This is the story of the dramatic events that led to the partition of Ireland. A story that continues to reverberate to the present day. And dominate the relationship between the islands of Britain and Ireland. ibid.
For Britain, the loudest and most strident demands for self-determination came from very close to home, from a country that it had ruled for centuries: Ireland. Prior to the war, and in response to long-standing demands from Irish nationalists, Britain had been preparing to devolve some powers to a Dublin-based parliament, through so-called home-rule. But home-rule was fiercely resisted by Unionists, particularly in Belfast and large parts of Ulster, where for centuries the population had been impacted by migration from Scotland and England. ibid.
By the end of the nineteenth century Ulster’s distinctiveness was marked by its status as the most industrialised part of Ireland. ibid.
The outbreak of the First World War averted to threat of a violent confrontation between Ulster Unionists and the British government, and home rule was suspended. ibid.
Nine weeks after the Easter rising, on the western front the men of the 36th Division made a very different blood sacrifice. In July, during the first two days of fighting at the battle of the Somme, the Division suffered an appalling five thousand, five hundred casualties. Men fighting for Britain … ‘The battle of the Somme was absolute slaughter particularly for Ulster Unionists.’ ibid.
Both Unionists and Republicans would take advantage of another political force that emerged for the first time in 1918: Women. They had become more politically engaged before the war, and were voting now for the first time. They included the members of the Ulster Women’s Unionist Council. ibid.
Despite the war of independence raging across the island, Unionists in the north continued to lay the foundations for a new state. ibid.
1918: In Ireland, Nationalist demands for independence from Britain had already resulted in an armed rebellion in 1916, and the bloody fallout from radicalised public opinion. While Nationalists wanted to break from centuries of British rule, in the industrial north-east of the island, many Unionists feared the loss of their cultural and economic ties to Britain and the empire. The Road to Partition II
This was a royal visit like no other. The King and Queen had come to a land where a bloody war to win independence from Britain still raged, and a city ravaged by sectarian violence. ibid.
The Irish delegation succumbed to pressure and signed the Treaty. But deeply conflicted by its terms, Collins said that he had in fact signed his own death warrant. ibid.
Just two months later in August 1922 the civil war was to take a dramatic turn and claim its most high profile victim: Michael Collins. ibid.
‘I’ve just actually went through an order of, of an abduction. I actually work in the Northern Bank cash centre. They used me to rob it.’ Thirty million.’ Heist: The Northern Bank Robbery, 911 call, BBC 2021
2004: It was the biggest bank robbery in British history. Two families held hostage. A crime that shook politics in Northern Ireland to its core. ibid. caption
Who robbed them? Did the IRA carry it out? If the IRA did carry it out, did Martin McGuinness and Jerry Adams know about it. And they are at the heart of the Peace Process at this moment. ibid.
The Northern bank raid is among the biggest robberies of modern times, and yet so much of what happened is a mystery. ibid.
Internal bank CCTV captures the entire robbery unfolding. ibid.
6:28 pm: Chris returns to the bank for the real robbery to begin. ibid.
‘7 people have been arrested and more than two million pounds seized: a possible connection with the Northern Bank Robbery just before Christmas … ‘A major [IRA] laundering operation.’ ibid.
Two members of the IRA are arrested in Cork. ibid.
March 2008: Three years after the robbery Ted Cunningham faced ten charges of money laundering. ibid.
January 2007: Two years after the robbery cases against two suspects collapse. ibid.
They couldn’t get any convictions: which is extraordinary when you think about this: the scale of it, the political significance of it, and the resources that the police put into this, and the huge vested interest they had in getting a conviction. ibid.
The place is still afflicted by 1,500 sectarian incidents annually. Some of the backstreets continue to resound with the noise of bricks hurled through windows; some Orange halls and Catholic premises on country roads are being damaged by arsonists, or defaced by hooligans who scrawl primitive messages of hate on their walls.
