1905
Arthur Griffith forms Sinn Féin

1908
Founding of Irish Transport Workers' Union (later becomes the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union)

1910
Carson becomes leader of Unionists

1912
April 11: 3rd Home Rule bill introduced in Commons
Sept. 28: Ulster "Solemn League and Covenant" signed by nearly 500,000 in protest of Home Rule movement.

1913
Home Rule Bill passes Commons but is defeated by Lords
Ulster Volunteer Force is formed
ITGWU lockout by employers
Nov. 19: Irish Citizen Army formed
Nov. 25: Irish Volunteers formed
December: Patrick Pearse joins IRB

1914
UVF gunrunning
Curragh mutiny by British officers refusing to fight Unionsts
Home Rule Bill passes with amendment allowing for exclusion of Ulster; implementation suspended Sept. 15 after England declares war with Germany in August.
Redmond pledges support of Irish Volunteers in defense of Ireland

1916
Jan.: Supreme Council of IRB decide on insurrection
April 3: Irish Volunteers prepare for rising on Easter Sunday (April 23)
April 20-21: The Aud captured with arms meant for rising
April 22: Eoin MacNeill countermands order for rising
April 24: Rising occurs in Dublin one day late; Proclamation of the Irish Republic read by Patrick Pearse on steps of Liberty Hall.
May 3 - 12: Fourteen leaders of Rising are shot in Kilmainham Jail
Aug. 3: Sir Roger Casement hanged in London

1917
Eamon DeValera becomes Sinn Féin president; Sinn Fein (which had not been part of the rising) now calls for independent Irish republic

1918
December: General Election. Sinn Fein 73; Irish Parliamentary Party 6; Unionists 25; Independent Unionists 1.

1919
Beginning of Anglo-Irish War
Jan. 21: First meeting of Dáil Eireann, including Ulster Unionist representatives
April 1: DeValera elected president of Dáil
April 14-25: General strike in Limerick
Sept. 12: Dáil declared illegal by British

1920
1st Black and Tans recruited
Sectarian riots in Belfast
Oct. 25: Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence McSwiney dies after forcefeeding on hungerstrike in prison
Government of Ireland Act sets up six-county Parliament in North but nothing for the South

1921
Craig succeeds Carson as Ulster Unionist leader
May 25: Dublin Customs House burned down
July 9: Truce between IRA and British Army
Dec. 6: Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed; Ireland receives dominion status; partition will create Northern Ireland
Dec. 8: Eamon de Valera publicly repudiates treaty 1922

1922
Jan. 7: Dáil Eireann ratifies Treaty
Jan. 9: Griffith elected President
April 7: Special Powers Act passed for Northern Ireland; will be renewed until 1933 when it is made permanent
April 24: Labour Party commemorates of Easter Rising with general strike
April: Civil War begins in Ireland
June 16: Irish Free State is established; New Dáil is elected
Oct. 15: Leinster House Act made acts of war against Free State illegal
Royal Ulster Constabulary formed

1923
May: End of Irish Civil War in Ireland
Aug. 27: General election sees 1st appearance of Cumann na nGaedheal, which received 409,000 votes against Sinn Féin's 286,000 votes
Sept.: Jim Larkin forms Irish Worker League as alternative to Labour Party and Communist Party of Ireland
Oct. 13: Mountjoy hungerstrike

1924
July 16: Eamon DeValera released from prison

1925
Boundary Commission agrees to maintain existing border
DeValera begins to question abstention policy
Summer: IRA launches weekly newspaper, An Phoblacht

1926
March 10: after defeat of motion to end abstention policy in Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, DeValera resigned as President of Sinn Féin and announced intention of forming new political party
May16: DeValera and supporters formed Fianna Fail
May: Roddy Connolly and other communists launched Workers' Party of Ireland as alternative to Worker League
Nov. 24: First Fianna Fail Ard Fheis

1927
July 10: Kevin O'Higgins assassinated in unsanctioned attack by IRA volunteers
Aug. 11: Fianna Fail deputies 'fudge' oath and enter Dail; their presence shifts political balance and Cosgrave calls for vote of no confidence, which returns as a tie.
Sept. 15: General election

