History of Belfast
Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland, and throughout its modern history has been a major commercial and industrial centre. In the late 20th century manufacturing industries that had existed for several centuries declined, particularly shipbuilding. The city's history has occasionally seen conflict between different political factions who favour different political arrangements between Ireland and Great Britain. Since the Good Friday Agreement, the city has been relatively peaceful and major redevelopment has occurred, especially in the inner city and dock areas.
Early history
The first permanent settlements were built in the
The original settlement of Belfast was a small village,
Medieval period
In 1177, during the
As part of his campaign to establish himself as king of Scotland,
During the
Plantation of Ulster
In 1603, after the rebellion, Gaelic chieftain Conn O'Neill (son of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone) was holding a Christmas feast at his stronghold of Castlereagh. After three days of revelry, he and his guests ran out of wine and he ordered his men into the village of Belfast to steal more drink. O'Neill's men got into a quarrel then skirmished with English soldiers en route, killing one of them. O'Neill was subsequently arrested for "making war against the Queen's soldiers" and thrown into a dungeon at Carrickfergus Castle. O'Neill was then sentenced to death for the wine incident. A secret agreement between O'Neill, Richard Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery, a Scottish lord, saw O'Neill escape from imprisonment.[18] Hamilton seduced the daughter of O'Neill's jailer and Montgomery had Lady O'Neill smuggle in rope inside a large cheese wheel. O'Neill then used the rope to escape down the sea cliff side of the castle, where a boat was waiting. Impressed by his daring, the newly crowned King James I offered O'Neill a pardon on condition he honour his terms with the Scottish lords who helped him escape and divide his lands in Ulster between himself, Montgomery and Hamilton. O'Neill kept the land Belfast was on. Montgomery, in turn, encouraged the migration of common people from Scotland to Ulster. When King James became aware of this popular movement, he officially involved the monarchy. James decided to make the already occurring human migration royal policy and escalated its pace and scale.[19]
In 1605, Sir Arthur Chichester was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland by James I.[20] He was already serving as Governor of Carrickfergus in 1598 after his brother, Sir John Chichester, was killed in the Battle of Carrickfergus. Chichester was later granted lands that included Carrickfergus, Belfast and the Lagan Valley. Belfast was still a small village (with one inn) that had been affected by the Nine Years' War. At that time, Belfast consisted mostly of Scots, English and Manx who lived in timber houses. Chichester was determined to transform the village into a proper town and set about finding ways to develop the area. He brought masons and smiths over from Britain and ordered the firing of over a million bricks for new construction.[17]
After the Flight of the Earls left Ulster without leadership in 1607, James saw an opportunity to finally Anglicise the last Gaelic province in Ireland. Ulster, up to this point, had accepted royal patrimony and trade but hitherto resisted British cultural influence.[21] James granted Irish lands and titles to those who were loyal to him in Britain as well as to the loyal Gaelic lords he deemed "worthy" in Ireland.[21] James encouraged the increase of migration from Britain to Ireland, promising his subjects work and a new life in what was later dubbed the Plantation of Ulster.[21] Though many came from all over Britain, the largest response was from lowland Scotland. Scottish migrants came to Ulster in droves, honoring the king's conditions to develop existing towns, build roads and found new settlements. This mass migration during the Plantation saw the eventual emergence of the Ulster-Scots.[22]
In 1611, Chichester replaced the old castle with one made of stone and timber, built on the same spot as the previous fortifications.
The new importance of Belfast was demonstrated in 1613 when the town was constituted a
Many of the new arrivals to Ulster were Scottish Presbyterian
A new form of
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Taking advantage of the civil wars that engulfed England and Scotland, in 1641 the Catholic Gaels of Ulster rose in revolt,[29] contributing to what became known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Belfast was saved when the insurgents were driven back from Lisburn.[30]
For their further protection, the town's Presbyterians looked, not to the new parliamentarian regime in England, but rather to Scotland whose parliament still acknowledged the House of Stuart. In 1644, the town was occupied Scottish army under Robert Monro that in battling the rebels laid waste to much of Antrim and Down. In 1649, the Belfast Presbytery was sufficiently emboldened to rebuke the government in London for violating its Solemn League and Covenant with the Scots and for executing the king. It drew upon Belfast, whose "obscurity" til then had never came to his "hearing", the vitriol of John Milton. Outraged that these "false prophets" and "unhallowed priestlings" should defy "the sovereign majesty of England", Milton denounced the Scottish residents of the town as "ungrateful and treacherous guests".[31][32]
On 30 September 1649, after four days resistance, Belfast fell to an English army under Oliver Cromwell's lieutenant, Robert Venables. He briefly considered sending the town's Scottish and Presbyterian residents into permanent exile.
