HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2025-12-16T16:36:21.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: What was the Peace People movement in Northern Ireland?
items: A brief history of the Good Friday Agreement
items: Why we should remember the battle of the Bogside
items: The Irish Civil War: 100 years on
items: A brief history of the partition of Ireland
items: How accurate are the most famous films about Titanic?
items: From the drawing board to the sea: how and where was Titanic built?
items: The history of St Patrick's Day traditions – and the importance of the colour green
items: Bloody Sunday: 50 years on
items: "A defining moment in the Troubles": why we should remember Bloody Sunday

What was the Peace People movement in Northern Ireland?
type: item
date: 2023-08-10T11:17:42.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: 20th Century
subject: Period
description: The Peace People began in 1976 as a grassroots movement to protest the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland…
encoded: On a bright and sunny summer day in Belfast in 1976, a large crowd of women and children are making their way through the suburb of Andersonstown. People have been basking in a heatwave for the last few months, but the women in this 10,000-strong gathering are not out to make the most of the sun, and, despite their number, they move in near silence. The mood is sombre, only occasionally punctuated by an outburst of singing from the group of nuns that join the throng. Most striking – in a religiously divided Northern Ireland – is the presence of both Protestants and Catholics; marching side-by-side and carrying banners calling for peace. The crowd moves down Finaghy Road North, a location that now holds a deep and tragic significance, on their way to Milltown Cemetery. There, they will mourn three newly buried children: the latest victims of sectarian violence. The 1970s were a dangerous time in Northern Ireland, when the tensions that had divided the people for decades spilled over into a bloody period of unrest called the Troubles. Protestants and Catholics lived side-by-side in disharmony. Politically and economically, Northern Ireland was dominated by Protestant loyalists who wished to remain part of the UK. The state police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, was overwhelmingly Protestant too. But Catholic nationalists wanted to end British rule and see Ireland unified. Protests, rioting and attacks, including bombings, were common on both sides. Read about the battle of the Bogside In August 1969, after days of fighting across a number of towns and cities, the British government took the decision to send in troops to restore law and order. Instead, this emboldened the Irish Republican Army (IRA), especially a splinter faction called the Provisional IRA (or Provos), who were willing to use violence in their guerrilla campaign to get rid of the British. Over the years, innocent people were constantly caught in the crossfire, such as the victims on Finaghy Road North …

GettyImages973177608-f89e738.png
width: 620
height: 412

A brief history of the Good Friday Agreement
type: item
date: 2023-04-07T08:48:07.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Period
description: On 10 April 1998, a deal was reached to bring an end to Northern Ireland's Troubles, in what became known as the Good Friday Agreement. Here, historian Alan MacLeod investigates the long road of the peace process which sought to reconcile two different traditions in Ireland – and considers the legacy of the Agreement...
encoded: The Good Friday Agreement, reached on 10 April 1998, was a careful balancing act, reflecting the competing demands and aspirations of the different parties to the talks. Yet, despite the widespread euphoria that greeted the deal, this was only a beginning. Implementing the Agreement has been a difficult process, depending on the willingness of the political representatives of Northern Ireland’s two communities to work together. That willingness has frequently been missing... The Good Friday Agreement: the background The partition of Ireland in 1921 followed more than a century of unrest between Britain and Ireland. Under the Act of Union of 1800 Ireland lost its parliament in Dublin and became governed directly from Westminster. For much of the 19th and into the 20th century, varying states of tension and conflict developed as unionists campaigned for Ireland to remain part of the UK, while nationalists campaigned for either home rule or an independent Irish state. The issue of Irish home rule dominated domestic British politics from 1885 to the start of the First World War. In April 1916, the Easter Rising shook Dublin, as a group of Irish nationalists proclaimed the establishment of an Irish Republic and clashed with British troops in the capital. The rising, which resulted in the loss of 450 lives and destroyed much of the centre of Dublin, was ended by the British within a week. However, the public mood shifted decisively when the 15 leaders of the rising were executed by the British authorities in May 1916. The executions and imposition of martial law fuelled public resentment of the British. The next five tumultuous years, including the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), resulted in the end of British rule across most of Ireland. Read more | The Easter Rising: when Ireland went to war Read more | Bullets and ballot boxes: a history of Anglo-Irish relations since the Easter Rising The Government of Ireland Act, which became law in May 1921, split Ireland. Nor…

