Timeline of the Troubles in Europe

Last updated January 31, 2025

This is a timeline of the events and actions during the Troubles that were carried out in Western Europe, the countries included are West Germany, Belgium & the Netherlands the vast majority of which were carried out by Provisional IRA (PIRA) the other Irish Republican group was the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) who carried out a small few attacks more for propaganda purposes. According to a study 18 people were killed on mainland Europe during The Troubles^[1] with around 60 people being injured.

1973 - 1987

January 1973 - A car bomb exploded in the Globe cinema carpark of JHQ Rheindahlen. The bomb was timed to go off when British military personnel were leaving the carpark. Nobody was hurt in the attack. A male & female IRA Volunteers were arrested shortly after.^[2]^[3]
18 August 1978 - Several bombs planted by the Provisional IRA detonated at the establishments of the British Army of the Rhine in Germany. One person was injured in one of the blasts. Two days later on the 20 August a British Army spokesman said the PIRA was responsible.^[4]
22 March 1979 - Richard Sykes, then British ambassador to the Netherlands, and his Dutch valet, Karel Straub, were killed in a gun attack in The Hague, Netherlands
22 March 1979 - A Belgian bank employee was shot by the Provisional IRA, who thought it was Sir John Killick.
25 June 1979 - An IRA bomb in Brussels targeted but failed to hit a British general.
6 July 1979 - An IRA bomb detonates in a British consulate building in Antwerp.
29 August 1979 - 1979 Brussels bombing. The IRA bombs the central square of Brussels whilst targeting British troops, injuring 18.^[5]
3 November 1979 - The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) a Republican Socialist revolutionary group bombed the British consulate in Antwerp,
16 February 1980 - British soldier Mark Coe was shot dead by an IRA unit outside his home, Bielefeld, West Germany.^[6]
1 March 1980 - Two IRA Volunteers shot and injured a British soldier who was jogging near his barracks in Osnabruck, Germany.^[7]^[8]
3 December 1980 - There was an assassination attempt on the then British European Commissioner Christopher Tugendhat who was living in Belgium at the time, when a passing car fired at him but missed just after he left his Brussels home. The PIRA later claimed responsibility for the attack.^[9]
24 November 1981 - The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) claimed responsibility for exploding a bomb outside the British Consulate in Hamburg, West Germany.^[10]
25 November 1981 - the INLA claimed responsibility for exploding a bomb at a British Army base in Herford, West Germany; one British soldier was injured.
23 March 1987 - 31 people were injured in a car bomb attack at Rheindahlen Military Complex, near Mönchengladbach in Germany.

