| 1169 |
Henry II oversees an Anglo Norman invasion of Ireland, establishing an English presence for the first time |
| 1689 |
James II lands in Ireland and supported by a catholic army reigns from Dublin |
| 1801 |
The Act of Union creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| 1813 |
First recorded sectarian riots in Belfast |
| 1836 |
Extensive failure of the potato crop which is repeated the following year |
| 1845 |
Irish potato blight is discovered leading to country-wide famine |
| 1858 |
Irish Republican Brotherhood is founded in Dublin; the Fenian Brotherhood in America |
| 1907 |
Two Irish nationalist organisations merge to become the Sinn Féin League |
| 1916 |
The ‘Easter Uprising’ in Dublin by the republican Irish Volunteers and Citizen Army is suppressed by British Forces |
| 1917 |
Eamon de Valera elected President of Sinn Fein. The Irish Volunteers becomes known as the Irish Republican Army. |
| 1919 |
Start of Irish War of Independence |
| 1921 |
Anglo-Irish Peace Treaty signed establishing the Irish Free State which the 6 counties of Northern Ireland opted out of. |
| 1922 |
Start of the Irish Civil War between the Irish Free State and opponents of the 1921 Peace Treaty |
| 1923 |
Irish Civil War ends in the defeat of the anti-Treaty supporters |
| 1926 |
Éamon de Valera leaves Sinn Fein and establishes the Fianna Fáil political party |
| 1939 |
IRA declare war on Britain with a bombing campaign in English cities |
| 1939 |
UK and France declare war on Germany and the Second World War begins. Ireland remains neutral. |
| 1947 |
Lord Mountbatten, Viceroy of India, announces the establishment of Pakistan and the independence of India |
| 1949 |
Ireland formally becomes the Republic of Ireland, independent of the United Kingdom and it’s Commonwealth |
| 1969 |
The IRA splits into the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA |
| 1971 |
Internment without trial introduced in Northern Ireland and leads to violence, death and a campaign of civil disobedience |
| 1972 |
On ‘Bloody Sunday’, British soldiers kill 14 Catholic civil rights protestors in Derry, Northern Ireland |
| 1972 |
British Home Secretary holds secret talks with the Provisional IRA |
| 1973 |
The Sunningdale Agreement establishes a power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly and a cross-border Council |
| 1974 |
Secret talks between the Provisional IRA and representatives of the British Government. |
| 1975 |
Internment without trial ends in Northern Ireland |
| 1976 |
Provisional IRA car bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British Ambassador to Ireland, in Dublin |
| 1979 |
Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Party, elected British Prime Minister |
| 1979 |
Provisional IRA bomb kills 4 people aboard a fishing boat off Mullaghmore, County Sligo |
| 1979 |
Provisional IRA bombs kills 18 British soldiers at Warrenpoint in County Down, Northern Ireland |
| 1981 |
Bobby Sands, IRA prisoner in Northern Ireland, dies while on hunger strike |
| 1984 |
Provisional IRA bomb kills 5 at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton, England |
| 1985 |
Anglo Irish Agreement signed in Hillsborough, Northern Ireland giving the Irish Government an advisory role in the North |
| 1987 |
Provisional IRA bomb kills 11 at a Remembrance Service in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland |
| 1990 |
Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, resigns and is replaced by John Major |
| 1993 |
British & Irish Governments issue the Downing Street Declaration giving Northern Ireland the right of self-determination |
| 1994 |
Provisional IRA call a cease-fire followed in October by the Loyalists |
| 1995 |
Bill Clinton, President of the USA, visits Northern Ireland and later the Republic |
| 1996 |
Provisional IRA bomb kills 2 at Canary Wharf in London and ends their 17 month cease-fire |
| 1997 |
Tony Blair, Labour Party, elected British Prime Minister |
| 1997 |
Bertie Ahern, Fianna Fáil, elected Irish Premier |
| 1997 |
Provisional IRA call a second ceasefire |
| 1998 |
Real IRA is formed from disaffected members of the IRA objecting to the ceasefire and involvement in the peace process |
| 1998 |
Real IRA bomb kills 29 in Omagh, Northern Ireland |
| 1998 |
The ‘Good Friday’ Agreement or Belfast Agreement establishes a devolved Northern Ireland Assembly |
| 2001 |
George W Bush becomes President of the USA |
| 2001 |
Terrorist attacks in New York and Washington kill nearly 3,000 |
| 2005 |
IRA announces the end of its military campaign and decommissions its weapons |
| 2006 |
The St Andrews Agreement provides for the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly |
| 2007 |
Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party form a power-sharing Northern Ireland government |
| 2008 |
The Independent Monitoring Commission declares the IRA’s army council is now redundant |
| 2009 |
Real IRA kill 2 soldiers at the Massareene Army Base; Continunity IRA kill a police officer in Craigavon, both Northern Ireland |
| 2010 |
The UDA, Northern Ireland’s largest loyalist paramilitary organisation, formally declare they have decommissioned all their weapons |
2011 |
HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Duke of Edinburgh visit Ireland, the first by a British head of state to the Republic |
