A report on Partition of Ireland

Political map of Ireland
Result in Ireland of the December 1910 United Kingdom general election showing a large majority for the Irish Parliamentary Party.
Ulster Volunteers marching in Belfast, 1914
Result of the 1918 general election in Ireland showing the dramatic swing in support for Sinn Féin
Catholic-owned businesses destroyed by loyalists in Lisburn, August 1920
Crowds in Belfast for the state opening of the Northern Ireland Parliament on 22 June 1921
Members of the Irish negotiation committee returning to Ireland in December 1921
North East Boundary Bureau recommendations May 1923
James Craig (centre) with members of the first government of Northern Ireland
The Boundary Commission's proposed changes to the border
A republican anti-partition march in London, 1980s

The process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.

- Partition of Ireland
Political map of Ireland

66 related topics with Alpha

Overall
The traditional counties of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

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Part of the United Kingdom that is variously described as a country, province, territory or region.

Part of the United Kingdom that is variously described as a country, province, territory or region.

The traditional counties of Northern Ireland
Cannon on the Derry city walls
Scrabo Tower, County Down
Signing of the Ulster Covenant in 1912 in opposition to Home Rule
Result of the 1918 general election in Ireland
Crowds in Belfast for the state opening of the Northern Ireland Parliament on 22 June 1921
The Coat of arms of Northern Ireland used between 1924 and 1973
James Craig (centre) with members of the first government of Northern Ireland
Opening of the Northern Ireland parliament buildings (Stormont) in 1932
Responsibility for Troubles-related deaths between 1969 and 2001
First Minister Ian Paisley (DUP) centre, and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) left, and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond right in 2008
A flowchart illustrating all the political parties that have existed throughout the history of Northern Ireland and leading up to its formation (covering 1889 to 2020).
Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Belfast, seat of the assembly
Unionist mural in Belfast
ESA Sentinel-2 image of Northern Ireland
Köppen climate types of Northern Ireland
Lough Neagh
Hare's Gap, Mourne Mountains
The Giant's Causeway, County Antrim
Marble Arch Caves
Goliath crane of Harland & Wolff in Belfast
An NIR C3K railcar
2011 census: differences in proportions of those who are, or were brought up, either Catholic or Protestant/Other Christians
Map of predominant national identity in the 2011 census
Map of most commonly held passport
Approximate boundaries of the current and historical English/Scots dialects in Ulster. South to north, the colour bands represent Hiberno-English, South-Ulster English, Mid-Ulster English and the three traditional Ulster Scots areas. The Irish-speaking Gaeltacht is not shown.
Percentage of people aged 3+ claiming to have some ability in Irish in the 2011 census
Percentage of people aged 3+ claiming to have some ability in Ulster Scots in the 2011 census
An Orange march
The logo for the Northern Ireland assembly is based on the flower of the flax plant.
People carrying the Irish flag, overlooking those with the unionist Ulster Banner
George Best, Northern Irish international footballer and 1968 Ballon d'Or
Peter Canavan, Tyrone captain 2003
Prominent Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy
Queen's University Belfast
Broadcasting House, Belfast, home of BBC Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating a devolved government for the six northeastern counties.

Seán Hogan's flying column of the IRA's 3rd Tipperary Brigade during the war

Irish War of Independence

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Guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-military Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and its paramilitary forces the Auxiliaries and Ulster Special Constabulary (USC).

Guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-military Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and its paramilitary forces the Auxiliaries and Ulster Special Constabulary (USC).

Seán Hogan's flying column of the IRA's 3rd Tipperary Brigade during the war
Result of the 1918 UK general election in Ireland
RIC and British Army personnel near Limerick, c.1920
West Connemara IRA flying column
Police wanted poster for Dan Breen, one of those involved in the Soloheadbeg Ambush in 1919.
Wall plaque in Great Denmark Street, Dublin where the Dublin IRA Active Service Unit was founded.
A group of RIC officers in 1917
Michael Collins
A group of "Black and Tans" and Auxiliaries in Dublin, April 1921
British soldiers and relatives of the victims outside Jervis Street Hospital during the military enquiry into the Bloody Sunday shootings at Croke Park
Aftermath of the burning of Cork by British forces
A crowd gathers at the Mansion House in Dublin in the days before the truce
Members of the Irish negotiation committee returning to Ireland in December 1921
The funeral of Michael Collins St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, August 1922
Catholic-owned businesses destroyed by loyalists in Lisburn, August 1920.
Unionist leader James Craig.
The Lord Lieutenant inspecting troops outside Belfast City Hall on the day Northern Ireland's parliament first met.
A mural in Belfast depicting revenge killings by police in Belfast.
Irish republican internees at Ballykinlar Internment Camp 1920
The symbol of the Republic: The Irish tricolour which dated back to the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848.
A symbol of British rule: The standard of the Lord Lieutenant, using the union flag created under the Act of Union 1800.
Monument to IRA fighters in Phibsborough, Dublin
Soldiers of a British cavalry regiment leaving Dublin in 1922
Constance Markievicz was a member of the Irish Citizen Army and fought in the Easter Rising. In 1919 she was appointed Minister for Labour in the Government of the Irish Republic
Conflict deaths in Belfast 1920–1922. 50–100 deaths per km2 100–150 deaths per km2 over 150 deaths per km2