1929
January: IRA Convention approves formation of Comhairle na Poblachta as a new political organization
February: Several issues of An Phoblacht are repressed by Government
June: Labour Defence League established with Frank Ryan as Secretary
Nov. 2: Comhairle na Poblachta Ard Fheis

1932 - 38
Economic war between Britain and Irish Free State governments

1931
Saor Eire, republican socialist group, formed

1932
Formation of fascist National Guard/Blueshirts
De Valera elected and his party, Fianna Fail, takes power.

1933
Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act made permanent for Northern Ireland; will be superseded by Emergency Provisions Act in 1973
Cumann na nGaedheal, Centre Party and National Guard join to form Fine Gael

1936
IRA declared illegal

1937
Constitution of Ireland; replaces initial Constitution of 1922; asserts jurisdiction over entire island and removes all references or hints of British sovereignty

1939
IRA bombing campaign in England

1949
Irish Republic is established; leaves Commonwealth.

1951
Ian Paisley forms Free Presbyterian Church

1954
Flags & Emblems Act in Northern Ireland prohibits display of Irish tricolor or disturbing display of Union Jack

1956 - 62
Border Campaigns by IRA

1963
Terence O'Neill becomes Prime Minister of Northern Ireland; begins reforms

1964
Campaign for Social Justice in Northern Ireland begins

1965
First Republican Club set up in Belfast

1966
Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on IRA; June 26 engage in 3 sectarian murders

1967
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association formed

1968
Oct. 5: Two days of rioting after a banned civil rights march in Derry broken up by RUC batons. Many view this incident as the start of the Troubles.
Oct. 9: Following a student demonstration in Belfast, the People's Democracy (PD) a radical, left-wing student group, is formed.
Oct. 30: The Taoiseach, Jack Lynch calls for an end to partition to resolve the unrest.
Nov. 4: The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Terence O'Neill, says there will be no transfer of the North to the Republic without the consent of the NI parliament.
Nov. 22: O'Neill announces a five point reform plan which goes some way to easing the Catholic sense of grievance over matters including unfair housing allocation, council elections.
Dec. 11: William Craig, Minister of Home Affairs, dismissed from NI cabinet
Dec. 20: People's Democracy (PD) announce Belfast - Derry March

1969
Jan. 4: PD four day march from Belfast to Derry attacked by a loyalist mob at Burntollet bridge, near Derry. Further conflict when marchers arrive in Derry.
April 28: O'Neill resigns
May 1: James Chichester-Clark becomes Prime Minister
July: First deaths of 'Troubles'
Aug. 12: Apprentice Boys' march in Derry attacked by nationalists; RUC storm Bogside, leading to the Battle of the Bogside
August: British army arrives in North.
Dec.: Split between members of IRA produces Provisional and Official IRA; Provos take over armed struggle

1970
Jan. 1: Ulster Defence Regiment replaces 'B' Specials
Jan. 11: Sinn Féin delegates walk out of Dublin meeting and form Provisional Sinn Féin
April 17: Ian Paisley is elected to Stormont
April 21: Alliance Party is formed
June 18: Edward Heath (Tory) becomes Prime Minister of England
July 3 - 5: Falls Road Curfew in Belfast
Aug. 21: SDLP is formed by Hume, Fitt, P. Devlin, Currie, Cooper and O'Hanlon

1971
Feb. 6: Gunner Robert Curtis becomes the first soldier to die in the Troubles.
Feb.: Chichester-Clark announces "Northern Ireland is at war with the IRA Provisionals." He resigns soon afterwards.
March: Brian Faulkner is elected leader of Unionist Party: believer in internment.
Aug. 9: Internment introduced in Northern Ireland; 300 arrests made
October: Democratic Unionist Party is formed
Dec. 4: UVF bomb in McGurk's bar in North Queen Street kills fifteen people.

