Ireland 's Reluctant Release Of Power

Irish home rule is one of the most important bills in Ireland’s history. Though continually rejected, Irish home rule remained in the hearts of the people and eventually gave Ireland self-government from Britain. The Irish people were determined to have home rule enacted and, in time, the bill was passed, but not without a few bumps in the road to getting the document approved.

Anglo-Norman invaders arrived in Ireland in 1169, attempting to colonize the island over the next 500 years. The invaders began to expand their influence across the island by means of force. These attacks caused rebellions from the Irish people, as they were no strangers to aggression from the East. “Religious persecution of Catholic Irish grew – in particular after the accession of Elizabeth I, a Protestant, to the throne in 1558. Oliver Cromwell's subsequent siege of Ireland in 1649 ended with massacres of Catholics at Drogheda and Wexford and forced the resettlement of thousands, many of whom lost their homes in the struggle. By 1691, with the victory of Protestant English King William III over the Catholic forces of James II, Protestant supremacy in Ireland had become complete. Catholics in Ireland suffered greatly in the subsequent period of British occupation, enduring laws that prevented them from bearing arms, holding public office and restricting their rights to an education. While many of those rights were eventually restored, the animosity between Catholics and Protestants remained.” (Washington Post, 1999).

Ireland was a British colony for more than seven centuries, for this time it was hidden their native identity, as well as their language. The British colonizers imposed not only their language but also their culture. In 1922, it was signed the Treaty in which Ireland was considered a free state.

Violence, terror, suffering and death. The conflict that has been burning in Northern Ireland seems to be an unstoppable battle and it has flooded over the land of Northern Ireland. The struggle for power and the persistence of greed have fueled the raging fires of the opposing groups. The conflict in Northern Ireland has been discussed continually over the past few decades. Ever since the beginning of the “Troubles,” organizations have been scavenging to find a plan that will cease the violence. Throughout my research for this project, the questions of what are the main sources of conflict in Northern Ireland and why have they continued today guided me to many fascinating pieces of evidence that

In 1800 Ireland became a part of Britain after they failed to rebel against them. Ireland had already been a British colony, but because of them becoming a part of Britain their old government was taken down and they were forced to join the British parliament. Ireland was allowed to have 100 members to represent them in parliament. Catholics were not allowed although that was the main religious denomination in Ireland. Britain had persecuted catholics since the early 16th century when Henry VIII made the act of supremacy that made it so the pope was no longer was the head of the church in Britain http://www.britannica.com/topic/Act-of-Supremacy-England-1534. The British government implemented laws to destroy catholicism in Britain. One law

Irish independence has been fought for a long time ever since the British occupied Ireland in 1172. The King of England invaded and controlled Ireland. The invasion led to religious and territorial conflicts. There was an effort to create a church comparable to the Church of England in the 1500s. Catholics who live in Ireland were against the idea and a conflict for independence has emerged (Arena & Arrigo, 2004). The suppression of Irish nationalism by the British in the 20th century led to the creation of martyrs for the cause led by the Irish Republican Army (Combs, 2011).

Following nearly 600 years of varying English rule the Irish people in the late 1800s experienced a voracious onset of nationalist sentiment, influenced by European enlightenment thinkers. The Irish under an initially moderate national leadership pushed for the policy of “home rule,” which would grant the Irish autonomy, self-rule and economic freedom in return for maintaining their position within the United Kingdom. The home rule issue would dominate Irish politics for nearly 50 years until 1919, when extremist nationals would attain control of local governments and officially declare the Irish Republic (Campbell 624-630.) The Irish revolution is commonly attributed to pre nationalistic revolutionary ideas of intolerance, economic propensity towards independence and foreign oppressment creating unity, this is a misplaced assumption though as the war and preceding conflict was fought and won almost

Many people only have a limited idea about what these infamous “troubles” in the North of Ireland really were. Hopefully this article will shed some light on the matter. In the past the vast majority of violent acts and attitudes of discrimination towards minority groups have been based on blacks or the Jews, often leaving religious wars to the olden day Europe. However according to research “ the Troubles in Northern Ireland represent one of the most modern examples of religious, ethnic and political conflict”. This originated mainly from competition for the possession of land and jobs between the catholics and protestants occupying northern Ireland at the