Williamite War
By 1667, Belfast was producing half of Ireland's supply of butter, which was heavily used by the Irish people. Butter also sold at a premium in Europe, with the Dutch paying the highest prices and the French ordering the largest quantities.
William of Orange landed in Carrickfergus on 14 June 1690
William of Orange went on to defeat James II at the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July 1690 which caused James to flee into exile to France. Final victory came when Williamite forces defeated the Jacobite army at the Battle of Aughrim in 1691. The subsequent Treaty of Limerick officially ended the Williamite War in Ireland. William and Mary succeeded James II and were crowned as joint monarchs. William III reign marks the cementing of Protestantism in the British monarchy, the establishing of Parliament as the preeminent governing body and the beginning of the Protestant Ascendency in Ireland.
Protestant Ascendency, Militias, Merchants and the Industrialisation
The 18th century saw the rise of the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Protestant elites and commoners received privileged status over most Catholics which they justified as a reward for siding with William III during the Glorious Revolution. Penal Laws disqualified many Catholics from the legal amenities enjoyed by other British subjects (including Irish Protestants). Presbyterian Ulster-Scots were also affected to a lesser degree as "dissenters" (Protestant non-members of the Anglican Church). The Irish Parliament in Dublin was packed out with Protestant nobility and landowners. Absentee landlords, rent hikes, land confiscation from Catholics and Protestant dissenters became common during this period.
Belfast thrived as a merchant town,[39] importing goods from Great Britain and exporting linen products in increasing volume. Linen at the time was made by small producers in rural areas. Belfast also suffered from the great frost, followed by drought, that hit Ireland in 1740.[40] That winter, Belfast was reported to have been covered in snow by a powerful blizzard. On 23 December 1771, aggrieved by high rents and evictions, the exclusively Protestant Hearts of Steel gang gathered in a meeting house in Templepatrick. The group, mostly farmers, armed themselves with pitchforks, firelock rifles and pistols and made for nearby Belfast. Twelve hundred men entered through Belfast's north gate and surrounded the barracks where a farmer was being held for not paying his rent. Dr. Alexander Haberday, who was in the crowd, made his way to the barracks in an effort to peacefully negotiate the release of the prisoner. Suddenly, the gates flew open and a detachment of soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five people including Haberday, and wounding nine others. These deaths resulted in violence across Belfast which moved to the house of Waddell Cunningham[41] and Hercules Lane (now Royal Ave). The Sovereign (mayor) of Belfast believed the whole town was burning and released the prisoner, fearing further destruction. The revolt spilled over into mid-Ulster with the Hearts of Oak combining forces with the Hearts of Steel. Eventually, the Irish Parliament had to pass a special act and send troops into Ulster to put down the unrest.[42]
On 13 April 1778, during the
In 1780, Belfast became a centre of debate and radical politics, partly because its predominantly
Towards the end of the 18th century, money was raised by collections from both the Presbyterian and
In 1789, upon learning of the first waves of uprising in France, the
Protestants in Ulster who endorsed Enfranchisement soon found that they knew next to nothing about their Catholic neighbours. Wolfe Tone noted in his diary that many Protestants were "ignorant" of the lifestyle of Catholics.[48] This led to the organising of the Harp gathering in Belfast in 1792 where Gaelic poetry, art, music and language were celebrated. In May 1795, after being implicated in treasonous activity, Wolfe Tone and his family were in Belfast awaiting a ship that would take them into exile. Tone was invited to many dinner parties and excursions by local society. One such outing was a hike up the Cave Hill overlooking the town of Belfast and surrounding areas. It was atop the cliff that Tone and his compatriots vowed that they would not rest until Ireland was free from the "British yoke". Tone's Belfast Presbyterian supporters raised funds to buy his family a small tobacco farm in New Jersey.[48]
In 1796, with Tone aboard, France launched an armada carrying over 15,000 men to Ireland, only to be prevented from landing by bad weather.