1972
Jan. 30: Bloody Sunday; 13 unarmed anti-internment protesters are killed by British paratroopers in Derry (another dies later).
Feb. 2: British embassy in Dublin burned down.
Feb. 22: In an IRA reprisal bomb attack for Bloody Sunday, seven people killed in Aldershot military barracks, home of the 16th Parachute Brigade.
March: Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act sets up Direct Rule; suspension of Stormont on March 24.
May: Hungerstrike by Northern Ireland prisoners; demands include political status; led by Billy McKee; Official IRA declares end to military action
June 13 & 14: Provisional IRA proposes ceasefire; SDLP as intermediaries make offer to British, who accept terms
June 20: Hungerstrikers end strike
July 7: Secret meeting in London between British and members of IRA and Sinn Féin, including Gerry Adams
July 9: End of British-IRA ceasefire
July 21: Bloody Friday: Nine people killed when IRA sets off 22 bombs in Belfast. UDA retaliates by killing five Catholics.
July 31: Operation Motorman begins: British Army moves into Bogside and Andersonstown
Dec. 20: Lord Diplock presents Report to English Parliament; internment changed to "detention"

1973
April 2: Special Powers Act replaced by Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act
June 28: Elections to NI Assembly
July 18: Northern Ireland Constitution Act authorizes end of Stormont
Dec. 9: Sunningdale Agreement creates power-sharing executive and devolved government

1974
Jan. 1: NI Executive takes office
Jan.: Ulster Unionists reject Faulkner's power-sharing policies; OUP and DUP withdraw delegates from Assembly
Feb.: Harold Wilson (Labour) becomes Prime Minister in England
March 5: Merlyn Rees becomes Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
May 14: Ulster Workers' Council declares general strike against Executive
May 15: Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) carries out extensive power cuts in protest at agreement; several factories and Belfast shipyard is closed.
May 17: Loyalist car bombs in Monaghan and Dublin kill 33 people.
May 28: General strike leads all Unionists to resign from Executive, which then collapses, returning NI to Direct Rule.
June: Price sisters end 206-day hungerstrike (which included 167 days of force-feeding) for transfer to Northern Ireland from English jail; transferred 15 Dec.
Oct. 15: Republican prisoners attack guards and set fire to huts in Long Kesh
Oct. 16: Republican women prisoners in Armagh hold prison governor and 3 guards hostage
Nov. 21: Bombings of Birmingham, England pubs which kill 21 people and injure 162 others and which leads to the (wrongful) convictions of the Birmingham Six the following year
Nov. 27: Prevention of Terrorism Act passes
Dec. 8: Irish Republican Socialist Party forms
Dec. 22: Second cease-fire between IRA and British; lasts until approximately April 1975

1975
Jan. 30: Gardiner Report is published; said Special Category Status was a mistake
July 31: Three members of Miami Showband killed in UVF gun attack.

1976
Wilson resigns; James Callaghan (Labour) becomes British Prime Minister; Roy Mason becomes NI Secretary of State
March 1: all convicted after this date treated as ordinary criminals.
Aug. 12: A women's march held which sparks off the Peace People.
Sept. 14: Ciaran Nugent is first IRA man to be admitted to Maze (Cellular) without Special Category Status; becomes first blanketman.
Oct.: Sinn Fein Vice President Maire Drumm killed by Loyalists

1977
Castlereagh interrogation center opens
Oct. 5: Seamus Costello, leader of IRSP, shot dead in Dublin.

1978
Start of dirty and no-wash protests.
Feb. 17: Twelve people killed in IRA bomb at La Mon House Hotel, Co Down.

1979
Feb. 20: Eleven Protestants, known as the Shankill Butchers, sentenced to life imprisonment for nineteen sectarian murders.
March: Bennett report confirms reports of torture in Castlereagh
March 30: Conservative NI spokesman Airey Neave is killed by INLA bomb in British House of Commons car park
Aug. 27: IRA kills Lord Mountbatten in Irish Republic; IRA bombers kill 18 soldiers near Warrenpoint, Co Down.

