Editing Northern Ireland (section)

===1925–1965===
[[File:Northern Ireland Cabinet 1921.jpg|thumb|James Craig (centre) with members of the first government of Northern Ireland]]
[[File:Opening of the new Northern Ireland Parliament Buildings.jpg|thumb|Opening of the Northern Ireland parliament buildings ([[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Stormont]]) in 1932]]

Northern Ireland's border was drawn to give it "a decisive Protestant majority". At the time of its creation, Northern Ireland's population was two-thirds Protestant and one-third Catholic.<ref name="McKittrick-McVea p5"/> Most Protestants were unionists/loyalists who sought to maintain Northern Ireland as a part of the United Kingdom, while most Catholics were Irish nationalists/republicans who sought an independent [[United Ireland]]. There was mutual self-imposed [[segregation in Northern Ireland]] between Protestants and Catholics such as in education, housing, and often employment.<ref name="Making Sense 17-19">McKittrick & McVea, pp.17–19</ref>

For its first fifty years, Northern Ireland had an unbroken series of [[Government of Northern Ireland (1921–1972)|Ulster Unionist Party governments]].<ref>McKittrick & McVea, p.6</ref> Every prime minister and almost every minister of these governments were members of the [[Orange Order]], as were all but 11 of the 149 [[Ulster Unionist Party]] (UUP) MPs elected during this time.<ref>McKittrick & McVea, p.14</ref> Almost all judges and magistrates were Protestant, many of them closely associated with the UUP. Northern Ireland's new police force was the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC), which succeeded the [[Royal Irish Constabulary]] (RIC). It too was almost wholly Protestant and lacked operational independence, responding to directions from government ministers. The RUC and the reserve [[Ulster Special Constabulary]] (USC) were militarized police forces due to the perceived threat of militant republicanism. In 1936 the British advocacy group - the [[Liberty (advocacy group)|National Council for Civil Liberties]] characterised the USC as "nothing but the organised army of the Unionist party".<ref>Boyd, Andrew (1984), ''Northern Ireland: Who is to Blame?'', The Mercier Press Limited, Dublin, p. 57, {{ISBN|0853427089}}</ref> They "had at their disposal the [[Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922|Special Powers Act]], a sweeping piece of legislation which allowed arrests without warrant, internment without trial, unlimited search powers, and bans on meetings and publications".<ref>McKittrick & McVea, p. 11</ref> This 1922 Act was made permanent in 1933 and was not repealed until 1973.<ref>McGuffin, John (1973), ''Internment!'', Anvil Books Ltd, Tralee, Ireland, p. 23.</ref>

The [[Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)|Nationalist Party]] was the main political party in opposition to the UUP governments. However, its elected members often protested by [[Abstentionism|abstaining]] from the Northern Ireland parliament, and many nationalists did not vote in parliamentary elections.<ref name="Making Sense 17-19"/> Other early nationalist groups which campaigned against partition included the [[National League of the North]] (formed in 1928), the [[Northern Council for Unity]] (formed in 1937) and the [[Irish Anti-Partition League]] (formed in 1945).<ref>Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley (editors). ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations''. A&C Black, 2000. pp.236–237</ref>

The Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) of 1922 allowed for the altering of municipal and rural boundaries. This Act led to the [[gerrymandering]] of local election boundaries in the Nationalists majority cities of Derry City, Enniskillen, Omagh, Armagh and many other towns and rural districts. That action ensured Unionist control over local councils in areas where they were a minority.<ref>Boyd, Andrew (1969), ''Holy War in Belfast'', Anvil Books Ltd, Tralee, pg 176.</ref> The UUP governments, and some UUP-dominated local authorities, discriminated against the Catholic and Irish nationalist minority; especially by the gerrymandering of local electoral boundaries, the allocation of public housing, public sector employment, and policing, showing "a consistent and irrefutable pattern of deliberate discrimination against Catholics".<ref>Whyte, John. "How much discrimination was there under the unionist regime, 1921–68?", in ''Contemporary Irish Studies''. Edited by Tom Gallagher and James O'Connell. Manchester University Press, 1983. pp.29–32</ref> Many Catholics/Nationalists saw the gerrymandered local electoral boundaries and the abolishing of [[proportional representation]] as proof of government-sponsored discrimination. Until 1969 a system was in place called [[plural voting]] which was a practice whereby one person might be able to vote multiple times in an election. Property and business owners could vote both in the constituency where their property lay and that in which they lived, if the two were different. This system often resulted in one person being able to cast multiple votes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apni/1968/20/introduction |title=Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 |website=www.legislation.gov.uk |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=6 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806071119/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apni/1968/20/introduction |url-status=live }}</ref> Decades later, UUP [[First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland|First Minister of Northern Ireland]], [[David Trimble]], said that Northern Ireland under the UUP had been a "cold house" for Catholics.<ref>{{cite web |last1=David |first1=Trimble |title=Nobel Lecture |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1998/trimble/lecture/ |website=The Nobel Prize |access-date=8 August 2020 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815173053/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1998/trimble/lecture/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Harbour office Belfast.jpg|thumb|[[Belfast Harbour|The Belfast Harbour Office]] has been the headquarters for the Harbour Commissioners for more than 150 years.]]
During [[World War II]], recruitment to the British military was noticeably lower than the high levels reached during World War I. In June 1940, to encourage the [[Irish neutrality|neutral Irish state]] to join with the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] indicated to Taoiseach [[Éamon de Valera]] that the British government would encourage Irish unity, but believing that Churchill could not deliver, de Valera declined the offer.<ref>"Anglo-Irish Relations, 1939–41: A Study in Multilateral Diplomacy and Military Restraint" in ''Twentieth Century British History'' (Oxford Journals, 2005), {{ISSN|1477-4674}}</ref> The British did not inform the government of Northern Ireland that they had made the offer to the Dublin government, and de Valera's rejection was not publicised until 1970. Belfast was a key industrial city in the UK's war effort, producing ships, tanks, aircraft, and munitions. The unemployment that had been so persistent in the 1930s disappeared, and labour shortages appeared, prompting migration from the Free State. The city was thinly defended, and had only 24 anti-aircraft guns. Richard [[Dawson Bates]], the Minister for Home Affairs, had prepared too late, assuming that Belfast was far enough away to be safe. The city's fire brigade was inadequate, and as the Northern Ireland government had been reluctant to spend money on air raid shelters, it only started to build them after [[the Blitz]] in London during the autumn of 1940. There were no searchlights in the city, which made shooting down enemy bombers more difficult. In April–May 1941, the [[Belfast Blitz]] began when the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' launched a series of raids that were the most deadly seen outside London. Working-class areas in the north and east of the city were particularly hard hit, and over 1,000 people were killed and hundreds were seriously injured. Tens of thousands of people fled the city in fear of future attacks. In the final raid, ''Luftwaffe'' bombs inflicted extensive damage to the docks and the [[Harland & Wolff]] shipyard, closing it for six months. Half of the city's houses had been destroyed, highlighting the terrible slum conditions in Belfast, and about £20 million worth of damage was caused. The Northern Ireland government was criticised heavily for its lack of preparation, and Northern Ireland Prime Minister [[J. M. Andrews]] resigned. There was a major munitions strike in 1944.<ref>Boyd Black, "A Triumph of Voluntarism? Industrial Relations and Strikes in Northern Ireland in World War Two," ''Labour History Review'' (2005) 70#1 pp 5–25</ref>

The [[Ireland Act 1949]] gave the first legal guarantee that the region would not cease to be part of the United Kingdom without the consent of the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]].

From 1956 to 1962, the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) carried out a limited guerrilla campaign in border areas of Northern Ireland, called the [[Border campaign (Irish Republican Army)|Border Campaign]]. It aimed to destabilize Northern Ireland and bring about an end to partition but failed.<ref>English, Richard. ''Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA''. Pan Macmillan, 2008. pp.72–74</ref>

In 1965, Northern Ireland's Prime Minister [[Terence O'Neill]] met the Taoiseach, [[Seán Lemass]]. It was the first meeting between the two heads of government since partition.<ref>[https://www.irishtimes.com/news/lemass-o-neill-talks-focused-on-purely-practical-matters-1.120295 "Lemass-O'Neill talks focused on `purely practical matters'"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925161655/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/lemass-o-neill-talks-focused-on-purely-practical-matters-1.120295 |date=25 September 2021 }}. ''The Irish Times'', 2 January 1998.</ref>