Figure 1.--

Ireland is one of the smallest countries in Europe. Despite its size, Ireland has played an important role in world history. The Irish was one of the few Celtic peoples not overwealmed by Rome. It was after the fall of Rome Christinized. And thus it was also one of the few corners of Western Europe not overwelmed by the barbaric German invasions of Western Europe after the fall of Rome. Thus Christian Ireland was one of the rare centers of learning during the Dark Ages and helped to preserve the precious classical and early Christian heritage. Much of Ireland's history during the 2nd Millenium was associated with England, becaues of the English conquest that began with the Normans. The history of the English Supremecy is a long and brutal one which left the disenfranchised Irish people, who clung to their Catholocusm, largely landless peasanys eeking out a precarious existence. The modern population has never recovered from the Potato Famine and the disasterous English respmse to it. This caused not only a collapse of the population, but an Irish diaspora throughout the world. Thus one of Europe's smallest countries became one of the main ethnic groups in America. The Potato Famine changed the dynamic of this relationship with England and convinced many Irish people that the English had no right to rule. Despite Ireland's eventual separation from Britain, the English as in other areas they ruled left aprescious heritage of law, democracy, and free markets.

Neolithic Period

Celtic Ireland

The history of pagan Celtic Ireland is limited because the Celts were a pre-literate people.

The Romans

England's written history began with the Roman invasion of Celtic Britain. The Roman conquest of Brition ws characterically brutal. Julius Ceasar landed in Britain, but did not persue an actual conuest (1st century BC). Roman armies during the reign of Emperor Claudius did conquer Celtic Britain with the exception of the north (modern Scotland). Britain became a prosperous corner of the Roman Empire and as Christianity spread within the Empire, so did it reach Britain. The Romans after conquering Briton, never attempted to conquer Ireland. As a result, Celtic Ireland was not Chritianized during the Roman era. There were contacts. There was trade between Roman Briton and Celtic Ireland and the Irish conucted raids into prosperous Roman Britain. More importantly, the Christianity that the Romans brought to England did conquer Ireland, several centuries before English armies appeared in Ireland..

Christian Ireland (5th-9th centuries)

Ireland was Christianized by St. Parrick and other Christian missionaries. Scholars disagree about St. Patrick, but Christian missionaries did convert the country (5th century). Ireland became one of the few corners of Europe not overwealmed by the Germanic tribes with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Gradually Ireland became an important Christian center. Located on the perifery of Europe, it never felt theforce of the barbarian invasions that swept over the rest of Western Europe. Thus while Christianity was asaulted by the Germanic barbarians, the Celtic kings and nobles in Ireland promoted a vibrant Christian culture. Irish monks, pilgrims, explorers. illuninists, and scholars became renowned throughout Western Christendom. Irish monks helped preserve great literary treasures. Thus during the height of the Dark Ages, Irish monastaries were centers of learning and respositories of knowledge. And Irish missionaries played an important role in converting the pagan Anglo-Saxon tribes that invaded England.

Vikings (800-1169)

The Irish like the English were devestated by the Viking raiders (9th century). Viking raids begn in the 9th century at the same time the raids began in Britain. The Vikings devestated Christian Ireland. The first scattered raids were followed by sustained raids that struck throughout the island. Great monastaries with their accumulated wealth and lack of defenses were priority targets for the Vikings. Great monastaries like Bangor were abandoned. The Normans also mase their contribution to Ireland. The first real towns in Ireland were founded by the Vikings (Dublin, Waterford and Limerick). Efforts occurred to unite Ireland politically, but did not succeed.

England and Ireland (12th-20th centuries)

The 20th century Troubles in Ulster were rooted in the centuries old effort of England to control Ireland. The conflict assumed religious overtones after the Protestan Revolution in England with the Irish peasantry stradfastly clining to the Catholic Church. Supression of the Irish and Catholic Church varied in entensity over time. Cromwell ruthlessly supressed Irish attempts at independence. James II did not have the caution of his father. He attempt to restablish the Catholic Church in England. Without a Catholic heir, however, most English were willing to await the natural course of events. The birth of a Catholic heir radically upset the situation. English piers invite William of Orange, a Protestant prince from the Netherlands married to James' protestant daughter Mary. The result was the Glorious Revolution. William quickly deposes James who is forced to flee. James makes his last stand in Ireland with Catholic loyalists. This was the last real Irish resistance to English rule occurred with the defeat of James II at the Battle of the Boyne (1692). The Protestants who fought under William against James became known as Orangemen. The Boyne was the last major Irish effort at independence until the Easter Rebellion (1916). The English through a series of anti-Catholic law disenfrangized the Irish and sized the land, making the Irish poverty-striken land-less tenants in their own country. Most Irish subsisted on small plots where they grew potatos. The English were firmly in control of England in the 19th century. The horrendous English response to the Potato Famine (1845-50), however, probably meant that Ireland could not continue to be part of Britain. Largely constitutional efforts aimed at gaining Home Rule were persued in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Independence Struggle (1919-22)