1988 - 1996

6 March 1988 - Operation Flavius - A three-person IRA active service unit, while on a reconnaissance car bombing mission to Gibraltar, were shot dead by the SAS; locals said they heard no warning be given before the SAS opened fire, Seán Savage, Daniel McCann and Mairead Farrell were shot dead by SAS on the spot. Seán Savage, who was a few meters behind McCann & Farrell, seeing the shootings tried to run, but an SAS with high-powered pistols,
1 May 1988 - three British soldiers, all members of the Royal Air Force, were killed and four others were wounded when the IRA launched separate attacks in the Netherlands. In the first attack an IRA unit opened fire on a car carrying British soldiers near Roermond, killing one and injuring three. In the second attack, two British soldiers were killed when they triggered a booby trap bomb attached to their car in Nieuw-Bergen.
14 July 1988 - nine British soldiers were injured when the IRA detonated two bombs at a British military barracks in Duisburg, Germany. See: Glamorgan barracks bombing
6 August 1988 - Three Royal Engineers & a civilian were injured in a blast when the IRA bombed a British Army's Roy Barracks in Düsseldorf, Germany.
12 August 1988 - British Army Sergeant-Major Richard Heakin was shot dead by the IRA in Ostend, Belgium
19 June 1989 - a bomb exploded at a British Army base in Osnabrück, Germany. There were no injuries but the explosion caused damage estimated at £75,000
2 July 1989 - a British soldier Steven Smith was killed in an IRA booby-trap bomb attack outside his home in Hanover, Germany. He was killed when an IRA bomb exploded as he opened the door of his Mercedes car
2 September 1989 - two British soldiers were shot and seriously wounded at a military housing area near Munster, West Germany, in a suspected IRA attack
7 September 1989 - a German civilian (Heidi Hazell) was shot dead in West Germany in a stationary car with British licence plates[385] outside the British Army married quarters in Unna.[323] A gunman walked up to the car and shot her 14 times at point-blank range with an AK47. The IRA expressed regret for the death and claimed she had been shot "in the belief that she was a member of the British Army garrison" at nearby Dortmund.
26 October - IRA members opened fire on the car of an RAF corporal in West Germany. The car had stopped at a petrol station snack bar near RAF Wildenrath and inside it were the corporal, his wife, and their six-month-old daughter.[398] The corporal and his daughter were killed; his wife suffered shock.[398] The IRA expressed regret for the child's death and claimed its members did not know she was in the car
10 December 1989 - Two members from the Irish People's Liberation Organization (IPLO) shot and injured a gendarme in the Belgian port of Antwerp and escaped on foot. They had been intending to smuggle a small consignment of arms aboard a freighter bound for Ireland. Afterwards, Dutch police carried out raids on four homes and arrested an Irish citizen in Amsterdam.^[11]
4 May 1990 - a civilian security guard foiled an IRA bomb attack on British Army quarters in the Langenhagen barracks in Hannover, West Germany. Three men had penetrated the perimeter fence carrying two Semtex devices.[85] The IRA unit reportedly fired a number of shots before escaping.
27 May 1990 - two Australian tourists, Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose, were shot dead in the Netherlands, having been mistaken for off-duty British soldiers from a base across the German border.[8] The IRA said it "deeply regretted the tragedy". See: Killings of Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose
1 June - a British Royal Artillery officer, Michael Dillon-Lee, was shot dead by the IRA in Dortmund, West Germany. He was one of the most senior soldiers killed in the conflict – holding the rank of major. In a subsequent car chase a West German police officer was injured when the IRA unit fired on the pursuing officers.
14 June 1990 - a large IRA bomb badly damaged a building inside a British Army Training Camp in Hamelin near Hanover, West Germany.^[12]
28 June 1996 - The IRA launched See: Osnabrück mortar attack

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade</span> Republican paramilitary group in Northern Ireland

The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". It is believed to have drawn its membership from across the eastern side of County Tyrone as well as north County Monaghan and south County Londonderry.

The Irish People's Liberation Organisation was a small Irish socialist republican paramilitary organisation formed in 1986 by disaffected and expelled members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), whose factions coalesced in the aftermath of the supergrass trials. It developed a reputation for intra-republican and sectarian violence as well as criminality, before being forcibly disbanded by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1992.

This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1970 to 1979.

The Droppin Well bombing or Ballykelly bombing occurred on 6 December 1982, when the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) detonated a time bomb at a disco in Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The disco, known as the Droppin Well, was targeted because it was frequented by British Army soldiers from nearby Shackleton Barracks. The bomb killed 17 people: eleven soldiers and six civilians, while dozens more were wounded. It was the deadliest attack during the INLA's paramilitary campaign and one of the deadliest bombings of The Troubles.

The Loughgall ambush took place on 8 May 1987 in the village of Loughgall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. An eight-man unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base in the village. An IRA member drove a digger with a bomb in its bucket through the perimeter fence, while the rest of the unit arrived in a van and fired on the building. The bomb exploded and destroyed almost half of the base. Soldiers from the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) then returned fire both from within the base and from hidden positions around it in a pre-planned ambush, killing all of the attackers. Two of them were subsequently found to have been unarmed when they were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dessie Grew</span> Irish Republican (1953–1990)

Desmond "Dessie" Grew was a volunteer in the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Grew was killed by undercover Special Air Service soldiers in County Armagh in 1990 along with fellow IRA volunteer, Martin McCaughey who was also a Sinn Féin councillor.

This is the Timeline of Irish National Liberation Army actions, an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of its 1975–1998 campaign during "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The INLA did not start claiming responsibility for its actions under the INLA name until January 1976 at which point they had already killed 12 people, before then they used the names People's Liberation Army (PLA) and People's Republican Army (PRA) to claim its attacks.