GFA-2-539f548.jpg
width: 1200
height: 630

Why we should remember the battle of the Bogside
type: item
date: 2022-08-12T05:12:30.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: Period
subject: Why we should remember
description: Historian Niall Ó Dochartaigh considers the importance of the riots in Derry that marked the start of 30 years of violent conflict
encoded: More than 50 years ago, in August 1969, the Northern Irish Troubles began in earnest with the battle of the Bogside. For three days, from 12–14 August, large crowds armed with stones and petrol bombs, loosely coordinated by the Derry Citizens’ Defence Association, battled successfully to keep the Royal Ulster Constabulary out of the Bogside area of the city after violence broke out during the annual loyalist Apprentice Boys march. The civil rights campaign had begun with a great sense of optimism a year earlier, but from October 1968, when police baton-charged a march in Derry’s Duke Street, civil rights protests had been surrounded by increasing tension. Derry – or Londonderry, as it is officially known – was the North’s second largest city. It was a chiefly nationalist city, but gerrymandering and discrimination had long ensured that the unionist party maintained control of local government in the city with only a third of the vote. The battle of the Bogside only ended when British troops marched into Waterloo Place in the city centre and stretched out concertina barbed wire and barricades across the roads and replaced the exhausted RUC at the front lines. Army commanders agreed not to try to enter the Bogside, and ‘Free Derry’, as it was dubbed, was administered for the following two months by a broad-based local defence association. The British government now forced the unionist government at Stormont to implement reforms aimed at conciliating the Catholic and nationalist minority that made up one-third of the North’s population, including disarming the police force. For many on the left, Free Derry represented a great victory of popular mobilisation over the forces of repression, and it received large-scale and sympathetic media coverage across Europe and North America. But the rioting in the Bogside had also triggered a dangerous escalation. No one had died in Derry, but in Belfast there was widespread sectarian rioting and battles with the police. Shooting br…

GettyImages-3376341cmyk-9584a9c.png
width: 621
height: 412

The Irish Civil War: 100 years on
type: item
date: 2022-07-15T08:30:33.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: The Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed in 1921, brought to an end the Irish War of Independence and set a provision for the establishment of the Irish Free State. But rather than quelling violence, the treaty ushered in a period of fresh uncertainty. A chaotic civil war followed between those who accepted the treaty and those who opposed it. As we mark a century since the Irish Civil War began, Charles Townshend explains the key tensions and milestones of the conflict…
encoded: For “four glorious years” (as the republican publicity chief Frank Gallagher called his memoir of the period) of resistance to Britain between 1918–21, the Sinn Féin movement held together in pursuit of Irish independence. But immediately after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed on 6 December 1921, sharp divisions appeared. The Irish representatives had been divided from the start of the treaty negotiations on issues of sovereignty and unity. The sides were broadly marked by those who were determined to uphold the sovereign republic declared in January 1919, and those who accepted that Britain’s refusal to give ground on the central issues of crown and empire meant that any agreement must involve modifying that independence. Arthur Griffith, who founded Sinn Féin in 1905 and was the leader of the Irish delegation to London to sign the Anglo-Irish Treaty, was one of the latter. More surprisingly, Michael Collins – who as president of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (a role regarded by some as virtual president of the republic) was widely presumed to be a diehard republican – also became one as the negotiations went on. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2022/07/GettyImages-3349413-d18fa3c.png" width="620" height="413" alt="A photo of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith arriving at 10 Downing Street" title="Michael Collins (right) and Arthur Griffith (left) arriving at 10 Downing Street, London for the treaty negotiations between representatives of Sinn Fein and the British government in December 1921. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" /> The treaty set aside the title ‘republic’ in favour of a ‘free state’ (a literal translation of the term ‘Saorstát’, officially used by the Irish parliament Dáil Eireann since 1919), with powers equivalent to the self-governing Dominions of the Empire. Before the Irish Civil War | 5 key moments on the path to partition January 1922: Sinn Féin splits In reaction to the signing …

