Troubles

   The label ‘the Troubles’ is sometimes applied to the events in southern Ireland at the time of the Irish struggle for independence after the end of World War One (1919–23). Here, it refers to the period of communal violence that lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1990s, culminating in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The period has been variously described as one of low-intensity conflict to one of civil war. In these years, there was a continuation of sporadic incidents of armed conflict which sometimes took on a more dramatic and extremely violent character. Massive destruction was created by bombing and other activities, resulting in heavy casualties in Northern Irish towns and cities, both of innocent by-standers as well as those more personally committed. The conflict involved paramilitary groups representing elements on the loyalist and republican sides, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army, which was sent in to ‘hold the ring’ in the sectarian strife but soon found itself caught up in conflict with the Irish Republican Army and other paramilitary forces.