1972-74: Height of Violence

The period from 1972 to 1974 saw the level of violence peak, in 1972 alone nearly five hundred people were killed. At a conference in Sunningdale in England in December 1973 an agreement was reached which set out a structure for a new executive that would include an 'Irish Dimension' linking Northern Ireland and the Republic. Most unionists were opposed to the agreement because they believed it would lead to a united Ireland. In May 1974 a loyalist industrial stoppage in opposition to Sunningdale brought Northern Ireland's economy to a standstill and unionist members resigned from the Northern Ireland Executive bringing the Sunningdale deal to a close.