1.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
2.
Belfast
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Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998
3.
Derry
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Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name Daire meaning oak grove, in 1613, the city was granted a Royal Charter by King James I and gained the London prefix to reflect the funding of its construction by the London guilds. While the city is usually known colloquially as Derry, Londonderry is also commonly used. The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, the city now covers both banks. The population of the city was 83,652 at the 2001 Census, the district administered by Derry City and Strabane District Council contains both Londonderry Port and City of Derry Airport. Derry is close to the border with County Donegal, with which it has had a link for many centuries. In 2013, Derry was the inaugural UK City of Culture, according to the citys Royal Charter of 10 April 1662, the official name is Londonderry. This was reaffirmed in a High Court decision in 2007 when Derry City Council sought guidance on the procedure for effecting a name change. The council had changed its name from Londonderry City Council to Derry City Council in 1984, the decision of the court was that it had not but it was clarified that the correct procedure to do so was via a petition to the Privy Council. Derry City Council since started this process and were involved in conducting an equality impact assessment report, then the EQIA held two consultative forums, and solicited comments from the general public on whether or not the city should have its name changed to Derry. A total of 12,136 comments were received, of which 3,108 were broadly in favour of the proposal, and 9,028 opposed to it. Despite the official name, the city is usually known as Derry, which is an anglicisation of the Irish Daire or Doire. The name derives from the settlements earliest references, Daire Calgaich, the name was changed from Derry in 1613 during the Plantation of Ulster to reflect the establishment of the city by the London guilds. In McCaffertys survey of language use in the city, only very few interviewees—all Protestants—use the official form, apart from the name of Derry City Council, the city is usually known as Londonderry in official use within the UK. In the Republic of Ireland, the city and county are almost always referred to as Derry, on maps, in the media and in conversation. Whereas official road signs in the Republic use the name Derry, usage varies among local organisations, with both names being used. Most companies within the city choose local area such as Pennyburn. Londonderry railway station is referred to as Waterside railway station within the city but is called Derry/Londonderry at other stations
4.
Mural
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A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture. Some wall paintings are painted on canvases, which are then attached to the wall. Whether these works can be accurately called murals is a subject of controversy in the art world. Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France, many ancient murals have been found within ancient Egyptian tombs, the Minoan palaces and in Pompeii. During the Middle Ages murals were executed on dry plaster. The huge collection of Kerala mural painting dating from the 14th century are examples of fresco secco, in Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting. In modern times, the became more well-known with the Mexican muralism art movement. There are many different styles and techniques, the best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts. The colors lighten as they dry, the marouflage method has also been used for millennia. Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media, the styles can vary from abstract to trompe-lœil. Initiated by the works of artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-loeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private. The buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a layer of wet, fresh. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours. After this the painting stays for a time up to centuries in fresh. Fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster, the pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg, glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall. By the end of the century this had largely displaced the buon fresco method. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of a secco work, in Greco-Roman times, mostly encaustic colors applied in a cold state were used
5.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
6.
Irish republican
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Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic. This followed hundreds of years of British conquest and Irish resistance through rebellion and it launched the 1798 Rebellion with the help of French troops. The rebellion had some success, especially in County Wexford, before it was suppressed, a second rising in 1803, led by Robert Emmet, was quickly put down, and Emmet was hanged. The Young Ireland movement, formed in the 1830s, was initially a part of the Repeal Association of Daniel OConnell, primarily a political and cultural organisation, some members of Young Ireland staged an abortive rising, the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Its leaders were transported to Van Diemens Land, some of these escaped to the United States, where they linked up with other Irish exiles to form the Fenian Brotherhood. They staged another rising, the Fenian Rising, in 1867, in the early 20th century IRB members, in particular Tom Clarke and Seán MacDermott, began planning another rising. The execution of the Risings leaders, including Clarke, MacDermott, Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, the elected members did not take their seats but instead set up the First Dáil. Between 1919 and 1921 the Irish Republican Army, who were loyal to the Dáil, fought the British Army and Royal Irish Constabulary in the Irish War of Independence. Talks between the British and Irish in late 1921 led to a treaty by which the British conceded, not a 32-county Irish Republic and this led to the Irish Civil War, in which the republicans were defeated by their former comrades. That same year, the movement took the decision to focus on Northern Ireland thereafter. The Border Campaign, which lasted from 1956 to 1962, involved bombings, the failure of this campaign led the republican leadership to concentrate on political action, and to move to the left. Following the outbreak of The Troubles in 1968-9, the movement split between Officials and Provisionals at the beginning of 1970. The Provisional IRA, except during brief ceasefires in 1972 and 1975, kept up a campaign of violence for nearly thirty years, directed against security forces and civilian targets. This began to change with a speech by Danny Morrison in 1981, advocating what became known as the Armalite. Under the leadership of Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin began to focus on the search for a political settlement. When the party voted in 1986 to take seats in legislative bodies within Ireland, there was a walk-out of die-hard republicans, who set up Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity IRA. Following the Hume–Adams dialogue, Sinn Féin took part in the Northern Ireland peace process led to the IRA ceasefires of 1994 and 1997. However, another split occurred, with anti-Agreement republicans setting up the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, today, Irish republicanism is divided between those who support the institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement and the later St Andrews Agreement, and those who oppose them
7.