This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1980 to 1989. For actions before and after this period see Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killings of Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose</span> Australian tourists murdered by the IRA

Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose were Australian tourists shot dead in Roermond, the Netherlands by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 27 May 1990, which stated it had mistaken them for off-duty British soldiers. The attack was part of an IRA campaign in Continental Europe.

The 1987 Rheindahlen bombing was a car bomb attack on 23 March 1987 at JHQ Rheindahlen military barracks, the British Army headquarters in West Germany, injuring thirty-one. The large 300 lb (140 kg) car bomb exploded near the visitors officers' mess of the barracks. The Provisional IRA later stated it had carried out the bombing. It was the second bombing in Rheindahlen, the first being in 1973, and the start of the IRA's campaign on mainland Europe from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Although British soldiers were targeted, most of the injured were actually German officers and their wives.

The Provisional IRA carried out two separate attacks on the same day on 1 May 1988 against British military personnel in the Netherlands which resulted in the deaths of three RAF members and another three being injured. It was the worst attack suffered by the British security forces during The Troubles from 1969 to 1998 in mainland Europe.

The Lichfield gun attack was an ambush carried out by the Provisional IRA (IRA) on 1 June 1990 against three off-duty British soldiers who were waiting at Lichfield City railway station in Staffordshire. The attack resulted in one soldier being killed and two others badly wounded.

This article covers attacks and activity of terrorism in Belgium.

The Official IRA's Belfast Brigade was founded in December 1969 after the Official IRA itself emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of the Troubles, when the Irish Republican Army split into two factions. The other was the Provisional IRA. The "Officials" were Marxist-Leninists and worked to form a united front with other Irish communist groups, named the Irish National Liberation Front (NLF). The Brigade like the pre-split IRA brigade before the split had three battalions, one in West Belfast, one in North Belfast and the third in East Belfast. The Belfast Brigade was involved in most of the biggest early confrontations of the conflict like the Falls Curfew in 1970, the battles that followed after the introduction of Internment without trial in 1971 and Volunteers joined forces with the Provisional brigade to fight the British Army and UVF during the Battle at Springmartin in 1972. The first Commanding Officer (CO) of the brigade was veteran Billy McMillen who fought during the IRA Border Campaign. Shortly after the death of Official IRA Belfast "Staff Captain" Joe McCann in April 1972, the battalion structure of the brigade was done away with and command centralized under McMillen.

The following is a timeline of actions during The Troubles which took place in the Republic of Ireland between 1969 and 1998. It includes Ulster Volunteer Force bombings such as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in May 1974, and other loyalist bombings carried out in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, the last of which was in 1997. These attacks killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more. Also actions carried out by Irish republicans including bombings, prison escapes, kidnappings, and gun battles between the Gardaí (police) and the Irish Defence Forces against Republican gunmen from the Irish National Liberation Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and a socialist-revolutionary group, Saor Éire. These attacks killed a number of civilians, police, soldiers, and republican paramilitaries.

The Chelsea Barracks bombing was an attack carried out by a London-based Active Service Unit (ASU) of the Provisional IRA on 10 October 1981, using a remote-controlled nail bomb. The bomb targeted a bus carrying British Army soldiers just outside Chelsea Barracks. The blast killed two civilians and injured 40 people, among them 23 soldiers.

This is a timeline of the events and actions during the Troubles that were carried out in Great Britain, the vast majority of which were carried out by Irish Republican paramilitaries mainly the Provisional IRA were by far the most active but both the Official IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army, also carried out a number of attacks, which included bombings and shootings. Ulster Loyalist paramilitary groups also carried out a small number of violent actions.

The Glamorgan barracks bombing was the bombing of a British Army military barracks in Duisburg, West Germany, carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). The attack injured nine soldiers. The Glamorgan barracks housed soldiers from the Royal Corps of Transport. Seventy soldiers were sleeping at the time of the explosion. The two 20 lb (9 kg) bombs blew a hole in the barracks and tore the roof. Nine British soldiers received minor wounds. It was the first IRA attack on the European mainland since the Netherlands attacks in May. The two bombs were placed some eight yards inside the barracks compound, against the wall of the quarters were some 70 soldiers were sleeping. None of the nine injured soldiers needed hospital treatment, although an army sergeant spokesman said they were very lucky nobody was killed. Moments after the blast police saw the IRA getaway car run a red lightand gave chase, but the IRA unit fired shots at the police car and the police gave up the chase, letting the IRA volunteers escape.