War, oppression, and massacres. All three took place in English-led Ireland during the Victorian Era, and all three were caused by a few differences in beliefs on how to worship the same God. Mainly due to the evangelization of St. Patrick, the Irish people were devoutly Catholic while their English rulers followed a Protestant Church called the Anglican Church of England. Since the Anglican Church was so dominant in England, the Irish Catholics received very poor treatment from the Protestants in England causing things like the Irish Potato Famine and the Bloody Sunday and Bloody Friday massacres. However, the Irish people were by no means silent under this oppression, leading to many rebellions. Due to the dominance of Protestantism in England

Unionists feel that if Roman Catholics won The War of the Two Kings and persevered their land to its original state, Ireland would not have a deep-seated relationship with Great Britain. Unionist’s however, are very grateful for these relations and believe it has established them as a great and united country. Historians Moody and Martin state, “The sense of national unity manifested itself in the removal of a number of religious, social and economic disabilities which in the past had been imposed on the Irish Catholics, though it should be quickly added that generosity was checked by caution. Only extreme liberals were prepared to allow Catholics a share in political power” (204). Since Protestants have always recognized and rejoiced the British having a positive role in Ireland, the unity that resulted from the war was viewed as a triumph to Protestants then and Unionists now. After the victory of William of Orange the penal laws were set into place. These laws motived about 5,500 Catholics elite to convert to Protestantism. As the penal laws were solidified into the Irish law system, for the next century Ireland was controlled by Protestant elite, known as the protestant Ascendancy. However, this elite group did not want the majority of Catholics to convert, so the Ascendancy would maintain their high power position. This governmental position lead to protestants powerful political role in Ireland today. Although Nationalism has had many Protestant leaders, Unionists were inevitably always led by Protestant leaders and politicians. The War of the Two Kings set precedence for contemporary Irelands political structure to be centered around religious innuendoes.

People believed that “Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster” (10 “Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant”) and that “All that [was] Protestant—nay, all that [was] loyal –all who [had] land or money to lose…would be at the mercy of [the Irish nationalists]” (1 Salisbury). Northern Ireland, or Ulster, was the site of Protestant English immigrants, while the Catholic Irish dominated Southern Ireland. British members of Parliament feared for the wealth and welfare of the Protestants, or rather the English landowners with money and land, if Ireland were to be separated from England. Their “dread of Catholicism”, as well as a fear of another rebellion such as the “French Revolution”, caused them to fight against Irish Home Rule, and rather put all their efforts into protecting the Protestant Irish (7 The Nation). England’s superiority complex also caused the British to fight against Home Rule because they believed that the Irish “ought to be…grateful” (4 Carson) because it had been the British who did “five-sixths of the work, wealth, and enterprise” of their kingdoms (3 Moonshine). England claimed that they had done all the prospering for Ireland, and that the Irish had no right to be fighting against them

Influence of Roman Catholicism in Ireland could be dated back to around 400 AD where the majority of the population were Roman Catholics. Ironically, the ones who held the power and land were the immigrant Protestant minorities from England. They united with the English to force a series of discriminatory inheritance laws through Parliament. The laws effectively broke up large Catholic estates and placed them under the mercy of rapidly consolidating Protestant landowners. This presented a result that the Catholics, who in 1641 had control of 59% of the land after nearly 60 years in 1703, held merely 14% (Baker).

Not since the 100 years’ war has a conflict had such a storied history; many people often try to determine a specific cause for the on-going violence in Northern Ireland today. However, there is a variety of catalysts; such as the atrocities of Bloody Sunday, the Good Friday Agreement and other events that have played a role in the hostilities that have scarred Irelands land and people.

Ireland was a place similar to a prison cell for the Irish. Under the control of Britain,

against the Protestants. In 1829 Catholics were not suitable for schools throughout Ireland they were only suitable for Protestants. The Catholic peasantry were still called on to pay tithes, and they continued to be harassed by the exactions of tithe-proctors and others, who if the money was not forthcoming, seized the poor peoples cows, furniture, beds, blankets, kettles, or anything they could lay their hands on (History Of Nations 12 Ireland-Scotland p.224).The Catholics were a minority in Ireland much like in the history of Quebec where the English conquered the French, the French were considered lower forms of humans they weren’t up to English standards. As the years past the Catholics started to get back at the Protestants forming the I.R.A. I.R.A. and Protestant killings continued into the early 1900s, Britain began launching multi party- talks with the goal of forging a new assembly for northern Ireland and new relations between the north and Irish republic. By 1999, Protestant and Catholic negotiators had