1981 Irish hunger strike
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The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners, in 1980, seven prisoners participated in the first hunger strike, which ended after 53 days. The second hunger strike took place in 1981 and was a showdown between the prisoners and the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, one hunger striker, Bobby Sands, was elected as a Member of Parliament during the strike, prompting media interest from around the world. The strike was called off after ten prisoners had starved themselves to death—including Sands, the strike radicalised Irish nationalist politics, and was the driving force that enabled Sinn Féin to become a mainstream political party. After the introduction of internment in 1971, Long Kesh—later known as HM Prison Maze—was run like a prisoner of war camp, internees lived in dormitories and disciplined themselves with military-style command structures, drilled with dummy guns made from wood, and held lectures on guerrilla warfare and politics. Special Category, or political, status meant prisoners were treated similarly to prisoners of war, for example, in 1976, as part of its policy of criminalisation, the British government brought an end to Special Category Status for newly convicted paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland. The policy was not introduced for existing prisoners, but for those convicted of offences after 1 March 1976. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to slop out, this escalated into the dirty protest, to mitigate the build-up of flies, they smeared their excrement on the walls of their cells. Initially, this protest did not attract a great deal of attention and it began to attract attention when Tomás Ó Fiaich, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, visited the prison and condemned the conditions there. Shortly after this, the broad-based National H-Block/Armagh Committee was formed, on a platform of support for the Five Demands, the period leading up to the hunger strike saw assassinations by both republicans and loyalists. On 27 October 1980, republican prisoners in HM Prison Maze began a hunger strike, many prisoners volunteered to be part of the strike, but a total of seven were selected to match the number of men who signed the Easter 1916 Proclamation of the Republic. The group consisted of IRA members Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney, Raymond McCartney, Tom McFeeley, Sean McKenna, Leo Green, and Irish National Liberation Army member John Nixon. On 1 December three prisoners in Armagh Womens Prison joined the strike, including Mairéad Farrell, followed by a hunger strike by several dozen more prisoners in HM Prison Maze. With the document in transit to Belfast, Hughes took the decision to save McKennas life, in January 1981 it became clear that the prisoners demands had not been conceded. Prison authorities began to supply the prisoners with officially issued civilian clothing, on 4 February the prisoners issued a statement saying that the British government had failed to resolve the crisis and declared their intention of hunger striking once more. The second hunger strike began on 1 March, when Bobby Sands, the republican movement initially struggled to generate public support for the second hunger strike. The Sunday before Sands began his strike,3,500 people marched through west Belfast, during the first hunger strike four months earlier the marchers had numbered 10,000. Five days into the strike, Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Frank Maguire died, following a high-profile campaign the election took place on 9 April, and Sands was elected to the British House of Commons with 30,492 votes to Wests 29,046
8.
Bobby Sands
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Robert Gerard Sands, commonly known as Bobby Sands, was an Irish member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze. He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status, during his strike he was elected to the British Parliament as an Anti H-Block candidate. His death and those of nine other hunger strikers were followed by a new surge of Provisional IRA recruitment, International media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the Republican movement in general, attracting both praise and criticism. Sands was born in 1954 to Roman Catholic parents, John and Rosaleen, after marrying, they relocated to the new development of Abbots Cross, Newtownabbey, County Antrim outside North Belfast. Sands was the eldest of four children and his younger sisters, Marcella and Bernadette, were born in 1955 and 1958, respectively. He also had a brother, John. Despite always having had Protestant friends, Sands suddenly found that none of them would even speak to him and he left school in 1969 at age 15, and enrolled in Newtownabbey Technical College, beginning an apprenticeship as a coach builder at Alexanders Coach Works in 1970. He was eventually confronted after leaving his shift in January 1971 by a number of his colleagues wearing the armbands of the local Ulster loyalist tartan gang. He was held at gunpoint and told that Alexanders was off-limits to Fenian scum and this event, by Sandss admission, proved to be the point at which he decided that militancy was the only solution. He attended his first Provisional IRA meeting in Twinbrook that month, by 1973, almost every Catholic family had been driven out of Rathcoole by violence and intimidation. In 1972, Sands joined the Provisional IRA and he was arrested and charged in October 1972 with possession of four handguns found in the house where he was staying. Sands was convicted in April 1973, sentenced to five years imprisonment, upon his release, he returned to his family home in West Belfast, and resumed his active role in the Provisional IRA. Sands and Joe McDonnell planned the October 1976 bombing of the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry, the showroom was destroyed but as the IRA men left the scene there was a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Leaving behind two wounded, Seamus Martin and Gabriel Corbett, the four tried to escape by car. One of the used in the attack was found in the car. In 1977 the four were sentenced to 14 years for possession of the revolver and they were not charged with explosive offences. Immediately after his sentence, Sands was implicated in a ruckus and spent the first 22 days on boards in Crumlin Road Prison,15 days naked, and a No.1 starvation diet every three days. In late 1980 Sands was chosen as Officer Commanding of the Provisional IRA prisoners in Long Kesh, Republican prisoners organised a series of protests seeking to regain their previous Special Category Status which would free them from some ordinary prison regulations
9.
