Ireland

[Emma-J]

Please can someone give me a brief account of what happened in Ireland?

Why are North and South divided?

Thanks in advance
EJ

[Whickerman]

Brief? It's been 500 years and we still can't figure it out...

[BigMac]

The short, relatively recent answer is that in the early 20th Century the British Parliament passed an Act of Home Rule for Ireland (the whole island). This was repeatededly passed but was put on hold at the start of the First World War. Sir Edward Carson's mobilisation of the Ulster unionist people (those who wanted to stay part of Britain/the UK) was effectively an armed uprising agaist the Crown. After the war, the island of Ireland was partitioned into a Unionist enclave - not the whole of the historic province of Ulster, just those six of the nine counties that guaranteed a Unionist majority - and the Free State, what is now the Republic of Ireland.

I have tried to be disinterested in this reply - you can get many different versions depending on who you talk to and what are their backgrounds. There is a wealth of material available on the web and most libraries will have books in the history section. Some school text-books have a relatively easy explanation.

And as for 500 years, that's taking an awfully short-sighted view....

[bernardo]

The northern part of Ireland was colonised by Protestants from Scotland for hundreds of years who lorded it over the indigenous Catholics. Their descendants wanted to remain part of the UK, even though the majority of Ireland wanted to become independent. Carson's movement was an uprisiong against the government but for the Crown - they were afraid of being pushed into an independent Ireland because they wanted to keep the King, and thought that an independent Ireland would be dominated by Catholic laws dictated by the Pope. If the whole of Ireland had become independent, then hundreds of thousands of Ulster Protestants would have launched an armed uprising and there would have been a massive civil war. Therefore the compromise option was decided after WW1, which resulted in the 26 counties becoming independent (subsequently the Republic of Ireland) and the 6 counties (Northern Ireland) staying in the UK.

Immediately after the partition, there was a brief civil war in the south between those who accepted partition and those who wanted the whole island to be a single independent state.

The continuing civil strife in Northern Ireland (1969 to 1990s) happened because there is a significant minority of people in Northern Ireland who would prefer to be in a united Ireland. The violence flared up in the late 1960s because the two sides became increasingly afraid that the other side would start genociding each other.

[Ethel]

Nice link, this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/troubles/

[felinechums]

The Protestant settlers who colonised the northern counties of Ireland were not exclusively Scottish (sorry bernardo). Some were English and a small number were Dutch people who had come over to England with King William of Orange (who was Dutch). The Scottish settlers tended to be Presbyterian and colonised mainly the extreme north around the North Antrim area. The English settlers headed more for the area around Strangford Lough, where Belfast was developed. Of course, this description of the areas of settlement is broadly general. The Protestants of north Antrim are not exclusively descended from Scottish settlers, nor are the Protestants of Strangford exclusively descended from English settlers, but this is generally the case. The English settlers were Church of England, hence the development of one of the main Protestant churches in Ireland, the Church of Ireland. The Scottish settlers were mostly Presbyterian (Church of Scotland), which is still very strong in the northern and coastal areas of Antrim, especially around Ballymena, as is the Ulster-Scots dialect (some people call it a language) which is still spoken in many rural areas throughout Northern Ireland.

Why not come and visit us, and see the rich historical heritage for yourself? You would be made very welcome.

Felinechums

[felinechums]

I forgot to add that this website will tell you everything there is to know about Northern Ireland:

http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/