The Northern Ireland conflict, commonly called the Troubles, ran from the late 1960s until the late 1990s. It pitted unionists/loyalists (mostly Protestants who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom) against nationalists/republicans (mostly Catholics who sought reunification with the Republic of Ireland), with the British state as a third major party.
The conflict's origins lay in the 1921 partition of Ireland, which left a Catholic minority inside a Protestant-majority Northern Ireland. Discrimination in housing, employment, and electoral districting fuelled a civil rights movement in 1968. Clashes escalated after British troops were deployed in 1969 (Operation Banner) and after events such as Bloody Sunday (30 January 1972), when British paratroopers killed 13 unarmed civilians in Derry.
Principal armed actors included the Provisional IRA and smaller republican splinters (INLA, Continuity IRA, Real IRA), and loyalist paramilitaries such as the UVF and UDA/UFF, alongside the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Violence took the form of bombings, assassinations, internment without trial (introduced 1971), and hunger strikes — most famously the 1981 Maze prison strike in which Bobby Sands and nine others died.
The conflict caused roughly 3,500 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries, with civilians a large share of casualties. It also spilled into Great Britain (e.g., the 1984 Brighton bombing) and the Republic (the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings).
Key diplomatic milestones included the Sunningdale Agreement (1973), the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985), the Downing Street Declaration (1993), and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (10 April 1998), which established power-sharing devolved institutions, cross-border bodies, and a principle of consent on constitutional change. The St Andrews Agreement (2006) restored devolution after suspensions. Legacy issues — paramilitary decommissioning, victims' justice, and post-Brexit arrangements under the Northern Ireland Protocol and Windsor Framework — remain politically live.
Example
In April 1998, the British and Irish governments and most Northern Irish parties signed the Good Friday Agreement, formally ending the bulk of Troubles-era violence.
Frequently asked questions
There is no single end date, but the Good Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998 is widely treated as the political endpoint, followed by IRA decommissioning declared complete in 2005.
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