For thirty years, the citizens of Northern Ireland lived through the Troubles. Many were born into the conflict, and never knew anything else. By the 1980s, the situation was getting worse not better, and violence was escalating. With devastating attacks such as the Remembrance Sunday bombing in 1987 and killings at two funerals in 1988, public weariness of the conflict drove forward peace talks. Gerry Adams and John Hume began to meet in secret and by the early 1990s, it appeared that peace might be within reach. In the third episode of our series on the Troubles, we look at what was it like to live through this conflict, and – just as the situation seemed impossible – how the two sides finally came together for negotiations.

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 ...  

IWM'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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Image Credits
John Hume via John Mathew Smith/.
Gerry Adams and John Hume via Belfast Telegraph
Gerry Adams image via Sinn Féin
Gerry Adams, Albert Reynolds and John Hume via Independent.ie
Ireland Unfree Mural via Guinnog
From Conflict to Peace Mural via ManfredHugh
Londonderry Mural via Ktoma
No Surrender Mural via Fribbler