GettyImages-2643991-47ec19a.png
width: 620
height: 415

A brief history of the partition of Ireland
type: item
date: 2022-05-18T10:10:57.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: Period
description: The partition of Ireland in 1921 was a seismic moment in the island’s history; it divided Ireland and led to the creation of Northern Ireland. But what events led to Ireland being divided? Professor Heather Jones explains the causes and aftermath...
encoded: What led to Ireland being divided? Professor Heather Jones explains... A worsening devolution crisis Before partition, all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom and governed by the British government in London. However, by the First World War, Irish nationalists, who were predominantly Roman Catholic, had succeeded in getting legislation passed for Home Rule – devolved government for Ireland within the UK. But Home Rule’s imminent implementation was suspended when the First World War broke out in 1914. Home Rule was vehemently opposed by Ireland’s unionists, mainly Protestants, mostly based in the north, who wanted no change to Ireland’s direct governance by Westminster. Religious differences mattered greatly in Ireland and many unionists feared that ‘Home Rule’ would be ‘Rome Rule’, leaving them as a religious minority under a Dublin parliament dominated by Catholicism. The situation dramatically radicalised when, at Easter 1916, an Irish republican uprising broke out in Dublin. Its leaders believed devolution – Home Rule – did not go far enough. They wanted a complete end to British rule in Ireland and an all-Ireland republic outside of the UK. The rising was quickly suppressed, but the British execution of its leaders led Irish nationalists to abandon Home Rule in favour of seeking full independence: in 1918, nationalists voted overwhelmingly for a pro-republic political party, Sinn Féin. In 1919, supporters of the rising mobilised an Irish Republican Army (IRA) and launched a war for an independent Irish republic. This brutal guerrilla conflict of ambush and reprisals saw Britain lose control of nationalist areas, while sectarian violence also broke out, particularly in the northern city of Belfast. Read more about the Easter Rising There were unionists all across Ireland, but they were weak in numbers in the south and west. By contrast, in Ireland’s northern province of Ulster, unionism was politically very well-organised and had powerful supporters in Lond…

GettyImages-1204607253-8924346.jpg
width: 4086
height: 3178

How accurate are the most famous films about Titanic?
type: item
date: 2022-04-14T16:35:00.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: Edwardian
subject: Period
subject: TV interest
description: As one of the most infamous maritime disasters of modern times, the tragedy of the Titanic has been the subject of a succession of films. Mark Glancy looks at three pivotal portrayals of the ship's fateful voyage…
encoded: The first film to recreate the Titanic disaster reached the screen just four weeks after the ship sank during the night of 14–15 April 1912. Saved From the Titanic (1912) starred Dorothy Gibson, an actress who had been on Titanic and survived to tell the story. It would be told in many more films, including American, British and German productions, and in many different styles, ranging from lavish melodramas to restrained docudramas. In all of its guises, the story of this fateful journey, filled with hubris, tragedy, chivalry and selfishness, has captivated audiences for nearly 100 years. Read more about the real disaster, with our guide to the sinking of Titanic Titanic, 1953 Dir: Jean Negulesco, US, 1953. With Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb, Robert Wagner For decades, filmmakers borrowed events and details from the tragedy without acknowledging it specifically. Both the early British talkie Atlantic (1929) and Hollywood’s History is Made at Night (1937) climax with a luxury liner hitting an iceberg, passengers being put into lifeboats, and the ship’s band playing ‘Nearer, My God, To Thee’, but the ships are given fictional names. In 1939, Alfred Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film was set to be the Titanic story, but on the eve of the WW2 British officials objected to a film portraying a notorious maritime disaster, and Hitchcock made Rebecca (1940) instead. Hence, Twentieth Century-Fox’s Titanic had some novelty value in 1953. Read more | Where & how was Titanic built? The film’s documentary-style opening seems to promise adherence to real events: the creation of an iceberg is seen as it breaks off the ice shelf. From that point onward, however, the film focuses almost entirely on the fictional Julia Sturges (Barbara Stanwyck), an American fleeing from Europe and her husband’s high-society lifestyle so that she can raise her children in the wholesome environment of the midwest. RMS Titanic is her means of escape. Her husband, Richard (Clifton Webb), unexpectedly jo…