Ballymurphy massacre
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The Ballymurphy Massacre was a series of incidents involving the killing of eleven civilians by the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army in Ballymurphy, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The killings happened between 9 and 11 August 1971, during Operation Demetrius, the shootings have also been called Belfast Bloody Sunday, a reference to another massacre of civilians by the same battalion a few months later. The Northern Ireland Troubles had been ongoing for two years, and Belfast was particularly affected by political and sectarian violence, the British Army had been deployed in Northern Ireland in 1969, as events had gone beyond the control of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. On the morning of Monday 9 August 1971, the security forces launched Operation Demetrius, the plan was to arrest and intern anyone suspected of being a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The unit selected for operation was the Parachute Regiment—the same regiment later responsible for the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry on 30 January 1972. Members of the Parachute Regiment stated that, as they entered the Ballymurphy area, they were shot at by republicans and returned fire. In 2016 Declan Morgan, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, six civilians were killed on 9 August, these were, Francis Quinn, shot by a sniper while going to the aid of a wounded man. Hugh Mullan, a Catholic priest, shot by a sniper while going to the aid of a wounded man, joan Connolly, shot as she stood opposite the army base. Daniel Teggart, was fourteen times. Most of the entered his back, allegedly as he lay injured on the ground. Noel Phillips, shot as he stood opposite the army base, Joseph Murphy, shot as he stood opposite the army base. Murphy was subsequently taken into custody and after his release, as he was dying in hospital, he claimed that he had been beaten. When his body was exhumed in October 2015, a bullet was discovered in his body. One civilian was shot on 10 August, and another four were shot on 11 August, John Laverty and Joseph Corr were shot at separate points at the Top of the Whiterock Road. Laverty was shot twice, once in the back and once in the back of the leg, Corr was shot multiple times and died of his injuries on 27 August. John McKerr, shot by unknown attackers while standing outside the Roman Catholic church, paddy McCarthy got into a confrontation with a group of soldiers. Family allege an empty gun was put in his mouth and the trigger pulled, McCarthy suffered a heart attack and died shortly thereafter. In February 2015, the conviction of Terry Laverty, younger brother of John, was quashed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission and he had been convicted of riotous behaviour and sentenced to six months on the eye-witness evidence of a paratrooper
10.
McGurk's Bar bombing
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On 4 December 1971, the Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at McGurks Bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The pub was frequented by Irish Catholics/nationalists, the explosion caused the building to collapse, killing fifteen Catholic civilians—including two children—and wounding seventeen more. It was the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles, a report later found that the police were biased in favour of this view, and that this hindered their investigation. The victims relatives allege that the security forces deliberately spread disinformation to discredit the IRA, in 1977, UVF member Robert Campbell was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the bombing and served fifteen years. The bombing sparked a series of bombings and shootings by loyalists and republicans. McGurks was a public house on the corner of North Queen Street and Great Georges Street. This was a mainly Irish nationalist and Catholic neighbourhood, and the regular customers were from the community. The pub was owned by Patrick and Philomena McGurk, who lived on the floor with their four children. The Ulster Volunteer Force was formed in Belfast in 1966, declaring war on the Irish Republican Army, until 1971, however, its actions were few and it scarcely existed in an organisational sense. The British Army was deployed in Northern Ireland following the August 1969 riots, in December 1969 the IRA split into two factions, the Official IRA and Provisional IRA. Both launched armed campaigns against the British Army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, during 1971, the violence gradually worsened. There were daily bombings and shootings by republicans, loyalists and the security forces, during the first two weeks of December, there were about 70 bombings and about 30 people were killed. On 2 December, three prisoners escaped from Crumlin Road prison, not far from McGurks. Security was tightened and there was a heavy RUC and British Army presence in the area over the two days. Eyewitnesses asserted that the checkpoints around McGurks were removed just an hour before the attack, on the evening of Saturday 4 December 1971, a four-man UVF team met in the Shankill area of Belfast and were ordered to bomb a pub on North Queen Street. According to the only convicted bomber—Robert Campbell—they were told not to return until the job was done, Campbell said that their target had not been McGurks, but another pub nearby. It is believed this was a pub called The Gem, which was linked to the Official IRA. The 50 pounds bomb was disguised as a parcel, which they placed in a car
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