This is a timeline of actions by the Official Irish Republican Army, an Irish republican & Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of a Guerrilla campaign against the British Army & Royal Ulster Constabulary and internal Irish Republican feuds with the Provisional IRA & Irish National Liberation Army from the early 1970s - to the mid-1970s during the most violent phase of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland.

References

↑ Johnston, Wesley. "Statistical breakdown of deaths in the 'Troubles'". wesleyjohnston. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
↑ "Urbanks - JHQ - Cold War Urban Exploring".
↑ "Military History with Pete and Gary". keymilitaryhistory. Key Publishing Ltd. 13 January 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
↑ "WEST GERMANY: AFTERMATH OF BOMB ATTACK ON BRITISH ARMY BASE NEAR DUSSELDORF, WEST GERMANY. (1978)". British Pathe. British Pathé Ltd. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
↑ "I.R.A. SETS OFF BOMB AT BELGIAN CONCERT" (Digital Archive). New York Times. 29 August 1979. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
↑ McGladdery, Gary (1 February 2006). The Provisional IRA in England: The Bombing Campaign 1973-1997. London: Irish Academic Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0716533733.
↑ "Germans end extradition moves over 1980 shooting" (Digital Archive). The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 24 June 1994. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
↑ McGladdery, Gary (1 February 2006). "Targeting England". The Provisional IRA in England: The Bombing Campaign 1973-1997. London: Irish Academic Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0716533733. The first attack of this nature took place on the 16 February 1980 when the PIRA shot dead a British Army Colonel in Germany
↑ Saen, Herman. "British Official escapes death try in Brussels". UPI archives. UPI. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
↑ The Bulletin. 26 November 1981.
↑ "Belfast Man Arrested in Holland". RTÉ Archives.
↑ Jess, Mervyn. "Investigations are continuing into yesterday's bomb attack on a British army base in West Germany". BBC Rewind. BBC. Retrieved 30 January 2025.

Sources

CAIN Web Service - Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland (The CAIN Project: Conflict Archive on the Internet), Ulster University.
Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement – Robert White (2017), Merrion Press. ISBN 978-1785370939.
INLA: Deadly Divisions – Jack Holland and Henry McDonald (1995), Poolbeg Press. ISBN 978-1853714740.
- The Provisional IRA in England: The Bombing Campaign 1973-1997 - Gary McGladdery ISBN 978-0716533733.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Johnston, Wesley. "Statistical breakdown of deaths in the 'Troubles'". wesleyjohnston. Retrieved 5 November 2024.

[2] "Urbanks - JHQ - Cold War Urban Exploring".

[3] "Military History with Pete and Gary". keymilitaryhistory. Key Publishing Ltd. 13 January 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.

[4] "WEST GERMANY: AFTERMATH OF BOMB ATTACK ON BRITISH ARMY BASE NEAR DUSSELDORF, WEST GERMANY. (1978)". British Pathe. British Pathé Ltd. Retrieved 27 October 2024.

[5] "I.R.A. SETS OFF BOMB AT BELGIAN CONCERT" (Digital Archive). New York Times. 29 August 1979. Retrieved 30 October 2024.

[6] McGladdery, Gary (1 February 2006). The Provisional IRA in England: The Bombing Campaign 1973-1997. London: Irish Academic Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0716533733.

[7] "Germans end extradition moves over 1980 shooting" (Digital Archive). The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 24 June 1994. Retrieved 2 November 2024.

[8] McGladdery, Gary (1 February 2006). "Targeting England". The Provisional IRA in England: The Bombing Campaign 1973-1997. London: Irish Academic Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0716533733. The first attack of this nature took place on the 16 February 1980 when the PIRA shot dead a British Army Colonel in Germany

[9] Saen, Herman. "British Official escapes death try in Brussels". UPI archives. UPI. Retrieved 28 October 2024.

[auto-10] The Bulletin. 26 November 1981.

[11] "Belfast Man Arrested in Holland". RTÉ Archives.

[12] Jess, Mervyn. "Investigations are continuing into yesterday's bomb attack on a British army base in West Germany". BBC Rewind. BBC. Retrieved 30 January 2025.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]