What was the Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland, and just how deadly did it become?
The Troubles was a conflict in Northern Ireland that claimed thousands of lives — including almost 2,000 entirely innocent civilians, both British and Irish. At the peak of the violence in the early 1970s, nearly 500 people were being killed every year, and a bomb was going off in Belfast every single day.
The scale of the bloodshed was not a sudden eruption but the culmination of decades of deep sectarian tension between the unionist Protestant community and the nationalist Catholic community. Between the summer of 1920 and the summer of 1922, more than 500 people were killed in Northern Ireland, 10,000 Catholics were driven from their jobs, and 25,000 Catholics were forced out of their homes. Violence flared repeatedly in the decades that followed — during the 1935 Belfast riots alone, 11 people were killed, 100 injured, and 2,000 driven from their homes. By the time the Troubles reached full intensity in the early 1970s, organisations like the IRA and the Ulster Volunteer Force were responsible for a sustained campaign of bombings and shootings that made Belfast one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Figures such as Martin McGuinness on the republican side and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) on the state side were central actors in a conflict that scarred two generations. You can hear the full context explored in detail on The Rest Is History.
"At the peak of the violence in the early 1970s, almost 500 people were being killed every year and a bomb was going off in Belfast every single day."
— The Rest Is History, Episode 697: The Troubles: Murder in Belfast (Part 1)See also
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