1980
Jan. 1: First National H-Block March
June: Miriam Daly assassinated
Oct. 27: Seven Republican prisoners go on hungerstrike in H- Blocks
Dec. 15 - 16: Thirty more Republicans join hungerstrike
Dec. 18: Sean McKenna critically ill as a result of hungerstrike; belief that a settlement is imminent brings end to strike

1981
Feb. 5: Announcement made about second hungerstrike
March 1: Beginning of second hungerstrike with IRA and INLA volunteers; Bobby Sands first to begin fast
March 15: Frances Hughes joins hungerstrike
April 9: Sands wins Westminster by-election.
March 22: Raymond McCreesh and INLA memebr Patsy O'Hara join hungerstrike
May 5: Bobby Sands dies
May 12: Francis Hughes dies
May 21: Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara die
July 8: Joe McDonnell dies (joined hungerstrike May 9)
July 13: Martin Hurson dies (joined hungerstrike May 29)
Aug. 1: INLA member Kevin Lynch dies (joined hungerstrike May 23)
Aug. 2: Kieran Doherty dies (joined hungerstrike May 22)
Aug. 8: Thomas McElwee dies (joined hungerstrike June 8)
Aug. 20: INLA member Micky Devine dies (joined hungerstrike June 22)
Sept.: Families of Matt Devlin, Laurence McKeown, & Liam McCloskey persuade or force sons off strike
Oct. 3: hungerstrike officially over

1982
Supergrass arrests early in year with over 200 people arrested on the word of informers; trials will run for two years
Dec. 6: Seventeen people killed in INLA bombing of Droppin' Well disco in Ballykelly, Co Derry.
Dec.: Provisional IRA and INLA prisoners agree to do prison work

1983
Abortion banned in Republic
H-Block mass escape
Gerry Adams becomes President of Sinn Féin and MP for West Belfast.
Nov. 21: Three elders shot dead during service in Darkley Pentecostal Church, Co Armagh. Shooting claimed by Catholic Reaction Force.
December: Harrods bombing by IRA

1984
Assassination attempt on Gerry Adams
Oct. 12: Four people killed in IRA bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, HQ of the Conservative Party conference, in a bid to kill the party leader, Margaret Thatcher.
US activists begin campaign for MacBride Principles

1985
Feb. 23: SDLP leader, John Hume, meets IRA at a secret venue.
Nov. 15: Anglo-Irish Agreement signed by Garrett FitzGerald and Margaret Thatcher

1986
March 3: Unionists hold an extensive Day of Action against the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
June 23: NI Assembly dissolved. Police baton-charge 200 loyalist protesters outside Stormont.

1987
May 8: Eight IRA men shot dead by SAS in Loughgall, Co Armagh.
Nov. 8: IRA bomb explodes during Remembrance Day celebration in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing 11 people
Irish People's Liberation Army formed; attempt to destroy INLA; viewed inaccurately as feud by media

1988
Jan. 11: Hume meets Adams for talks, both denying that an IRA ceasefire is on the agenda.
March 6: Gibraltar shootings by SAS of three IRA members.
March 16: Michael Stone attacks Gibraltar victims funerals, killing three people.
March 19: Two army corporals killed by mourners at West Belfast funeral of a Stone victim.
Aug. 20: Eight British soldiers killed by bomb attack on service bus at Ballygawley, Co Tyrone.
Oct. 19: British government imposes a broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin members.

1989
Guildford Four released

1990
Nov. 9: Northern Secretary of State, Peter Brooke, tells his constituency that Britain has no selfish economic or strategic interest in the North and would accept unification by consent.

1991
Jan. 31: Brooke, says peace talks are "a possibility, not a probability".
Feb. 7: Rocket launched by IRA at No. 10 Downing Street
March: Birmingham Six released
April 22: The UVF and UFF announce a joint ceasefire for the duration of talks.
April 30: Bilateral party meetings with Brooke begin, but fail to resolve impasse over venue for North-South talks.
May 25: The UFF breaches its ceasefire by killing Sinn Féin councillor, Eddie Fullerton, in Co Donegal.
May 30: Three UDR soldiers killed in IRA lorry bomb in Glenanne, Co Armagh.
June 17: Stormont talks begin; end on July 3rd.
July 5: Combined Loyalist Military Command ends its ceasefire.
Sept. 16: Brooke meets local party leaders over four days in an attempt to restart talks, but with a Westminster election looming in November, no progress is made.