TIT011DJ 0-345b632.jpg
width: 600
height: 350

From the drawing board to the sea: how and where was Titanic built?
type: item
date: 2022-04-11T06:39:40.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: 20th Century
subject: Edwardian
subject: Period
description: RMS Titanic would be the jewel in the crown of the White Star Line company, but its construction posed a colossal task for its builders…
encoded: Before RMS Titanic had even left Southampton in April 1912, the ominous signs of tragedy were there. Thousands had gathered at the port to wave off friends and family and catch a glimpse of the record-breaking vessel, then the biggest ship in the world. To the horror of onlookers, Titanic was almost immediately met with disaster: as the ship was pulled out of the dock by tugboats and began to get underway, water displacement caused the nearby SS City of New York to be drawn towards the new vessel. Quick thinking by Captain Smith and a nearby tugboat managed to prevent a collision and City of New York was towed out of harm's way, but a serious accident that could have led to cancellation of the voyage was only very narrowly avoided. The Edwardian era was a golden age of shipbuilding. Developments in steamships allowed people to cross the oceans more quickly and safely than ever before. Soon, luxurious passenger ships were being built that attracted high-paying clientele, and companies tried to outdo each other with increasingly lavish vessels – no expense was spared. Ruling the oceans White Star Line was founded in 1869 by English shipowner Thomas Henry Ismay. Initially a cargo haulier, the company soon became one of the most prestigious in the transatlantic passenger trade and, from 1908, began work on three liners: RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and RMS Gigantic, later renamed Britannic. The trio of ships, which comprised White Star Line's Olympic class, were intended to give the company an advantage over its rivals and were noted for their comfort, luxury and reliability rather than speed. Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff undertook most of the design work for Titanic. The team was spearheaded by naval architect Thomas Andrews, aided by deputy naval architect Edward Wilding and chief draughtsman Alexander Carlisle. Andrews had taken over the role of chief architect from Carlisle, who had officially retired in 1910, though he continued to work on the project as a co…