Although the Easter Rebellion (1916) was quikly put down by the British, the Rising had a profound impact on Irish public opinion. Undoubtedly the losses on the Western Front were another factor. The execution of the rebellion leaders significantly affected Irish opinion. A vicious civil war occurred in Ireland after World War. By the end of the War, an increasing number of Irish people wanted to break their ties with Britain. Irish resistance was centered in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which assasinated British officials, British landlords, and their Irish supporters. One IRA leader not executed after the Easter Rebellion was Daniel O'Conner. He was arrested, but the British did not realize who he was. After he was released, he played a central role in organizing the IRA terror campaign against the English and their Irish supporters. The English response was the Black and Tans. The IRA was made into an effective group in large measure through the leadership of Michael Collins. Eventually the British offered the Irish all but the six counties of northern Ireland--Ulster.

Irish Free State

The Government of Ireland Act sets up two parliaments, one in Dublin and one in Belfast. This created the Irish Free State, ruled by the Dublin parliament, but nominally still under the British crown. It also left Northern Ireland part of the UK. Violence escalates as Catholics oppose partition.

Civil War (1922-26)

Collins eventually accepted the British offer knowing it was the best he could get at the time. The result in the creation of the Irish Free State which eventually became the Irish Republic. There is considerable Catholic opposition to partition in both the Irish Free State and Ulster. An IRA faction opposing an end to the armed struggle without gaining Ulster assasinated Collins. O'Conner was assainated by IRA desidents because he compromised on the Ulster Question. The provisional Irish Government eventually supresses the IRA violence. More than 1,000 IRA supporters were arrested asnd inprisoned without trial.

Ulster

The majority Protestant province of Ulster or Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingsom. The British insisted on boundary lines that insured a strong Protestant masjority. The Ulster Government was partially self-governing and from the beginning treated Cathlolics as second-class citizens. The Protestants became known as Unionists, meaning they wanted to retain ties with Britain. The Catholics became known as Nationlists meaning they wanted union with the rest of Ireland. Ulster was an unstble creation. About 70 percent of Ulster were Protestants, but the 30 percent Catholic minority had no real loyalty to the state and wanted to join the Irish Free State.

World War II

Ireland was neutral during World war II. It was still technically a member of the British Empire. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) fought a vicious guerilla war against the British (early 1920s). The campaign was led by Michael Collins who was later assinated when he negotiated a settlement with Britain. Eamon de Valera who opposed the settklement became president of the Irish Free State. At the time that war broke out, the Irish Free State was moving toward independemce. There was considerable bitterness about continued British control of Ulster--the primary reason for Collin's assasination. The IRA conducted a bombing campaign in London (Summer 1939). The Irish government denied responsibility for IRA actions. With the outbreak of war (September 1939), there was no desire to join with Britain to fight the NAZIs. There was great anti-British sentiment combined with the memories of losses during the last war. There was even some sentiment for the Germans, primarily a artifact of the anti-British feeling. The Irish government ignored reports of German attrocities. The Chamberlain Government considered offering Ireland Ulster and unification if Ireland joined the Allies. Ulster protestants were outraged. President Eamon de Valera at any rate rejected the offer. At the very end of the War de Valera sent condolences to the Germany government upon Hitler's death.

The Troubles in Ulster

Since World War II most violent conflicts have occurred in the Third World. An exception to this was the conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The conflict has been described as the last religious war in Europe. It also has the halmarks of the tribal conflicts of Africa. The conflict is rooted in the centuries old effort of England to control Ireland. A vicious independence struggle and civil war occurred in Ireland after World War, resulting in the creation of the Irish Free State which eventually became the Irish Republic. The majority Protestant province of Ulster or Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingsom. The Ulster Government treated Cathlolics as second-class citizens. A civil rights movement began in the 1960s, but unlike the American Civil Rights movement, the conflict in Ireland led by the Orish Republican Army turned violent, resulting in three decades of killings and reprisals. The British attempted to prevent the violence, but soon became seen as favoring the Protestants by most Catholics. The Irish seemed to have turned the corner on this and a peace process seems to have ended the violence, although there is still considerable ill will between the two communities.

Created: 5:33 PM 11/21/2007
Last updated: 5:33 PM 11/21/2007