Early Years of Home Rule
Northern Ireland having received self-government within the United Kingdom, under the Government of Ireland Act was in some respects left to its own devices.
The first years of the new autonomous region were marked by bitter violence, particularly in Belfast. The IRA was determined to oppose the partition of Ireland and the authorities created the (mainly ex-UVF) Ulster Special Constabulary to aid the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and introduced emergency powers to put down the IRA. Many died in political violence from 1920, which petered out after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922 and through 1923.
The continuing violence created a climate of fear in the new region, and there was migration across the new border. As well as movement of Protestants from the Free State into Northern Ireland, some Catholics fled south, leaving some of those who remained feeling isolated. Despite the mixed religious affiliation of the old Royal Irish Constabulary and the transfer of many Catholic RIC police officers to the newly formed Royal Ulster Constabulary (1922), northern Catholics did not join the new force in great numbers. Many nationalists then came to view the new police force as sectarian, adding to their sense of alienation from the state.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Northern Ireland 1921-72
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