Northern Ireland came into existence as a result of a campaign for
Irish Home Rule begun in the 1870s. At that time the whole island
of Ireland was governed by Britain and sent MPs to Westminster -
the home of the British Government in London.
Home Rulers wanted a separate Irish parliament but their
campaign was defeated by a number of groups, including Irish
unionists, who wanted to remain under British rule.
Irish politician John Redmond faced the same opposition when he
forced the issue again in 1911. Under the leadership of Sir Edward
Carson, thousands of unionists signed the Ulster Solemn League
and Covenant on September 28, 1912, opposing the Home Rule bill
and reaffirming Protestant support for the union with Britain.
The following year a Protestant militia, the Ulster Volunteer Force
(UVF), was raised to forcibly resist any moves towards
self-government in Ireland. It became a force to be reckoned with
when a boat-load of arms were landed in Northern Ireland in April
1914.
Home Rule and the 1916 Easter Rising
Despite the fierce resistance, a bill granting Home Rule was
passed through its parliamentary stages - only to be postponed
because of the outbreak of the First World War.
The pressure for Home Rule took a violent turn with the Easter
Rising of 1916 when a small group of Irish rebels took control of
parts of Dublin, including the General Post Office, and declared a
provisional republic government. The subsequent execution of most
of the leaders hardened Irish opinion and led to the emergence of
Sinn Fein, a republican party led by Eamonn DeValera, one of the
main participants in the Rising who had escaped execution because
of his American citizenship.
At the same time the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was formed
and began a terror campaign attacking police and army bases in
Ireland. The violence was so widespread that British irregulars
called the Black and Tans were shipped to Ireland to combat the
virtual civil war. But the ferocity of their actions made the situation
worse and violence continued on a frightening scale.
Alarmed by events across the Irish sea, the British government
relented and passed the Government of Ireland Act (1920) which
divided Ireland into two areas. The intention was that both would
be given limited powers of self-government but would remain
within the United Kingdom.
The partition of Ireland
Only Northern Ireland - comprising of the counties of Antrim,
Down, Armagh, Londonderry, Tyrone and Fermanagh - took up
the offer. On June 7, 1921 King George V opened the first
Northern Ireland Parliament in Belfast.
In December the same year, a treaty was signed between
republicans in the South and the British Government, accepting the
partition of Ireland. The new Irish Free State, made up of 26
counties, was given dominion status within the British Empire. The
state changed its name to Eire in 1937 when its written constitution
was adopted and it left the British Commonwealth in 1949.
That Irish constitution defined the national territory as "the whole
island of Ireland, its islands and seas" - a claim which still rankles
with Northern Unionists today.
Meanwhile, in the new Northern Ireland sectarian violence was
rife. In 1922, 232 people were killed and about 1,000 wounded as
anti-partitionist nationalist mobs clashed with pro-union Protestants.
Second class citizens in the new state
Roman Catholics, who made up around one-third of the population,
were chiefly opposed to the new state. The new Parliament, which
was moved to Stormont in 1932, was Unionist dominated and
Catholics saw themselves as second class citizens.
In 1956 the IRA emerged again with a campaign of violence along
the border. But it was poorly supported and the governments in
both parts of the island introduced internment without trial to round
up terrorist suspects. The IRA eventually called off its campaign in
1962.
But outbreaks of serious violence continued, particularly in Belfast
and Londonderry, forcing the British Government to send in troops
to keep the peace. The measure failed and as bombings and
shootings increased in number, the NI parliament introduced
internment to round up republican suspects. The final nail in the
coffin of the Stormont government was Bloody Sunday in Derry in
1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by the army during a
protest march against internment.
Stormont ministers refused to hand back control of security matters
to Westminster so British Prime Minister Edward Heath
announced the suspension of the NI parliament in March 1972. At
the time the measure was only for one year, but that system ran
until the recent formation of the Assembly.
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