Act of Union, Direct Rule and Rapid Growth
As a consequence of the Rebellion of 1798 and the re-organisation of Britain and Ireland into the
Beginning in the early 19th century, migrants seeking work came to Belfast from across Ireland, Scotland and England, but particularly from rural Ulster, where sectarian tensions ran deep. The same period saw the first outbreaks of sectarian riots, which have recurred regularly since.
Belfast was the one place on the island where the
For the Battle of the Boyne commemorations on 12 July 1829,
Daniel O'Connell launched his Repeal the Act of Union movement in 1840 and was invited to speak in Belfast in January 1841. Rev. Henry Cooke, a spokesman for northern Presbyterians, said that "repeal" was "just a discreet word for Rome-ish ascendancy and Protestant extermination." He went on to comment that O'Connell was a "great, bad man engaged in a great, bad cause...".[60] O'Connell abandoned his plans to enter Belfast in the midst of a large crowd of supporters. Anticipating trouble, troops and artillery were called into town to quell any unrest. O'Connell slipped into Belfast on 16 January in disguise. He did not attempt to leave his hotel in Donegall Place to attend mass. He appeared on the balcony of Kern's Hotel on 19 January to speak to a crowd while wearing a flamboyant, repeal-themed outfit complete with white velvet collar and embroidered shamrocks, wolf hounds and round towers. The crowd was mixed, with people either jeering or cheering O'Connell in a cacophony of sound so loud that O'Connell's speech could not be heard. That night, O'Connell attended an event in the May Street Music Hall, while some Belfast locals outside pelted each other with stones and others smashed windows. One stone went through the window at the Kern's Hotel, where O'Connell was staying, and shattered the great chandelier inside. At the office of The Vindicator, the repeal journal in Belfast, it was reported that hardly a pane of glass was left unbroken by rioters, who had to be repelled by the police. O'Connell left Belfast the next day, escorted by four cars full of police. A few days later, Rev. Cook, speaking to a crowd of supporters, extolled the growth of industry and population in Belfast and connected its prosperity directly to its being a part of the United Kingdom.[60]
Famine, Queen Victoria and Harland & Wolff
During the
On 10 July 1849, the Belfast Harbour commissioners, members of the council, gentry, merchants and the 13th Regiment officially opened the Victoria Channel aboard the royal steamer Prince of Wales. This new waterway allowed for large vessels to come up the River Lagan regardless of the tide. At a signal, a flotilla of sea craft moved up the channel to the adulation of the large crowds that had gathered to watch the event. The spectacle was concluded by a cannon salute and a resounding chorus of "
Belfast was recovering from a cholera epidemic at the time of the Royal visit, and many credited Victoria and Albert with lifting the spirits of the town during a difficult period.[67] Conditions for the new working class were often squalid, with much of the population packed into overcrowded and unsanitary tenements. The city suffered from repeated cholera outbreaks in the mid-19th century. Though both Catholics and Protestants were often employed, Protestants would experience preferment over their Catholic counterparts. Hardly any of those in management were Catholic and Protestants would often receive promotion and desirable positions.
In 1852, Belfast was the first port of Ireland, outpacing Dublin in size, value and tonnage.
The mud that was dredged up to dig the Victoria Channel was made into an artificial island, called Queen's Island, near east Belfast. John Hixon, an engineer from Liverpool who managed the arms work on Cromac Street, decided to use his surplus of iron ore to make ships. Hixon hired
Home Rule, City Charter
Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888,[70] the city continues to be viewed as straddling County Antrim and County Down with the River Lagan generally being seen as the line of demarcation.[71] Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart made a grand visit to Belfast on behalf of the Queen to give it official recognition as a city. Belfast at this time was Ireland's largest city and the third most important port (behind London and Liverpool) in the United Kingdom; and the leader in world trade at the time.[72] Belfast had become a world class industrial city and the center of linen production for the whole planet.[73] In 1893, a Second Home Rule Bill passed through the House of Commons but was struck down in the House of Lords. Wary Protestants celebrated and, as had happened seven years earlier, Catholics were attacked in Belfast's shipyards. An article in the Daily Chronicle (28 April 1893) stated: "Catholic workmen were savagely set upon, kicked, beaten with belts, and chased and pelted with brickbats, stones and iron nuts, with the result that the greater body of the Catholics, who number six hundred, have cleared out to save their lives."[74]
On 14 January 1899, large crowds gathered to watch the launch of the
The Ulster Covenant and Rising Tensions
At the beginning of the 20th century, 75% of Belfast's population was Protestant and opposed the notion of Home Rule. However, the same percentage of Ireland as a whole were Catholic and in favor of the re-establishment of a parliament in Dublin. In 1910 Irish Unionists chose
Conservative Party leader
On 28 September 1912 Protestant Unionists met in the
People continued to sign the Covenant past 11pm, with women signing their own separate declaration. Signatures totaled 471,414 men and women who could prove they were born in Ulster (over 30,000 more women signed than men).
