Northern Ireland: Eighty-one 'punishment attacks' in past year". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  42. ^ "South East Antrim UDA: 'A criminal cartel wrapped in a flag'". BBC News. 21 March 2021.
  43. ^ "Drugs and cash seized in raids linked to South East Antrim UDA". Belfast Telegraph.
  44. ^ Earwin, Alan (25 March 2021). "Surveillance recorded 'South East Antrim UDA drugs conversation', court is told". News Letter. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  45. ^ "Police seize suspected drugs in operation linked to the South East Antrim UDA". 14 October 2022.
  46. ^ "Drugs seized in searches linked to South East Antrim UDA". BBC News. 4 September 2018.
  47. ^ "Loyalist terror groups UVF and UDA on collision course over 'drug deal turned sour'". 16 May 2023.
  48. ^ "Draft List of Deaths Related to the Conflict (2003–present)". Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2008.


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