McMahon - A Short History of Ireland

30000 bc: Irelands topography established

70006500 bc: Human habitation at Mount Sandel

2500 bc: Building of passage graves, notably Newgrange

1200 bc: Late bronze-age artefacts

680 bc: Circular habitation enclosure at Emain Macha

AD 1500: Building of crannogs, hill forts and raths

7784: Agricola, Roman governor of Britain, eventually decides against invasion

200: Conn Cd-cathach establishes high kingship of Tara

300450: Irish raids on Roman Britain

400: Eoghan and Conall, sons of Niall Nogiallach, establish kingdom of Aileach

432: Traditional date of the coming of St Patrick

563: Colum Cille begins his mission to Iona

575: Convention of Druim Cett

597: Death of Colum Cille

664: Synod of Whitby

795: First Viking raids

841: Foundation of permanent Viking colony in Dublin

964: Rise of Dl Cais and beginning of hegemony of Brian Boru

9751014: Brian king of Munster and later of Ireland

1014: Battle of Clontarf and death of Brian

11321148: Reforming activity of St Malachy

1155: Bull Laudabiliter

1166: Expulsion of Dermot MacMurrough

1170: Landing of Strongbow

1171: Death of Dermot. Henry II lands in Ireland

1175: John de Courcy invades Ulster

1176: Death of Strongbow

1177: Prince John made lord of Ireland; Cork and Limerick granted to Norman vassals

1210: King Johns second visit to Ireland; submission of Irish kings

1224: First Irish Dominican and Franciscan foundations

1315: Edward Bruce lands at Larne

1318: Death of Edward Bruce at Faughart

1348: Black Death kills about one-third of the population

13945: Richard IIs first expedition. Defeat of Art McMurrough and general submission of all but northern chiefs

14608: Supremacy of Desmond, ends with his execution by Worcester

1478-1513: Rule of Garret Mr Fitzgerald

1492: Poynings Law makes Dublin parliament subservient to that in London

1534: Rebellion of Silken Thomas

1541: Henry VIII proclaimed king of Ireland

15578: Establishment of Kings and Queens Counties in Offaly and Laois

1561: Rebellion of Shane ONeill in Ulster (murdered by MacDonnells in 1567)

1587: Hugh ONeill proclaimed Earl of Tyrone

1588: Ships of Spanish Armada wrecked on Ulster coast

15951603: Nine Years War between ONeill, ODonnell and English forces

1598: Battle of the Yellow Ford

1601: ONeills defeat at Kinsale

1607: Flight of the Earls

160810: British colonisation of Ulster

1639: Black Oath imposed on Ulster Scots by Wentworth

1641: Outbreak of Ulster rebellion

1642: Owen Roe ONeill takes command of Irish forces

1646: Battle of Benburb

1649: Cromwell arrives in Ireland. Massacres at Drogheda, Wexford. Premature death of Owen Roe

1652: Act for the Settling of Ireland

1653: Forfeiture of Irish lands and transplantation

1679: Arrest of Oliver Plunkett (executed, 1681)

1687: Tyrconnell Lord Deputy

1688: Closing of the gates of Derry

1689: Siege of Derry lifted

1690: Battle of Boyne

1691: Treaty of Limerick

1695: Penal laws

1704: Further penal laws (Queen Annes reign).

1760: Thurot lands French force at Carrickfergus

1782: Dungannon convention of Volunteers

1791: Foundation of United Irishmen in Belfast

1792-93: Relief acts remove most Catholic disabilities

1795: Battle of the Diamond at Loughgall, Co Armagh leads to founding of the Orange Order

1798: Rebellion breaks out in Wexford, Antrim and Down. McCracken and other leaders hanged. Tone, captured in Lough Swilly, commits suicide

1800: Act of Union

1829: Catholic Emancipation

18314: Tithe War

1840: Daniel OConnell founds Repeal Association

1842: Charles Gavan Duffy becomes editor of Nation, organ of Young Ireland movement

