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Northern Ireland Research Paper

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The Troubles was a time period of revolt and discrimination in Northern Ireland that lasted from the late 1960s until 1998, beginning with direct British involvement in Northern Ireland and formally ending with the Good Friday Agreement. However, it can be argued that the tension that persisted during The Troubles still exists today. The Troubles stemmed from the dissolution of a long period of peaceful tension between two political groups, the Nationalists and Unionists and by extension two major ethnic groups Irish-Catholic and British-Protestant. The Nationalists were predominantly Catholic and shared their religion with the Irish as such the Nationalists wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of Ireland and felt that Northern Ireland was an affront to their Irish heritage. However, they were a minority in Northern Ireland being about 33% of the population. Alternatively, the Unionists which were predominantly Protestant and were mostly immigrants or children of immigrants from England wanted Northern Ireland to properly establish itself as part of the United Kingdom and saw the Nationalists and Catholics as backwards people against the flow of progress. The Protestant portion of the population was a majority in Northern Ireland and through the Unionist party they established complete control, although not completely through their own efforts which were to simply overwhelm the Catholic minority. The Unionists also came to power because Nationalists became apathetic

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