1969–2007 British military operation in Northern Ireland during the Troubles
Operation Banner
Part of the Troubles and the dissident Irish republican campaign
Two British Army soldiers at a checkpoint near Newry, Northern Ireland, 1988
Date
14 August 1969 – 31 July 2007 (37 years, 11 months, 2 weeks and 3 days)
Location
Northern Ireland
Result
Stalemate[1][2]
Paramilitary ceasefires
Demilitarisation
Good Friday Agreement
Belligerents
British Armed Forces
Royal Ulster Constabulary
Irish republican paramilitaries
Ulster loyalist paramilitaries
Commanders and leaders
Sean MacStiofain Seamus Costello Gerard Steenson Cathal Goulding
Gusty Spence Johnny Adair Billy Wright
Strength
21,000 British soldiers[3] 6,500 UDR[4] Total: c. 40,500
Casualties and losses
722 deaths from paramilitary attacks
719 deaths from other causes
6,100 injured
[5]
PIRA 97 killed by British Army INLA 5 killed by British Army IPLO 1 killed by British Army 1 OIRA killed by British Army[6]
UVF 7 killed by British Army UDA 7 killed by British Army[6]
v
t
e
The Troubles in Ireland
1960s and 1970s
Battle of the Bogside/1969 riots
RTÉ bombing
Battle of St Matthew's
Falls Curfew
Crossmaglen bombing
Scottish soldiers' killings
Operation Demetrius
Ballymurphy massacre
Newry killings
Red Lion Pub bombing
McGurk's Bar bombing
Balmoral showroom bombing
Bloody Sunday
Abercorn Restaurant bombing
Donegall St bombing
Battle at Springmartin
Dungiven ambush
Battle of Lenadoon
Springhill massacre
Bloody Friday
Operation Motorman
Claudy bombing
Newry customs bombing
Benny's Bar bombing
Annie's Bar massacre
Belturbet bombing
Dublin bombings
New Lodge Six shooting
Coleraine bombings
Rose & Crown Bar bombing
Clogher barracks attack
Dublin & Monaghan bombings
Mountainview Tavern attack
Bleary Darts Club shooting
Strand Bar bombing
Forkhill beer keg bomb
Miami Showband killings
Bayardo Bar attack
Tullyvallen massacre
October 1975 attacks
Drummuckavall ambush
Dublin Airport bombing
Dundalk & Silverbridge attacks
Central Bar bombing
Reavey and O'Dowd killings
Kingsmill massacre
Castleblayney bombing
Hillcrest Bar bombing
Flagstaff Hill incident
Charlemont pub attacks
Store Bar shooting
Chlorane Bar attack
Ramble Inn attack
Stag Inn attack
Andersonstown incident
Garryhinch ambush
Jonesborough Gazelle shootdown
La Mon restaurant bombing
Warrenpoint ambush
Dungannon land mine attack
1980s
Dunmurry train bombing
Lough Foyle attacks
Altnaveigh landmine attack
Glasdrumman ambush
Divis Flats bombing
Droppin Well bombing
Ballygawley land mine attack
Darkley killings
Kesh ambush
Strabane ambush
Newry mortar attack
Ballygawley barracks attack
Birches barracks attack
Clontibret invasion
Loughgall ambush
Remembrance Day bombing
Milltown Cemetery attack
Corporals killings
Avenue Bar shooting
Lisburn van bombing
Aughanduff Lynx shootdown
Ballygawley bus bombing
Drumnakilly ambush
Jonesborough ambush
Derryard checkpoint attack
1990s
Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown
Downpatrick landmine attack
Operation Conservation
Armagh City roadside bombing
Fort Victoria
Proxy bombings
Lough Neagh ambush
Silverbridge Lynx shootdown
Mullacreevie ambush
Cappagh killings
Craigavon mobile shop killings
Glenanne barracks bombing
Coagh ambush
Musgrave Park Hospital bombing
Craigavon Hyster killings
Teebane bombing
Sinn Féin Headquarters shooting
Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting
Clonoe ambush
Cloghoge checkpoint attack
Coalisland riots
South Armagh sniper campaign
Forensic Lab bombing
James Murray's bookmakers attack
Castlerock killings
Cullaville occupation
Battle of Newry Road
Shankill Road bombing
Greysteel massacre
Fivemiletown ambush
Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown
1994 Shankill Road killings
Loughinisland massacre
Killeeshil ambush
Drumcree conflict
Thiepval barracks bombing
Coalisland attack
1997 riots
Quinn brothers' killings
Banbridge bombing
Omagh bombing
See also: The Troubles in Britain & Europe, Assassinations during the Troubles, and Loyalist feud
Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in British military history.[7][8] The British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to the August 1969 riots. Its role was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and to assert the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland. This involved counter-insurgency and supporting the police in carrying out internal security duties such as guarding key points, mounting checkpoints and patrols, carrying out raids and searches, riot control and bomb disposal. More than 300,000 soldiers served in Operation Banner.