GettyImages 90772757-5cb8a3e-e1649433450362.jpg
width: 1024
height: 714

The history of St Patrick's Day traditions – and the importance of the colour green
type: item
date: 2022-03-11T18:20:44.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Family and parenting
description: Why do we celebrate St Patrick's Day and who was Saint Patrick? On 17 March each year, millions mark the traditional feast day of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Here's everything you need to know about past celebrations – from the first ever St Patrick’s Day parade to the history behind the traditional dish of corned beef and cabbage…
encoded: Who was Saint Patrick? St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born Maewyn Succat to a Christian family in Roman Britain in the late fourth century AD. Shortly before he was 16, Patrick was captured from the villa of his father, Calpurnius,by a group of Irish raiders who took him to Ireland and forced him into slavery. Six years later he escaped home to Britain, his religious faith strengthened during his time in slavery. Believing he had been called by God to Christianise Ireland, he later returned to Ireland as a missionary of the Catholic church (adopting the name Patricius, or Patrick, which derives from the Latin for ‘father figure’). He played an important role in converting the native Irish to Christianity, travelling around the country performing baptisms and confirmations. When is St. Patrick's Day 2022? St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on 17 March 2022 When was St Patrick’s Day first celebrated? By the end of the 7th century, St Patrick had become a legendary figure and was venerated as a saint – although he was never formally canonised. Legends around St Patrick – which are still told today – include the story that he drove the snakes of Ireland into the sea to their destruction, supposedly after they began attacking him during a 40-day fast. Natural historians have suggested that there is no evidence of snakes having ever existed in Ireland, as the country was too cold during the Ice Age for reptiles to survive. (Though, of course, many have highlighted the metaphorical link between the snakes of the legend and Patrick’s promotion of the Christian faith). <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2019/03/GettyImages-523899592-c2cbde6.jpg" width="1024" height="1633" alt="A St Patrick's Day postcard depicts St Patrick standing on cliff side, with blue robes, chasing the snakes from Ireland. (Image by Jim Heimann Collection/Getty Images)" title="A St Patrick's Day postcard depicts St Patrick standing on cliff side, with blue …

5343795-2-1a4ef4e.jpg
width: 1023
height: 650

Bloody Sunday: 50 years on
type: item
date: 2022-01-29T12:19:47.000Z
creator: Rhiannon Davies
subject: 20th Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: To mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Diarmaid Ferriter speaks about the event and its tangled legacy today
encoded: To mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, historian Diarmaid Ferriter speaks to Rhiannon Davies about the events of 30 January 1972 and their tangled legacy for the people and politics of Northern Ireland today. How to download the HistoryExtra podcast Download as MP3

Pod-Diarmaid-Ferriter-WL-4faa58e.jpg
width: 620
height: 413

"A defining moment in the Troubles": why we should remember Bloody Sunday
type: item
date: 2022-01-12T15:19:45.000Z
creator: Rhiannon Davies
subject: 20th Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Period
subject: Why we should remember
description: “Bloody Sunday was a defining moment in the Troubles. As well as generating huge emotion, it also screamed a political challenge.” As we approach the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Diarmaid Ferriter speaks to Rhiannon Davies about what happened on 30 January 1972 – as well as its destructive legacy...
encoded: What was the mood in Northern Ireland before the events of Bloody Sunday? It was very fraught. The Troubles [conflict between mostly Protestant unionists (loyalists), pushing for Northern Ireland to remain within the UK, and largely Catholic nationalists hoping for the region to become part of the Republic of Ireland] had begun in earnest in 1969. Nobody knew how long they would last or what their extent would be, but by the early seventies it was clear that things were very, very difficult. Bloody Sunday happened at the very beginning of 1972, which proved to be horrendous – the worst year of the Troubles, with almost 500 people killed. It had huge implications, not just for people in Northern Ireland but also for Anglo-Irish affairs, which were reaching one of the most difficult points. The history of Ireland: 11 milestone moments What happened on Bloody Sunday 1972? The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association had organised a march in Derry/Londonderry on 30 January 1972 to protest against the deeply unpopular policy of internment [imprisonment without trial] introduced in Northern Ireland in August 1971. The original plan was for the protesters to leave the Creggan area and march towards the city centre. But they were diverted away from the centre and ended up moving towards Free Derry Corner, as it was known. At this juncture you get very contested narratives of what precisely occurred. It’s been subjected to endless scrutiny and a number of inquiries over the decades. The organisers were determined to try to keep the protest peaceful, but there were some who objected to attempts to prevent them from going where they wanted to go. Of course, the presence of British Army troops was seen as particularly provocative. It was in reaction to those who were challenging the British Army – whether that was with missiles or taunts – that the Parachute Regiment was mobilised and it was they who began to shoot at the unarmed protesters. How many people were killed? These …

13279398cmyk-c81867f.jpg
width: 2565
height: 1856