Third Home Rule Bill, World War and Partition 1912-1921
In 1914, after failing to pass an
In April 1914, a shipment of 24,000 rifles with five million rounds of ammunition, or 216 tonnes, arrived in Ireland. The arms had been smuggled from Germany, transferred to a smaller vessel in Wexford and transported up the coast to Ulster.[78] The shipment went undetected, as the authorities were distracted by a decoy ship in Belfast Lough, which allowed the real vessel to be unloaded near Larne and the arms to be dropped for collection throughout the area. Alarmed by the events up north, the almost-defunct Irish Republican Brotherhood was revitalised and, as a direct response to the actions of the UVF, a new generation of Republicans joined the IRB's ranks. John Redmond suspected that the Irish Volunteers were secretly being controlled by the IRB from within and moved to take over the militia, but failed. Observing the success of the UVF in arming, the Irish Volunteers also contacted gun manufacturers in Germany to purchase arms. King George V, fearing civil war, became involved and sponsored peace talks in Ulster, which eventually broke down. Edward Carson believed that war was inevitable, saying "we shall have once more to assert the manhood of our race."[78]
Internationally, political tensions resulting from nationalist movements in various European countries were causing diplomatic relations to deteriorate between nations. While considering the various possible outcomes that might result from going to war, some of Germany's generals expressed their belief that the British military would be too preoccupied with civil war in Ireland to respond to anything else happening in Europe. On 3 August 1914. German troops crossed into Belgium, signifying the beginning of
In July 1916 in France, the
Following the end of the Great War in 1918, issues of Irish independence and the partition of Ireland again came to prominence. The separatist Sinn Féin party won a majority of seats in Ireland, though not in Ulster, where Belfast nationalists continued to vote for members of the Irish Parliamentary Party and unionists for the Unionist Party. Representatives of Sinn Féin refused to sit in the House of Commons, citing their belief that the British had no legitimate right to rule in Ireland. Because they adopted a policy of abstention, the Commons only had the small contingent of the Irish Party representing Irish nationalism, easily outnumbered by Irish Unionists. The Ulster Unionist Council was able to attain nearly all of its constitutional aims for Ulster. The result was a separate territory that would be as large as Unionists could control under their own parliament and jurisdiction. Under the terms of the agreement, six of Ulster's nine counties would be partitioned into a territory to be called "Northern Ireland" and administered by a separate Belfast parliament with the remaining 26 counties being known as "Southern Ireland" and ruled by a semi-autonomous Dublin parliament.[80]
Unionists portrayed themselves as making a "great sacrifice" by conceding 26 counties, three of which were part of Ulster. In reality, the arrangement actually suited their interests, as it consolidated their power as a Protestant majority over the North. Some British authorities assumed that having two "Home Rule" parliaments in Ireland would be an acceptable compromise for Nationalists, who were not informed of the proposal beforehand.[81] Counties County Tyrone and County Fermanagh had Nationalist majorities, yet were to be included in Northern Ireland. Despite Edward Carson suggesting that the four most Protestant counties would be viable in 1914, Unionists persisted in including these counties as part of the desired six. On 23 December 1920, amidst political unrest, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 entered the statute book, officially creating Northern Ireland.[81]
Edward Carson privately disagreed with the idea of
Conflict in Belfast 1920–1922
(see
The periods immediately before and after partition were marked by major
On 21 July 1920, rioting broke out in Belfast, starting in the shipyards and spreading to residential areas. The violence was partly in response to the IRA killing in
King George V offered to open Northern Ireland's parliament on 22 June 1921. The king made this decision hoping to quell the continual violence that raged in places like Belfast and Derry. Prime Minister David Lloyd George saw the occasion as an opportunity to include Sinn Féin. When the King arrived, Belfast was awash with British flags, royal portraits and cheering throngs. George V addressed a gathering of Unionists and their wives in Belfast City Hall. (Nationalists vowed not to attend). In his speech, the King expressed his hope that his presence in Ireland would help put an end to strife of the people regardless of "their race or creed". He went on to implore all the Irish to forgive and live with each other in peace and harmony.[84] The King later privately remarked that he was very glad he came to Northern Ireland though many of his advisors were against the idea. The day after the monarch's departure, the IRA blew up a train carriage carrying the King's cavalry escort en route to Dublin, killing four men and 80 horses. A truce (which was to become the end of the war) was then agreed and came into effect on 11 July 1921, opening negotiations between Irish Republicans and the British government.[84]
