Britain and Ireland

British colonization of Ireland began in the Middle Ages under Henry II, but the real conquest of Ireland dates from the beginning of the 17th century, when James I of England began the systematic expropriation of land from the Irish by sending anti-Catholic Protestants from Scotland to settle in Ulster, the north-eastern region of Ireland which had always put up the greatest resistance to English rule. Fifty years later, Oliver Cromwell put down Irish rebellions with extreme ferocity. In 1690 the Irish made another attempt to resist the conquest of their country by allying themselves with the attempt of James II of England to recover his crown after the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688 had replaced him with William III. Their defeat, at the Battle of the Boyne, gave an ascendancy to the pro-British Protestants which has lasted in Ulster until the present day.

The Irish continued to resist. By the end of the 19^th century, most people in Britain favoured Home Rule for Ireland, but the Protestant Unionists in the north were sufficiently strong to prevent it. In 1916, however, the Irish rebelled once again, when a group of Irish Republicans staged the famous Easter Rising in Dublin. The uprising was put down, and the leaders were executed, but the brutal methods used by the British troops strengthened Irish resistance and led to the formation of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which fought for five years against British occupation. This resulted, in 1921, in independence being conceded to the 26 counties of southern Ireland (which became the Republic of Eire in 1949).

Ulster, however, was allowed to remain within the United Kingdom. The ruling Unionist politicians in the Ulster Parliament used their power to discriminate against the Catholic minority (about 30% of the population) as regards jobs, housing, and the voting system, and the British government continued to ignore all complaints. The injustices gave rise to a civil rights movement among Catholics and Republicans in Northern Ireland in the 1950s, but the stronger it grew the more violent was the reaction of the Ulster unionists.

Eventually, in 1969, the British government sent in the British Army to “restore peace” and safeguard the Catholic minority against the attacks of the Unionists. Greeted at first as “saviours” by the Catholic population, the British troops soon however came to be regarded as enemies; relations reached their worst point in 1972 on Bloody Sunday when British troops fired on a civil rights demonstration in Derry, killing thirteen people.

In reaction to this and other atrocities, the IRA began a military and terrorist campaign against British rule which is still continuing. Since then successive British governments have tried to solve the “Irish Question” by a variety of political initiatives. This has been impossible to achieve, however, as the great mass of Catholics in Ulster see no solution except re-unification with the Irish Republic, and the vast majority of Protestants violently oppose re-unification on any terms.

Exercise 18. 1. List the historical events in relations between Britain and Ireland.

2. List the causes of the troubles in Northern Ireland.

3. Discuss the problem. What possible solution can you offer?