1992
Feb. 4: Three men shot dead at Sinn Féin office on Falls Road, Belfast, by an off-duty RUC officer who later shoots himself.
Feb. 5: Loyalist gunmen shoot dead five Catholics at a bookmakers in Belfast.
Feb. 19: Joe Doherty extradited back to Northern Ireland
March 9: Delegates from North's four main parties meet at Stormont for first plenary meeting of new talks.
June 12: Deadlock on talks.
Aug. 10: The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is banned.
Sept. 2: Talks reconvene and DUP leaders, Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson, walk out a week later but return within three weeks to discuss Articles 2 and 3.
Sept. 23: Amid indications that talks are leading nowhere, a 2,000lb IRA bomb destroys Belfast forensic science laboratories.
Nov. 10: Unionists withdraw from the talks.

1993
March 20: Warrington bomb kills two children
April 10: Hume and Adams meet for talks arranged by a priest, Fr Alex Reid, and later issue a joint statement excluding an internal settlement and asserting the right to "national self-determination" of the Irish people as a whole.
Oct. 23: Ten people are killed following an IRA bomb at a fish shop on the Shankill Road in Belfast. Gerry Adams later carries the bomber's coffin.
Oct. 30: Seven people killed in UFF gun attack in a bar in Greysteel, Co Derry.
Nov. 28: The Observer reveals that a channel of communication has existed for years between the IRA and the British Govt.
Dec. 15: Downing Street Declaration: Britain commits itself to the search for an answer to the problems in Northern Ireland; Republicans see it as not going far enough while Loyalists fear they have been sold out

1994
The Irish Government removes the Section 31 broadcasting ban on Sinn Fein.
Gerry Adams granted first visa to visit United States
June 18: Six Catholic men shot dead by loyalists in a pub in Loughinisland, Co Derry.
Aug. 31: IRA announces a complete cessation of violence.
Oct. 13: The Combined Loyalist Military Command calls a ceasefire.
Oct. 21 - Major announces exploratory talks with Sinn Fein and lifts
exclusion orders from mainland Britain on Adams and senior Sinn Fein
official Martin McGuiness.
Oct. 24: British troops stop patrolling streets of Derry, for first time in 25 years.
Oct. 28: Irish government opens Forum for Peace and Reconciliation to discuss political settlement.
Nov. 17: Adams visits British House of Commons.
Nov. 23: British army makes first troop reduction in Northern Ireland since IRA cease-fire, though only a few hundred troops are removed.
Dec. 9: First official meeting between British officials and Sinn Féin. Decommissioning is a major stumbling block.

1995
Jan. 12: British army ends daytime patrols in Belfast.
Jan. 19: British Gov't acknowledges that cross-border bodies with executive powers will be proposed for Northern Ireland.
Feb. 22: Major and new Irish Prime Minister John Bruton unveil joint framework document on a political settlement for Northern Ireland.
March 22: British government minister holds first talks with leaders of Protestant political parties linked to loyalist guerrilla groups.
June 17: Sinn Féin pulls out of talks with the British.
July: Gerry Adams tells party rally the "IRA has not gone away".
Nov. 28: British and Irish governments announce "twin track" process setting end of February 1996 for start of all-party talks.
Nov. 30: President Clinton shakes Adams' hand in Falls Road cafe during his visit to Belfast.
Dec. 5: The head of the International Body on Decommissioning, former US senator George Mitchell, invites submissions on arms decommissioning from all parties.
Dec. 19: Sinn Fein holds first talks with Britain's Northern Ireland secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, under twin-track process.