Negotiations saw the establishment of a Boundary Commission to reconsider the border between Northern Ireland and the south, the possibility of the 26 counties being given status as a "free state" and the requirement of an Oath of Allegiance for all Irishmen. Both Craig and Carson vehemently opposed the Boundary Commission, fearing it would greatly diminish the existing area of Northern Ireland (in the end, the border hardly changed at all).[84] The truce had little effect in the north as violence peaked in the first half of 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty confirmed the partition of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. Michael Collins, a leader in the Republican movement and commander of the IRA, covertly sent arms and aid to the northern IRA with the aim both of defending the Catholic population there and sabotaging the government of Northern Ireland in hopes of its collapse. Loyalists recognised the IRA's tactic of subversion and openly attacked Catholic neighbourhoods, which were somewhat defended by IRA gunmen. Roughly thirty people were killed in Belfast in February 1922, sixty in March and another 30 in April.[90] Recurring cycles of violence continued until the summer of 1922. In response to this most recent conflict, the First Dáil imposed a boycott on goods produced in Belfast from 6 August 1920, which proved to be ineffective.[91]
Instead of sending the controversial Black and Tans into Northern Ireland, the British government assisted the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) by establishing a Special Constabulary that would eventually evolve into the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).[84] The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC), was recruited for counter-insurgency purposes. This police force consisted of three tiers of servicemen; the A-Specials were uniformed and paid, the B-Specials (the largest section) were uniformed volunteers patrolling mostly their own areas and the C-Specials were a reserve unit. From the onset, the USC was almost exclusively Protestant with members of the prewar UVF and its commanders joining the B-Specials. Members of both police forces (RIC and USC) were involved in carrying out reprisal attacks on Catholics.[92] When the Constabulary was placed under the control of the Northern Ireland government, Craig expanded the B-Specials in an effort to re-establish order in the country.[84] On 29 April 1922, King George V granted to the police force the title of Royal Ulster Constabulary.[93]
Meanwhile, IRA actions in Belfast, such as the killing of police, resulted in more retaliation attacks directly on the Roman Catholic population by
Two factors contributed to the rapid end to the conflict during this period; the first was the collapse of the northern IRA as a result of internment. The second was the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in the south, which diverted the IRA's attention from Northern Ireland to the Free State, largely ending the violence in the former while increasing it in the latter. The death toll in Northern Ireland between July 1920 and July 1922 was 557 men, women and children; 303 were Catholics, 172 Protestants and 82 members of the security forces. [84]In Belfast, 236 people had been killed in the first months of 1922 but there was not a single sectarian murder in the city between 1923 and 1933 Northern Ireland was reputed to have one of the lowest crime rates in Europe during this period.[98]
Capital of Northern Ireland
In 1922, the Northern Ireland government sought to establish its authority; it started by suppressing 21 Nationalist local authorities who had pledged their allegiance to the Dail. In July, legislation was rushed through to abolish proportional representation in local government elections. This went unchecked by Westminster, as Prime Minister David Lloyd George was preoccupied with the divisions in his coalition government and was unwilling to intervene. As Nationalist groups refused to cooperate with the NI government, Unionists found themselves in a position to determine electoral districts without being challenged. This free hand resulted in blatant gerrymandering in favor of the Unionist Party. For example, in one district, Nationalists cast 5,381 more votes than Unionists but the electoral boundaries gave Unionists a majority of 18 seats over Nationalists. Joseph Devlin, the MP from west Belfast, concluded that Nationalists could no longer afford to abstain from taking their seats, effectively giving Unionists free rein, and decided to attend the NI Parliament to mitigate any further damage.[84]