In May 1921, Ireland was partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act, which created Northern Ireland.

Ulster

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One of the four traditional Irish provinces.

One of the four traditional Irish provinces.

Ulster (coloured), showing Northern Ireland in pink and the Republic of Ireland part in green
A bronze statue commemorating The Flight of the Earls at Rathmullan in north County Donegal.
A modern Protestant mural in Belfast celebrating Oliver Cromwell and his activities.
Royal Avenue, Belfast. Photochrom print circa 1890–1900.
The results of the 1918 Irish general election, in which Sinn Féin and the Irish Parliamentary Party won the majority of votes on the island of Ireland, shown in the color green and light green respectively, with the exception being primarily in the East of the province of Ulster.
At White Park Bay
Countryside west of Ballynahinch
Mourne country cottage
The track of the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee (CDRJC) restored next to Lough Finn, near Fintown station.
The approach of autumn, Tardree forest

This, and the subsequent Irish War of Independence, led to the partition of Ireland.

Hazards of separation from Great Britain. Unionist postcard (1912)

Unionism in Ireland

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Political tradition on the island of Ireland that favours political union with Great Britain and professes loyalty to the British Crown and constitution.

Political tradition on the island of Ireland that favours political union with Great Britain and professes loyalty to the British Crown and constitution.

Hazards of separation from Great Britain. Unionist postcard (1912)
Detail of the Battle of Ballynahinch 1798 by Thomas Robinson. Government Yeomanry prepare to hang United Irish insurgent Hugh McCulloch, a grocer.
1899 penny print of Henry Cooke's 1841 speech in "reply to Daniel O'Connell"
William Gladstone writing legislation under pressure from the Land League. Caricature 1881.
God Save the Queen, Erin Go Bragh, Ulster Unionist Convention, Belfast, 1892
Flag of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland, 1893–1907
Unionist march in Belfast, 9 April 1912
Signing the Ulster Covenant Declaration, "Ulster Day” 1912
An Orange Order banner showing Carson the signing of the Ulster Covenant 1912
The 1918 general election result in Ireland. Sinn Féin sweeps the south and west
The Coat of Arms of the Government of Northern Ireland used between 1924 and 1973
The statue of Lord Edward Carson in front of Parliament Buildings, Stormont
Anti-Faulkner Unionist election poster
Mural for the Red Hand Commando (UVF) which, uniquely, had an Irish-language motto, Lamh Dearg Abu (Victory to the Red Hand)
Campaign against the Anglo-Irish Agreement
Detail from 2015 Sinn Féin election flyer, North Belfast
The cross of St. Patrick superimposed on the Scottish Saltire with a six-county star, Red Hand of Ulster and no crown: the "Ulster national flag" variously employed by Loyalist groups to represent an independent, or distinctly Ulster-Scot, Northern-Ireland identity.
A flowchart illustrating all the political parties that have existed throughout the history of Northern Ireland and leading up to its formation (1889 onwards). Unionist parties are in orange.

Since Partition (1921), as Ulster Unionism its goal has been to maintain Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and to resist a transfer of sovereignty to an all-Ireland republic.

Northern and Southern Ireland

Government of Ireland Act 1920

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The Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo.

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo.

Northern and Southern Ireland
David Lloyd George, MP. The British Prime Minister was the author of the new Act.

The Act was intended to partition Ireland into two self-governing polities: the six north-eastern counties were to form "Northern Ireland", while the larger part of the country was to form "Southern Ireland".

Political map of Ireland

The Troubles

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Ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998.

Ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998.

