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Ulster Volunteer Force

Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Dates of operationMay 1966 – present (on ceasefire since October 1994; officially ended armed campaign in May 2007)
Group(s)Young Citizen Volunteers (youth wing)
Protestant Action Force (cover name)
Protestant Action Group (cover name)
Progressive Unionist Party (political representation)
HeadquartersBelfast
Active regionsNorthern Ireland (mostly)
Republic of Ireland
Scotland (fifteen operations)
IdeologyUlster loyalism
Irish unionism
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Irish sentiment
Protestant extremism[1]
Size1,500 at peak in the 1970s[2] (hard core of 400–500 gunmen and bombers)[3]
Estimated several hundred members in Active service units by 1990s[4]
300 (2010[5])
7,500 (total, 2020[6])
AlliesRed Hand Commando
OpponentsProvisional IRA
Official IRA
Irish National Liberation Army
Irish People's Liberation Organization
Irish republicans
Irish nationalists
Loyalist Volunteer Force

United Kingdom

Republic of Ireland

Battles and warsThe Troubles

The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965,[7] it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom.[8]

The UVF's declared goals were to combat Irish republican paramilitaries – particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and to maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. It was responsible for more than 500 deaths. The vast majority (more than two-thirds)[9][10] of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random.[11][12][13][14] During the conflict, its deadliest attack in Northern Ireland was the 1971 McGurk's Bar bombing, which killed fifteen civilians. The group also carried out attacks in the Republic of Ireland from 1969 onward. The biggest of these was the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which killed 34 civilians, making it the deadliest terrorist attack of the conflict. The no-warning car bombings had been carried out by units from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades.

The Mid-Ulster Brigade was also responsible for the 1975 Miami Showband killings, in which three members of the popular Irish cabaret band were shot dead at a bogus security checkpoint by gunmen wearing military uniforms. Two UVF men were accidentally blown up in this attack. The UVF's last major attack was the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, in which its members shot dead six Catholic civilians in a rural pub. Until recent years,[15] it was noted for secrecy and a policy of limited, selective membership.[16][17][18][19][20]

Since the ceasefire, the UVF has been involved in rioting, drug dealing, organised crime, loan-sharking and prostitution.[21][22][23] Some members have also been found responsible for orchestrating a series of racist attacks.[24]

  1. ^ Haagerup, N.J. (1983–1984). "Report drawn up on behalf of the Political Affairs Committee on the situation in Northern Ireland" (PDF). European Parliament. European Communities. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  2. ^ McDonald, Henry; Cusack, Jim (30 June 2016). "UVF - The Endgame". Poolbeg Press Ltd. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2020 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ McDonald, Henry; Cusack, Jim (30 June 2016). "UVF - the Endgame". Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  4. ^ Aaron Edwards - UVF: Behind the Mask pp. 206, 207
  5. ^ 21:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfGe4WO8yok Archived 24 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ [1] Archived 2 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine, BBC
  7. ^ Billy Hutchinson and Gareth Mulvenna, My Life in Loyalism (2020), p. 11
  8. ^ "Proscribed Organisations". Terrorism Act 2000 (c. 11, sched. 2). UK Public General Acts. 20 July 2000. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013.
  9. ^ "Sutton Index of Deaths: Organisation responsible for the death". Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Sutton Index of Deaths: Crosstabulations". Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2014. (choose "religion summary" + "status" + "organisation")
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference random was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Stevens Inquiry: Key people". 17 April 2003.
  13. ^ "UK agents 'worked with NI paramilitary killers'". BBC News. 28 May 2015.
  14. ^ "Pat Finucane murder: 'Shocking state collusion', says PM". BBC News. 12 December 2012.
  15. ^ "Inside the UVF: Money, murders and mayhem - the loyalist gang's secrets unveiled" Archived 14 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Belfast Telegraph. 13 October 2014.
  16. ^ Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists: War and Peace in Northern Ireland. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.34 ISBN 0-7475-4519-7
  17. ^ Jim Cusack & Henry McDonald, UVF, Poolbeg, 1997, p. 107
  18. ^ Wood, Ian S., Crimes of Loyalty, Edinburgh University Press, 2006, pp. 6 & 191 ISBN 978-0748624270
  19. ^ Bruce, Steve. The Edge of the Union: The Ulster Loyalist Political Vision, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 4, ISBN 978-0198279761
  20. ^ Boulton, David, U.V.F. 1966–73: An Anatomy of Loyalist Rebellion, Gill & MacMillan, 1973, p. 3 ISBN 978-0717106660
  21. ^ "Police to investigate 'UVF gangsterism'". BBC News. 3 October 2013. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  22. ^ "UVF mural on Shankill Road being investigated by police". BBC News. 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  23. ^ 'UVF behind all the drug dealing in East Belfast, says PSNI'. Sunday Life, 25 March 2023, retrieved 26 March 2023
  24. ^ "UVF 'behind racist attacks in south and east Belfast'" Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Belfast Telegraph. 3 April 2014.

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