So although the war is over the conflict is not. The more historically-minded can point out that sectarianism long pre-dated the last troubles, and that the recent decades of conflict have of course added to the reservoirs of historical grievance, hurt and bitterness. Sadly, scores of tall peacelines continue to criss-cross Belfast; more sadly still, many of those who live in their shadow are quite content they should stay in place, certainly for the moment. While few actually approve of these towering symbols of division they have at least settled many localised territorial disputes: the concrete and metal of the walls dictate who lives where. The Independent online article 14th September 2009, ‘The Lingering Sectarian Troubles of Northern Ireland’
Killer of Belfast Architect Still at Large. The Fall I starring Gillian Anderson & Jamie Dornan & Laura Donnelly & Ben Peel et al, online headline, BBC 2013
I’ve done things. Bad things. In the past. Really bad things. ibid. main man
There’s a dead female. And it looks suspicious. The Fall II, female rozzer
This is Belfast. Make time. The Fall III, head rozzer to Anderson
It’s all part of the fantasy. The fantasy that sustains him between killings. It’s about power and control and the thrill ... He’s creating his own pornography. ibid. Anderson to team
Do you have any idea of the effect you have on me? The Fall IV, him rozzer to her rozzer
The blood’s very fresh. And there’s a lot of it. The Fall V, CSI rozzer
I have something terrible to confess: I’ve been having an affair. ibid. husband to wife
He feels their pain acutely. It’s just that he gets pleasure from it. ibid. Anderson
A century ago this grave Belfast quayside witnessed a legend in the making. This was the birthplace of the most famous ship the world has ever seen – Titanic. Titanic: Birth of a Legend, Youtube 2005
The true forgotten Titanic story is that of the workers who built the world’s most luxurious ship with their bare hands. ibid.
1,500 died. ibid.
Almost 15,000 men worked in the Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast. ibid.
The deal was made in Belgravia. But it was Belfast where Titanic would be built. ibid.
The kings of the yard with the toughest job were the riveters. ibid.
Robert Welch would capture every phase of Titanic’s construction. ibid.
Titanic had begun with a gentlemen’s agreement. ibid.
Three million rivets. ibid.
Samuel Joseph Scott, aged 15, was the first to die on Titanic. 17 would lose their lives building these ships. ibid.
The boilers dwarfed the men building them. ibid.
Those watching the launch had to forfeit their pay. Today Olympic had the limelight. ibid.
The eight workers who would earn themselves a trip on the maiden voyage. ibid.
The disaster: Titanic’s sister ship Olympic was holed in a collision with a Royal Navy cruiser. ibid.
The man responsible was the skipper who would soon also command the Titanic – Captain Smith. ibid.
Unsinkable: Captain Smith had long argued that. ibid.
Practically unsinkable was the phrase used to sell Titanic. ibid.
The worse a situation gets, the more the rights and wrongs of that situation tend to get lost … Rather like those of a kid growing up in Northern Ireland since the Troubles started, a keen sense of values remains. Acceptable Levels, filmmaker, 1983
I’ve seen a lot of bad things happen. But you know, there’s good people living in Belfast as well. ibid. priest
Let’s face it this place is a scandal. You’ve got soldiers creeping around with guns out there, you have got joyriders that must make the place an absolute death trap for kids, I mean there are no job, there are the most pifling amenities … ibid. female documentary maker
1912: The Home Rule Bill: The story of what happened in Ireland in the years after 1912 is a story that has the city of Belfast at its centre. David Olusoga IV: Union and Disunion, BBC 2023
Protestants! You will die! Agonisingly! And where will you go when you shuffle off this pestilential mortal coil? Where? Belfast 2021 starring Jude Hill & Caitriona Balfe & Judi Dench & Ciaran Hinds & lewis McAskie & Colin Morgan & Lara McDonnell & Michael Maloney et al, director Kenneth Branagh, preacher in pulpit