1996
Jan. 26: The Mitchell report is published, laying down six principles of non-violence for entry into all-party talks. Mitchell proposes all-party talks alongside a phased surrender of guerrilla weapons. Major proposes elections in Northern Ireland to pave way for talks.
Feb. 9: The IRA ceasefire ends with a one tonne bomb in London's Canary Wharf district, killing two people.
May 30: In Northern Ireland Forum elections for participation in all-party talks, Sinn Féin polls a record vote. Not all political parties are allowed by British to participate in elections.
June 7: Det. Garda Jerry McCabe is shot dead during a post office raid in Adare, Co Limerick, which gardaí say had the hallmarks of an IRA raid.
June 10: Sinn Féin are barred from the opening of inter-party talks.
June 15: A 1.5 tonne van bomb rips through Manchester city centre.
July 7: A Catholic taxi-driver, Michael McGoldrick, is shot dead near Lurgan, Co Armagh by the UVF.
July 13: A 1,200lb car bomb devastates the Killyhevlin Hotel at Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, injuring 40 people. This comes after a week of rioting after the RUC forced an Orange march down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown following a standoff. Security sources blame the INLA.
Oct. 7: Two IRA bombs at British army's Northern Ireland HQ, Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, Co Antrim, kills one soldier.

1997
March 7: Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright is jailed for eight years for threatening a witness.
March 26: Parades Commission formed, chaired by Alistair Graham.
April 5: An IRA bomb warning cau.ses the evacuation of Aintree racecourse just before the Grand National.
May 1: Labour wins big in the British General Election and Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness elected to Westminster.
May 16: Blair visits NI and gives the go ahead for exploratory contacts between government officials and Sinn Féin.
June 6: In the Irish Republic, Bertie Ahern becomes Taoiseach after a narrow election win for Fianna Fail.
June 16: Blair bans further contact with Sinn Féin following IRA shooting of two RUC men in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
July 6: Portadown Troops and police surround flashpoints in Portadown and allow an Orange march down the Garghavy Road. The march is followed by widespread violence with more than 600 petrol bombs thrown, 200 car hijackings and 500 attacks on the security forces.
July 20: The IRA announces a second "complete cessation of military operations".
July 28: Sinn Fein meets British government representatives
Aug. 26: International decommissioning body set up to oversee the handover of weapons but no progress is made.
Aug. 29: Secretary of State for NI, Mo Mowlam, announces IRA ceasefire is sufficient for Sinn Féin to enter talks.
Sept. 9: Sinn Féin signs up to the Mitchell Principles and enters all party-talks on Sept. 15th.
Sept. 12: The IRA rejects the Mitchell Principles.
Sept. 17: The Ulster Unionists join the talks. The DUP boycotts talks.
Oct. 7: All sides sit down at Stormont to talks for the first time in 25 years.
Oct. 13: Adams and McGuinness meet Blair for the first time at Stormont.
December: Adams visits Blair in Downing Street.
Dec. 27: LVF leader Billy Wright is killed inside the Maze Prison by the INLA. His death sparks off a cycle of deaths lasting until late Jan. as loyalists exact revenge. Loyalist prisoners of the UFF and UDA vote for their political representatives to leave the talks but Mo Mowlam pays them a personal visit on Jan. 9 and they reverse their decision.

1998
Jan. 23: The UFF admits taking part in three killings.
Jan. 26: The UDP, which is linked to the UFF, walks out of talks before it is expelled.
Jan. 29: Blair announces an independent judicial inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings of 1972.
Feb. 20: The IRA is blamed by the RUC for two killings. It says its ceasefire is still intact and Sinn Fein protests angrily when it is suspended from the talks until March 9.
Feb. 23: The UDP returns to talks
March 23: Sinn Fein takes its seat again in talks.
March 25: Senator Mitchell agrees a deadline of April 9 with the participants for a settlement in the multi-party talks and steps up the number of sessions being held.
April 10: The Good Friday Agreement is signed, concluding the multi-party talks successfully.
April-May: The 'Yes' campaign stages a rock concert in which the pop group U2 and David Trimble and John Hume all appear together on the same stage. Three days later referendums in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland back the peace deal.
July 1: the first sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly sees David Trimble of the UUP elected First Minister and Seamus Mallon of the SDLP elected Deputy First Minister by the Assembly members.