The agreement survived it all. Historian Alvin Jackson summed up: ‘The Unionists had once again backed themselves into a tactical dead-end in order to demonstrate the intensity of their convictions. Unionist tardiness and negativism had led inexorably towards marginalisation and humiliation.’ The Unionist trauma was obvious, but the agreement posed great challenges for republicans too. They recognised it as a major departure in British policy, but debated long and hard about its exact significance.
