Northern Ireland

Ulster’s ‘Lost Counties’

In December 1922 a proclamation signed by George V formally established the Irish Free State. Among loyalists in three border counties of Ulster, partitioned and cut adrift from unionist jurisdiction, the sense of betrayal was acute.

Assassin’s Creed

Was the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson the ‘murder that triggered the Irish Civil War’?

The Curragh Incident

In March 1914, writes Robert Blake, it seemed that Ulster might have to he coerced into accepting the Irish Home Rule Bill. A crisis was provoked when a number of British Army officers resolved to he dismissed rather than obey the Government's orders.

Dividing Ireland, 1912-1914

John Stocks Powell describes how conflict between Nationalists and Unionists was still unhealed when the First World War began.

The Derryard Attack

Chris Darnell examines the political and military background to the IRA’s last major action against the British army.

The Irish Question

Ian Garrett asks why British Governments found Ireland so difficult a problem in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

The Northern Ireland Troubles: Holding the Ring

Few British soldiers have written of their experiences of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Here, former infantry officer Patrick Mercer recalls his tours, which offer lessons for today’s soldiers and politicians.

First World War: When Enemies United

Before the First World War, Irish Unionists and Nationalists were poised to fight each other over the imposition of Home Rule by the British. Then, remarkably, they fought and died side by side, writes Richard S. Grayson.