[9] At the peak of the operation in the 1970s, about 21,000 British troops were deployed, most of them from Great Britain. As part of the operation, a new locally-recruited regiment was also formed: the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) waged a guerrilla campaign against the British military from 1970 to 1997. Catholics welcomed the troops when they first arrived, because they saw the RUC as sectarian,[10] but Catholic hostility to the British military's deployment grew after incidents such as the Falls Curfew (1970), Operation Demetrius (1971) and Bloody Sunday (1972). In their efforts to defeat the IRA, there were incidents of collusion between British soldiers and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries. From the late 1970s the British government adopted a policy of "Ulsterisation", which meant giving a greater role to local forces: the UDR and RUC. After the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the operation was gradually scaled down, most military facilities were removed and the vast majority of British troops were withdrawn.
According to the Ministry of Defence, 1,441 serving British military personnel died in Operation Banner;[11] 722 of whom were killed in paramilitary attacks,[11] and 719 of whom died as a result of other causes.[11] It suffered its greatest loss of life in the Warrenpoint ambush of 1979.
^Taylor, Peter, Behind the mask: The IRA and Sinn Féin, Chapter 21: Stalemate, pp. 246–261.
^"Army paper says IRA not defeated". BBC News. 6 July 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
^"The Troubles left a legacy like no other army deployment". Sky News. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
^"House of Commons Debate". Hansard. 13 February 1992. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
^Operation Banner Deaths; retrieved 26 May 2014.
^ abCite error: The named reference suttonindex was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Sanders, Andrew. Times of Trouble: Britain's War in Northern Ireland. Edinburgh University Press, 2012. p.109
^"The Troubles: How 1969 violence led to Army's longest campaign". BBC News, 14 August 2019.
^Armed Forces mark 50 years since the start of operations in Northern Ireland. Ministry of Defence, 14 August 2019.
^"1969: British troops sent into Northern Ireland". On This Day. BBC News. 14 August 1969. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
^ abc"UK Armed Forces Operational deaths post World War II" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
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years after its first deployment there. During the latter years of OperationBANNER, 5 Regiment Army Air Corps and 230 Squadron RAF came under the control...
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Special Air Service. He deployed during the Falklands War and as part of OperationBanner to Northern Ireland in the early 1980s, where he was awarded the Queen's...
Argentine assaults until being reinforced by 42 Commando. The Troubles OperationBanner, 1969–1997, deployment of the British army in Northern Ireland, the...
Belfast. During his military career Kemp completed seven deployments on OperationBanner in Northern Ireland. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1980...
controversial actions such as Operation Demetrius took place, as well as atrocities such as the Bloody Sunday massacre. OperationBanner ultimately lasted 37 years...
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"tending towards zero". In 2007, the government declared the end of OperationBanner, ending the four-decade long deployment of the British Army in Northern...
involved in plainclothes operations in Northern Ireland from the 1970s onwards. The unit conducted undercover surveillance operations against suspected members...
serving with the Royal Irish Regiment at the end of OperationBanner (The official army title for operations in Northern Ireland). An Phoblacht claimed that...
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the British Army Intelligence Corps. It was established in 2007 as OperationBanner concluded and following the Stevens Inquiry into allegations of collusion...
Ireland: Britain's Air Arms and the 'Bandit Country' of South Armagh, OperationBanner 1969–2007. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-5267-2155-6. Taylor, Steven (2018)...
private 24180996. He served with the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment on OperationBanner in Northern Ireland in 1971–72, before transferring to the Special...
inflicted on the British Army in its deployment in Northern Ireland (OperationBanner). A number of South Armagh IRA members were imprisoned by the end of...
being used as infantry, are deployed only on 4-month tours. During OperationBanner, this was more to do with the cost of re-training back to role than...
Global Information
Royal Ulster Constabulary
Irish republican paramilitaries
Ulster loyalist paramilitaries