1972 Following an IRA hunger strike, the British conservative government grants special category status to politically motivated prisoners in jails in Northern Ireland.
1976 British labour government ends it after a report says it is helpful to paramilitary organisations. H Blocks (so-called because of their shape) are built at Maze prison. Kieran Nugent is first IRA man sentenced under new rules. In a symbolic gesture of defiance he refuses to wear prison uniform and the "Blanket protest" against criminalisation begins.
1978 Protest escalates and "no wash" or "dirty" protest begins. By 1980, 300 republican prisoners are refusing to leave their cells or to "slop out". They smear their excrement on the walls.
1980 Brendan Hughes and six other IRA prisoners go on hunger strike for political status. Thirty others join later, along with three women prisoners in Armagh jail. There are secret negotiations with the British. The strike is called off when Seán McKenna is on the point of death. There is confusion over the details of a deal.
1981 The IRA's officer in command in the jail, Bobby Sands, says British have reneged on the deal and, on March 1st, leads a new hunger strike. Other prisoners follow on a phased basis. The "dirty" protest is called off. After the death of Fermanagh-South Tyrone MP Frank Maguire, Sands stands as H Blocks candidate and defeats Ulster Unionist candidate to take the seat. Sands dies on May 5th. Some 100,000 people attend his funeral. Nine more hunger strikers die. In October, the protest is called off. Concessions on the "five demands" follow.