1843: Repeal mass meeting for Clontarf cancelled

184548: Famine caused by potato blight. Population reduced by two million by death and emigration

1845: Queens Colleges founded in Belfast, Galway and Cork

1847: Death of Daniel OConnell

1857: Serious sectarian disturbances in Belfast

1858: IRB established in Dublin

1859: Fenian Brotherhood set up in US

1861: Derryveagh evictions

1862: Shipbuilding firm of Harland & Wolff founded

1866: Archbishop Paul Cullen becomes first Irish cardinal

1867: Unsuccessful Fenian rising

1869: Disestablishment of Church of Ireland

1873: Home Rule League founded

1877: J. G. Biggar devises obstructive tactics for Irish Parliamentary party

1880: Parnell head of Irish Parliamentary party

1886: Lord Randolph Churchills anti-Home Rule visit to Belfast

1893: Gaelic League founded

1900: John Redmond unites Irish party

1905: Formation of Ulster Unionist Council and pro-Home Rule Dungannon Clubs (the latter by Bulmer Hobson)

1908: Foundation of ITGWU and Griffiths Sinn Fin

1910: Carson becomes leader of Irish Unionists

1911: Lords veto abolished

1912: Solemn League & Covenant

1913: Foundation of Ulster Volunteer Force and Irish Citizens Army

1914: Curragh mutiny; UVF gun-running; Home Rule Bill becomes law but shelved till end of war (from 4 August)

1915: IRB reorganised

1916: Easter rising; Unionists agree to a partitioned Ulster

1919: Action at Soloheadbeg, Co Tipperary, considered first action of War of Independence

1920: Sectarian riots in Belfast and Derry; formation of Ulster Special Constabulary begins; Ulster partitioned under Government of Ireland Act, Sir James Craig prime minister; sporadic violence and ambushes, mobilisation of Irregulars and Auxiliary Division (Black and Tans and Auxies); Bloody Sunday

1921: Truce and peace conference; Anglo-Irish treaty

1922: Outbreak of Civil War; death of Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins; Special Powers Act (NI)

1924: Army mutiny

1925: After failure of Boundary Commission existing border accepted

1926: De Valera founds Fianna Fil

1927: Assassination of Kevin OHiggins; Fianna Fil enters Dil.

1932: De Valera new president of Executive Council. Fianna Fil government; tariff war begun after witholding of land annuities

1933: Blueshirt activity with ODuffy as leader

1937: New constitution replaces Free State with ire

1938: Tariff agreement between Britain and ire

1939: ire declares neutrality

1940: UK reimposes trade sanctions

1941: Heavy German air-raids in Belfast; damage from German bombs in Dublin, killing thirty people

1948: Declaration of republic by Costello as head of coalition; N Ireland shares benefits of Britains welfare state

1951: Noel Browne, coalition Health Minister, resigns after clerical opposition to his Mother and Child scheme (de Valera sets up similar scheme in 1953); guarantee by Britain of NIs remaining part of UK at its parliaments discretion

195662: Operation Harvest IRAs border campaign

1963: Terence ONeill becomes PM of NI

1965: Sean Lemass and ONeill meet at Stormont. Opposition by Ian Paisley; Nationalist party becomes official opposition at Stomont.

1967: Northern Ireland Civil Rights Asssociation (NICRA) formed

1968: Police clash with NICRA marchers in Derry followed by severe rioting

1969: Peoples Democracy march attacked at Burntollet; after a spring and summer of rioting and growing tension army called out to keep peace in Derry and (after anti-Catholic disturbances) in Belfast

1970: Start of Provisional IRAs campaign (lasts till 1994); answered by intermittent Protestant terrorist activity; Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) founded by moderate nationalists

1971: Continuing IRA campaign leads to internment; Paisleys Democratic Unionist party (DUP) founded