Political map of Ireland
A "peace line" in Belfast, 2010, built to separate nationalist and unionist neighbourhoods
The Battle of the Boyne (12 July 1690) by Jan van Huchtenburg
The Ulster Covenant was issued in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill in September 1912.
The Proclamation of the Irish Republic was issued during the Easter Rising of April 1916.
Irish Boundary Commission final report map (1925) – religious distribution. The green areas signify catholic majority areas, the red areas signify non-catholic majority areas.
Sir James Craig, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, who said, "All I boast is that we are a Protestant Parliament and Protestant State".
A UVF mural in Belfast
A monument to Northern Ireland's first civil rights march
Loyalist banner and graffiti on a building in the Shankill area of Belfast, 1970
The Irish National Liberation Army began operations in the mid 1970s.
Republican mural in Belfast commemorating the hunger strikes of 1981
British Army in South Belfast, 1981
Grand Brighton Hotel after the IRA bomb attack in October 1984
'Sniper at Work' sign in Crossmaglen
Police officers looking at a burned van used by the IRA in the 1991 mortar attack on 10 Downing Street
The destruction caused by the Docklands bombing in London, 1996
A republican mural in Belfast during the mid-1990s bidding "safe home" (Slán Abhaile) to British troops. Security normalisation was one of the key points of the Good Friday Agreement.
A republican mural in Belfast with the slogan "Collusion is not an illusion"
Orangemen marching in Bangor on the Twelfth of July 2010
A watchtower at a heavily fortified RUC base in Crossmaglen
A "peace line" at the back of a house on Bombay Street, Belfast
Responsibility for Troubles-related deaths between 1969 and 2001
Troubles deaths by area
North East Boundary Bureau recommendations May 1923

A key issue was the status of Northern Ireland.

The national flag of the Republic of Ireland, which was created to represent all of Ireland

Irish nationalism

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Nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state.

Nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state.

The national flag of the Republic of Ireland, which was created to represent all of Ireland
Government Buildings in Dublin
The green harp flag was first used by Irish Confederate troops in the Eleven Years War, and became the main symbol of Irish nationalism from the 17th to the early 20th century.
"Daniel O'Connell: The Champion of Liberty" poster published in Pennsylvania, 1847
A flowchart illustrating all the political parties that have existed throughout the history of Northern Ireland and leading up to its formation (1889 onwards). Nationalist parties are in green.
Poster for a 1913 anti-Carson meeting, hosted by Protestants of Ballymoney. Speakers included Roger Casement and Robert Glendinning.

At the time of the partition of Ireland most of the island was Roman Catholic and largely indigenous, while a sizeable portion of the country, particularly in the north, was Protestant and chiefly descended from people from Great Britain who colonised the land as settlers during the reign of King James I in 1609.

Ulster Volunteers in Belfast, 1914

Ulster Volunteers

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Unionist, loyalist militia founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom.

Unionist, loyalist militia founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom.

Ulster Volunteers in Belfast, 1914
Ulster Volunteers in Belfast, 1914
Ulster Volunteer Force in 1914
A mural in Belfast showing four recipients of the Victoria Cross from the 36th (Ulster) Division, with the UVF logo in the middle

After the war, the British Government decided to partition Ireland into two self-governing regions: Northern Ireland (which overall had a Protestant/unionist majority) and Southern Ireland.

The Union Flag, Ulster Banner and Orange Order flags are often flown by loyalists in Northern Ireland

Ulster loyalism

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Strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland.

The Union Flag, Ulster Banner and Orange Order flags are often flown by loyalists in Northern Ireland
Ulster Volunteers in Belfast c.1914
Loyalist graffiti and banner on a building in a side street off the Shankill Road, Belfast (1970)
A UDA/UFF mural in Belfast
A UVF mural in Belfast
A loyalist marching band on The Twelfth, 2011

This was followed by the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and partition of Ireland: most of Ireland became an independent state, while most of Ulster remained within the United Kingdom as the self-governing territory of Northern Ireland.

Map of Ireland showing the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

United Ireland

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Proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state.

Proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state.

Map of Ireland showing the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
Ireland in Europe
Proclamation of the Irish Republic, presented to the Irish people during the Easter Rising of 1916.
Result of the 1918 Irish general election
Voting on the Brexit referendum in Northern Ireland
Johnson and Macron meet during Brexit negotiations, 2019
Map of predominant national identity in the 2011 census in Northern Ireland
RED C/Sunday Times poll carried out in 2010 in the Republic of Ireland.

Ireland has been partitioned since May 1921, when the implementation of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the state of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.