Article 12 of the Anglo-Irish Treaty provided for a boundary commission to be set up to review the current territories of Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. After the Irish Civil War ended, James Cosgrave, the leader of the Irish government, sought to invoke Article 12, and Eoin MacNeill (of the Irish Volunteers) was appointed to represent the Free State. Most Nationalists expected large areas of Northern Ireland to be turned over to the Free State. In April 1925, James Craig called a snap election to demonstrate Unionist solidarity against the Boundary Commission, using the now famous catchphrase "not an inch".[99] But Article 12 proved to be too vague, making provisions for the will of the people as well as economic and geographical ties. The argument was then made that Derry and Newry were too financially bound to Belfast to be separated and therefore had to stay in the six counties. A leaked report published in the Morning Post newspaper on 7 November 1925 detailed the conclusions of the commission. Parts of Donegal and Monaghan were conceded to Northern Ireland, with only the town of Crossmaglen going to the Free State; the population of NI would ultimately be reduced by only 1.8%.[99] MacNeill resigned in protest, Cosgrave and Craig (the latter had hitherto refused to participate in the commission) rushed to London to meet with the new Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, where they agreed to suppress the Boundary Commission and keep the border as it was. In December 1925, Craig returned to a hero's welcome in Belfast, where shipbuilders presented him with a gold-mounted portion of a foot rule for the "inch he had not surrendered".[99] The idioms "not an inch" as well as "no surrender" (the latter in reference to the Siege of Derry and later used by Edward Carson against Home Rule) would become popular sayings among Unionists, particularly loyalists, in Northern Ireland.[99]
In 1928, ten nationalists sat in the Northern Ireland Commons and, yet, received no acclaim for their willingness to cooperate and returning to their seats. The only bill the Nationalists got through from 1928 to 1972 was the Wild Birds Protection Act. In 1929, James Craig (who had been awarded a peerage and was now Lord Craigavon) abolished proportional representation in parliamentary elections. Though the impact was most felt by smaller parties, Nationalists considered this another harsh measure to oppress the minority. Three years later, speaking in the Commons, Joseph Devlin castigated the Unionist party for snubbing the willingness of Nationalists to cooperate, favoring "old party lines" and treating one-third of the population as political pariahs.[84]
The economic boom from
In early 1932,
On 30 September 1932, MPs in Northern Ireland's House of Commons shouted in protest over the 78,000 unemployed and their lack of food. One MP threw the
As the largest city in Ulster, Belfast became the capital of Northern Ireland, and a grand parliament building was finished at
The year 1935 saw another summer of tension as the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down appealed to the public to forget the "unhappy past" and endeavor to work together. In response, at the Belmont Field, Orange Order Grand Master Sir Joseph Davidson asked rhetorically "are we to forget that the flag of Empire is described as foreign flag? And our beloved King insulted by Mr. De Valera? Are we to forget that the aim of these people is to establish an all-Ireland, Roman Catholic state in which Protestantism is to be crushed out of existence?"[101] That night, as the observers at Belmont Field returned to Belfast, fierce fighting broke out on York Street, which raged for days. When calm returned eight Protestants and five Catholics had been killed and 2,000 Catholics had been driven from their homes.
When
Second World War
During the
The Troubles
The post-war years were relatively placid in Belfast, but economic decline and sectarian tensions added to resentment among the Catholic population as widespread discrimination festered below the surface. Inspired by the
The perceived one-sidedness of the police and the failure of the
Violence intensified in the early 1970s, with rival paramilitary groups formed on both sides. The British Army was deployed in 1969 as a peacekeeping force and originally were seen as protectors against Protestant aggression.
In the early 1970s, there were huge forced population movements as families, mostly but not exclusively Roman Catholic, who lived in areas dominated by the other community were intimidated from their homes, either directly or indirectly. As recently as 1971, the city and surrounding area had a large Protestant majority,[106] but as of 2011 it was almost evenly balanced.[107] This fundamental demographic change has been attributed to higher Catholic birth rates and rising prosperity, together with Protestant emigration, both internal, e.g., to North Down, and external. The Ulster Volunteer Force killed 15 people in the McGurk's Bar bombing in 1971.[108] In an attempt to maintain order, the British Government re-introduced internment;[109] in August 1971, the British Army launched Operation Demetrius which rounded up 343 suspected Republican terrorists. They did not detain anyone from the Loyalist side.
