The UVF began the 1970s with a campaign to cleans Catholics and Catholic owned businesses from Protestant dominated areas.
As the 1970s wore on, and with the IRA’s campaign at its height, the UVF moved from targeting nationalist and moderate political figures to simple sectarian murder – many of its victims just teenagers.
But the group also had capable bombers in its ranks – their actions culminated in the Dublin Monaghan bombings and the McGurks Bar attack.
The UVF was also aided by elements of the security forces – with some of its members also being members of the UDA and RUC.
And by the mid-1970s a notorious group emerged from the UVF which brought the savagery of the Troubles to a new level – the Shankill Butchers.
Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst – and author of ‘UVF: Behind the Mask’.
He joined Ciarán Dunbar to tell some of the story of the UVF in the 1970s.
The UVF in the 1970s: Gusty Spence, the Dublin Monaghan Bombings, sectarian murders, and the Shankill Butchers
