1966Gusty Spence helps found the modern day Ulster Volunteer Force. War is declared on the IRA.
June 1966UVF shoots and kills John Scullion, a Catholic, the first victim of the Troubles.
October 1969UVF shoots Victor Arbuckle, the first police officer to die in the Troubles.
1970sUVF gang in Belfast, known as the Shankill Butchers, abduct and kill Catholics at random subjecting them to brutal deaths.
December 1971UVF bombs McGurk's pub in north Belfast, killing 15.
May 1974UVF bombs Dublin (right) and Monaghan, killing 33.
July 1975UVF gang involved in the Miami showband killings.
December 1984Spence is freed from jail on grounds of ill health and begins working on political strategy for loyalism.
June 1994UVF gang shoot dead six men in the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down, as they watched Ireland beat Italy in the World Cup.
August 1994Provisional IRA announces ceasefire.
October 1994Gusty Spence declares a ceasefire on behalf of loyalist paramilitaries. This covers the UVF, Red Hand Commando and UDA.
September 2005Bulk of IRA decommissioning takes place
May 2007Spence announces an end to UVF's campaign of violence
June 2009UVF and other loyalist paramilitary decommissioning begins