In response to the events of Bloody Sunday, which also led to the eventual demise of the NICRA, the PIRA detonated twenty-two bombs, all in a confined area in the Belfast city centre in July 1972, killing nine people, on what became known as "Bloody Friday". Ten days later, British security forces carried out Operation Motorman which aimed to re-take no-go areas in Belfast and Derry.
The general decline in European manufacturing of the early 1980s, exacerbated by political violence, devastated the city's economy. In 1981,
In the early 1990s, loyalist and republican paramilitaries in the city stepped up their killings of each other and "enemy" civilians. A cycle of killing continued right up to the PIRA ceasefire in August 1994 and the Combined Loyalist Military Command cessation six weeks later. The most horrific single attack of this period came in October 1993, when the PIRA bombed a fish shop on the Shankill Road in an attempt to kill the UDA leadership. The Shankill Road bombing instead killed nine Protestant shoppers as well as one of the bombers.
Despite the ceasefires of 1994, the city remains scarred by the conflict between the two communities. In all, nearly 1,500 people died in political violence in the city from 1969 on. Most of Belfast is highly segregated. Enclaves of one community surrounded by another (e.g., the Protestant Glenbryn estate in North Belfast, and the Catholic
In 1997,
21st Century Belfast
The formation of the
However, since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, there has been major redevelopment in the
In 2012 protests and riots broke out by disillusioned unionists following a change of law about the Union Jack flown on the City Hall.
On 28 August 2018, the newer refurbished Bank Buildings, site of a large Primark store in Belfast city centre, caught fire and burned for three days. One theory as to how conflagration began was that a worker accidentally left a blow torch ignited on the roof. The wind subsequently knocked the torch on its side causing the fire. An invest of £100 million was secured to painstakingly rebuild the historic, listed building. The structure was digitally mapped and carefully disassembled and stored in on-site shipping containers. Each salvageable brick was labelled and reused as the building was restored. Any piece that was too badly damaged was replaced with the closest material to the original. Primark Bank Buildings was re-opened on 1 November 2022 to much fanfare and was staff by 500 workers, 300 of which were new job.[111]
In 2021, sporadic rioting broke out in pockets of Belfast and elsewhere in relation to the Northern Ireland Protocol, a by-product of Brexit. Some Loyalist influencers, fearing that Northern Ireland would receive different treatment than that of Britain when it came to trade, encouraged area youths to riot, a demonstration of their ability to disturb the peace. Influencers in Republicans responded in kind with their young people be pressured to also riot. In areas like West Belfast, Loyalist and Republican-based youths were separated by the Peace Wall and contained by police lines with officers in riot gear. On the Springfield Road, water cannons were deployed and eventually used to disperse the agitants (the first time a water cannon had been used in 6 years).[112] Unrest dissipated with Loyalists calling an end to the uproar on their side out of respect to the Royal Family regarding the death of Prince Philip. Duke of Edinburgh.
In May 2023, Sinn Féin won an over-whelming victory in the NI Assembly elections with Michele O'Neill taking the post of First Minister. This was the first time a Nationalist party gained a majority in a Northern Ireland election.[113] The DUP would go on to refuse to form a government with Sinn Féin as part of their Stormont Boycott as a protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
On 18 January 2024, over 100,000 workers from the National Health Service, Translink NI and teachers' unions stage the Public Sector Strike over pay in many towns and cities including Belfast.[114] After two years of suspension, the NI Assembly meet on 3 February 2024 and appoint Michelle O'Neill as First Minister and Emma Little-Pengelly as Deputy First minister. This is the first time in the history of Northern Ireland that a republican has become First Minister as well as the top two posts both being held by women.[115]
See also
Notes
External links
- PLANTATIONS IN ULSTER, 1600–41: A COLLECTION OF DOCUMENTS, R.J. Hunter ed., Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and Ulster Historical Foundation, 2018
978-1-909556-61-4
References
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Further reading
- Mackay Jr., A. (1823). The history of the town of Belfast, with an accurate account of its former and present state: to which are added a statistical survey of the parish of Belfast and a description of some remarkable antiquities in its neighbourhood. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- Young, Robert M., ed. (1892). The Town Book of the Corporation of Belfast. Belfast: Marcus Ward. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
- Young, Robert M., ed. (1896). Historical notices of Old Belfast and its vicinity. Belfast: Marcus Ward. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
- Nesbitt, Noel. 1982. The Changing Face of Belfast. Second (revised) edition. Ulster Museum Publication No. 183.