1968
October 5th: 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.
October 9th: Following a student demonstration in Belfast, the People's Democracy (PD) a radical, left-wing student group, is formed.
October 30th: The Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, calls for an end to partition to resolve the unrest.
November 4th: 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.
November 22nd: O'Neill announces a five-point reform plan which goes some way towards easing the Catholic sense of grievance over matters including unfair housing allocation and council elections.
1969
January 4th: PD four-day march from Belfast to Derry attacked by a loyalist mob at Burntollet bridge near Derry. July 16th: Samuel Devenny, a taxi-driver from Derry, dies from injuries after he was beaten by police in April. He is regarded by some as the first victim of the Troubles, but others claim that Francis McCloskey, a Co Derry man found dead by the roadside on July 13th, had been struck by a police baton.
August 12th: Following serious violence after an Apprentice Boys' parade in Derry, Lynch sends field hospitals to Border areas.
September 10th: British army, which arrived in North a month earlier, completes peace line in Belfast.
1970
January 11th: Sinn Fein splits into Officials and Provisionals, mirroring the split in the IRA at the end of 1969.
1971
February 6th: Gunner Robert Curtis becomes the first soldier to die in the Troubles.
August 9th: Internment introduced and more than 300 people arrested in dawn swoops.
December 4th: UVF bomb in McGurk's bar in North Queen Street kills 15 people.
January 30th: Bloody Sunday: 13 men shot dead by the Parachute Regiment following a civil rights march in Derry (another man dies some days later).
February 2nd: British embassy in Dublin burned down.
February 22nd: In an IRA reprisal bomb attack for Bloody Sunday, seven people killed in Aldershot military barracks, home of the 16th Parachute Brigade.
March 24th: British government abolishes Stormont and announces direct rule after the Northern Ireland government refuses to accept losing law-and-order powers to Westminster.
July 21st: Bloody Friday: Nine people killed when IRA sets off 22 bombs in Belfast. UDA retaliates by killing five Catholics.
1973
July 31st: First meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
November 21st: Agreement reached on setting up power-sharing executive.
May 14th: The power-sharing executive wins an Assembly vote to sanction Sunningdale Agreement.
May 15th: Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) carries out extensive power cuts in protest at agreement; several factories and Belfast shipyard is closed.
May 17th: In Dublin and Monaghan, 33 people killed by no-warning car-bombs. UDA and UVF deny responsibility.
May 28th: Direct rule resumed and UWC calls off its strike next day. 21 November: Nineteen killed in Birmingham pub bombs.
1975
July 31st: Three members of Miami Showband killed in UVF gun attack.
1976
August 12th: A women's march which led to formation of the Peace People held in west Belfast after two Maguire children killed.
September 1st: Republic's government declares a state of emergency.
1977
October 5th: Seamus Costello, leader of IRSP, shot dead in Dublin.
1978
February 17th: 12 people killed by IRA bomb at La Mon House Hotel, Co Down.
1979
February 20th: 11 Protestants, known as the Shankill Butchers, sentenced to life imprisonment for offences including 19 murders.
March 30th: Conservative NI spokesman, Airey Neave, killed by INLA car-bomb.
August 27th: IRA bombers kill 18 soldiers near Warrenpoint, Co Down. Lord Mountbatten killed by IRA in explosion on his boat at Mullaghmore, Co Sligo.
1981
April 9th: IRA prisoner Bobby Sands on HBlock hunger strike in support of political status wins Westminster by-election.
May 5th: Sands dies on 66th day of his fast. Rioting in Belfast, Derry and Dublin.
1982
December 6th: 17 people killed in INLA bombing of Droppin' Well disco in Ballykelly, Co Derry.
1983
May 30th: New Ireland Forum's first meeting in Dublin.
November 21st: Three elders shot dead during service in Darkley Pentecostal Church, Co Armagh. Shooting admitted by Catholic Reaction Force.
October 12th: Four people killed in IRA bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, HQ of the Conservative Party conference.
1985
November 15th: British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald sign Anglo-Irish Agreement.
1986
March 3rd: Unionists hold day of action against the agreement. June 23rd: NI Assembly dissolved.
May 8th: Eight IRA men shot dead by SAS in Loughgall, Co Armagh.
November 8th: 11 killed by IRA bomb at Enniskillen Remembrance Day ceremony.
1988
January 11th: John Hume meets Gerry Adams for talks, both denying an IRA ceasefire is on the agenda.
March 6th: Gibraltar shootings by SAS of three IRA members.
March 16th: Michael Stone attacks Gibraltar victims' funerals, killing three people.
March 19th: Two army corporals killed by mob at west Belfast funeral of a Stone victim.
August 20th: Eight British soldiers killed by bomb attack on service bus at Ballygawley, Co Tyrone.
1989
September 22nd: 10 killed in IRA bomb at Royal Marines School of Music, Deal, Kent.
1990
November 9th: Northern Secretary of State Peter Brooke says Britain has no selfish economic or strategic interest in the North and would accept unification by consent.
