100 years since the partition of Ireland was marked at Féile an Phobail with a lecture by historian Eamon Phoenix on the creation of the Northern state.
The South Belfast historian combed the complexities of the period and the relationships between the main historical actors.
Viewers got a taste of the vision of Charles Stewart Parnell before being introduced to John Redmond and Hamill Street-born Joe Devlin and how their ideas and beliefs would go on to shape the political landscape.
Eamon Phoenix recounted a visit to Celtic Park on the Donegall Road by then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill where he delivered a speech in favour of Home Rule.
He also showed how the efforts of Redmond and Devlin to recruit troops for the First World War backfired after the Easter Rising of 1916.
For Phoenix, the execution of the leaders of the Rising was “like watching blood flowing from under a closed door" as it led to monumental support for the Sinn Féin movement.
In the General Election of 1918, Edward Carson gave up his Trinity College seat in favour of running in North Belfast. In the same election, Éamon de Valera ran in the Belfast Falls constituency where he was defeated by Joe Devlin.
Phoenix discussed the importance of that election and the subsequent Sinn Féin landslide leading to the establishment of the first Dáil.
Phoenix continued the discussion with a look at the creation of the Ulster Special Constabulary and the eventual partition of the island.
The election of 1921, in which there was a Unionist landslide in the North, formed a seminal point in Irish history as it ushered in "a Unionist Parliament for a Unionist people" and a century of crisis.
