The Good Friday Agreement is one the most celebrated peace deals ever signed. In April of 1998, its 34 pages helped put an end to a 30year conflict that killed over 3,500 people. The deal was a major achievement, but the road to its signing was an arduous one.

The 70s, 80s and 90s had seen a number of peace talks and negotiations , but thanks to extremists on both sides these had always broken down. The challenge was maintaining a Paramilitary ceasefire long enough for political talks to bear fruit. Ending a conflict as bitter as this one, would not be easy.

In the last episode we examined how all sides of the conflict had become exhausted by the violence. Now, in this final episode of our Troubles series we’ll explain the timeline of events that lead to Good Friday, how the deal worked and why Northern Ireland’s peace remains fragile to this day.

Watch the rest of our Troubles series:
Episode 1 Origins:    • Why the Troubles started in Northern ...  
Episode 2 Escalation:    • How the Troubles became a bloody war  
Episode 3 Division:    • Living through the Troubles in Northe...  
Episode 4 Peace:    • How do you end a 30year war?  
Behind the scenes of our exhibition    • Designing the Troubles exhibition at ...  

IIWM's free exhibition 'Northern Ireland: Living with the Troubles' opens at IWM North on 22 March 2024. Plan your visit: https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/norther...

Explore and licence the film clips used in this video from IWM Film: https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/my...

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CC Attributions:
The Belfast Agreement by Northern Ireland Office under OGLv3.0 – https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d...
The St Andrews Agreement by Northern Ireland Office under OGLv3.0 –https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d...
Mo Mowlam 1997 by Northern Ireland Office under OGLv3.0 – https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d...
Bertie Ahern in 1997 by Mark Renders / European Communities
Stormont Building by Wknight94 under CC BY SA 3.0 – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley by Scottish Government under CC BY SA 2.0 – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
1997 UK Election by Dereck Camacho under CC BY SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Northern Ireland Forum Election results by Elector Factor under CC BY SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
1998 Election results by Elector Factor under CC BY SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
2003 Election results by Elector Factor under CC BY SA 4.0 – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
2007 Election results by Elector Factor under CC BY SA 4.0 – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
UK and Ireland maps by FreeVectorMaps.com https://freevectormaps.com/