1991January 31st: Northern Secretary Peter Brooke says peace talks are "a possibility, not a probability".February 7th: IRA launches three mortars at 10 Downing Street while ministers are in session.March 25th: DUP, UUP, Alliance Party and SDLP agree a new talks formula.April 22nd: UVF and UFF announce joint ceasefire for talks duration.April 30th: Bilateral party meetings with Brooke begin, but fail to resolve impasse over venue for North-South talks.May 25th: UFF breaches its ceasefire by killing Sinn Fein councillor Eddie Fullerton in Co Donegal.May 30th: Three UDR soldiers killed in IRA lorry bomb in Glenane, Co Armagh.June 14th: An Australian diplomat, Sir Ninian Stephen, is named independent chairman for North-South strand of talks.June 17th: Stormont talks begin and end on July 3rd.July 5th: Combined Loyalist Military Command ends its ceasefire.1992January 17th: Eight Protestant workmen die following an IRA bomb in a minibus at Teebane crossroads, Co Tyrone. Brooke shocks the community by singing My Darling Clementine on The Late, Late Show.February 4th: Three men shot dead at Sinn Fein office on Falls Road, Belfast, by off-duty RUC officer who later shoots himself.February 5th: Loyalist gunmen shoot dead five Catholics at a bookmaker's shop on the Lower Ormeau Road, Belfast.March 9th: Delegates from North's four main parties meet at Stormont for first plenary session of the first strand of new talks.June 12th: Deadlock on Strand One talks, (internal government of NI) but parties to move on to next stages. Strand Two talks later adjourn for summer with no real sign of any meeting of minds.August 10th: UDA is banned. September 2nd: Strand Two 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.September 23rd: Amid indications that talks are coming to a halt, a 2,000lb IRA bomb destroys the forensic science laboratories in south Belfast November 10th: Unionists withdraw from the talks and Sir Ninian Stephen reports diplomatically that they have not led to accommodation of deep-seated problems.1993March 20th: Warrington bomb kills two children and prompts Peace Initiative '93.April 10th: Hume and Adams meet for talks arranged by a priest 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.October 7th: Hume gives document containing broad principles of his agreement with Adams to Tanaiste Dick Spring and Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.October 23rd: 10 people killed following an IRA bomb at a fish shop on the Shankill Road in Belfast. Adams later carries the bomber's coffin.October 30th: Seven people killed in UFF gun attack in a bar in Greysteel, Co Derry. November 28th: The Observer reveals that a channel of communication has existed between the IRA and the British government for years.December 15th: Downing Street Declaration published by Reynolds and Major. It includes a commitment that the people of Northern Ireland will decide its future and a demand that the IRA permanently renounces violence.1994January 19th: Government removes Section 31 broadcasting ban. ein's queries on the declaration.June 18th: Six Catholic men shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in a pub in Loughinisland, Co Derry.August 31st: IRA announces a complete cessation of violence.September 6th: Reynolds, Hume and Adams shake hands on steps of Government buildings.October 13th: The Combined Loyalist Military Command calls a ceasefire. December 9th: First official meeting between Government officials and Sinn Fein. Decommissioning is a major stumbling block.1995January 12th: British army ends daytime patrols in Belfast.June 17th: Sinn Fein pulls out of talks with the Government. Four weeks later Adams tells party rally the "IRA has not gone away".November 30th: President Clinton shakes hands with Adams in Falls Road cafe during visit to Belfast.December 5th: The head of the International Body on Decommissioning, former US senator George Mitchell, invites submissions on arms decommissioning from all parties.January 26th: The Mitchell report is published, laying down six principles of non-violence for entry into all-party talks.February 9th: IRA ceasefire ends after 16 months with a one-tonne bomb in London's Canary Wharf district which kills two people.May 30th: In NI Forum elections to all-party talks, Sinn Fein polls a record vote.June 7th: Det Garda Jerry McCabe is shot dead during a post office raid in Adare, Co Limerick, which gardai say had hallmarks of IRA raid.June 10th: Sinn Fein barred from opening of inter-party talks.June 15th: A 1.5-tonne van-bomb explodes in Manchester city centre.July 7th: A Catholic taxi-driver, Michael McGoldrick, is shot dead by the UVF near Lurgan, Co Armagh. July 13th: A 1,200lb car-bomb devastates the Killyhevlin Hotel at Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, injuring 40 people following a week of rioting after the RUC forced an Orange march down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown after a stand-off. Security sources blame the INRA.October 7th: Two IRA bombs at British army's Northern Ireland HQ, Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, Co Antrim, kill one soldier.1997April 5th: IRA bomb threats force the postponement of the Grand National. A blitz of IRA bomb threats in Britain ensues.May 1st: UK general election puts Labour party leader Tony Blair in 10 Downing Street and returns Adams and party colleague Martin McGuinness to Westminster.May 16th: Blair visits Northern Ireland and gives go-ahead for exploratory contacts between government officials and Sinn Fein.June 16th: Blair bans further contact between senior civil servants and Sinn Fein following IRA shooting of two RUC men in Lurgan, Co Armagh.July 6th: Violence erupts in Portadown, and later spreads, after RUC move in early hours to seal off Garvaghy Road for Orange march. July 20th: IRA renews its ceasefire.August 26th: International decommissioning body set up to oversee the handover of weapons. The coming months are to see no progress on the arms issue.August 29th: Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, announces IRA ceasefire has been sufficiently well observed for Sinn Fein to enter talks.September 9th: Sinn Fein signs up to the Mitchell Principles and enters all-party talks. September 17th: The Ulster Unionists stay in the talks. The DUP pulls out.