this is the island of ireland the island
is politically split between the
republic of ireland an independent
country and northern ireland which
together with scotland england and wales
foreign the united kingdom
but why exactly is england split and
when did it happen
to fully understand the situation we
need to go all the way back to the 12th
century
after the normans had successfully
invaded england and taken the throne
they decided to invade ireland
henry ii with the authorization of pope
adrian iv to strengthen the papua's
control over the irish church
landed in ireland in 1171 and took
control of large parts of the island
and in the following year the lordship
of ireland was created in which the lord
of ireland was also the king of england
the lordship of ireland was a papal
possession held by the king of england
this was the beginning of what would
become centuries of english and later
british rule over the island of ireland
officially the lordship of ireland ruled
over the entire island but in reality
control was much less than this
and over the years english control of
ireland receded over time
this was a time before there was a
religious difference between ireland and
england
the english and the native irish were
both catholic nations as this was a time
before the emergence of protestantism
so many of the norms in ireland
assimilated into irish culture and some
were said to have become
more irish than the irish themselves
laws were introduced which banned
intermarriage between english settlers
and the gaelic irish as well as a ban
on the use of the irish language but
these laws were largely ineffective
by the late 15th century english rule
was limited to an area known as the pale
the early 16th century and what became
known as the protestant reformation in
which many european powers turned their
back on the roman catholic church
forming a new branch of the christian
faith
although the reformation was about
religion it also had a lot to do with
politics as well
with henry viii as the king of england
the pope refused to annul his marriage
to catherine of aragon
this as well as other contributing
factors caused henry viii to break away
from the roman catholic church and
establish the church of england with
himself as the leader
with this the political situation in
ireland became uncertain as ireland was
a papal possession with the king of
england as lord of ireland
in 1542 after an act of irish parliament
henry viii was proclaimed king of
ireland
as the lordship of ireland became the
kingdom of ireland
however henry viii was not recognized by
the catholic powers throughout europe
after henry viii's death in 1547 his
protestant raised nine-year-old son
edward vi
ascended to the throne but he died of
illness just a few years later at the
age of 15.
mary the first henry viii's daughter was
next tonight to the throne and since
mary was nearly 20 years older than her
half-brother edward she was raised
before the protestant reformation and
was therefore catholic
because of this mary the first was
recognized as the queen of ireland
ireland had remained loyal to the pope
and the island was almost entirely
catholic
in 1603 after the death of queen
elizabeth the first and last of the
churro dynasty
james vi of scotland also became king of
england because of his
somewhat unique family ancestry in which
he was the son of mary the first queen
of scots
and also the great great grandson of
henry vii
he was therefore known as james the
first king of england and also king of
ireland
as well this was known as the union of
the crowns in which scotland england and
ireland all shared a common monarch
in 1609 under james the first reign the
plantation of ulster was a process by
which scottish and english settlers
confiscated land from the gaelic irish
this was seen as a way to stop rebellion
in the north as ulster had been a region
of ireland most resistant to english
rule
although there had been plenty of
plantations in ireland throughout the
years the plantation of ulster was by
far the most successful and within just
a few decades the protestant colonies
population was thriving and even made up
a majority in some areas in the north
in 1641 irish catholics and alster
staged a rebellion against the settlers
or slightly irish confederate wars
between the irish catholic and
federation and the scottish and english
settlers
most of the island of ireland was under
de facto irish catholic rule for several
years
this was until 1649 when oliver cromwell
and his new model army conquered ireland
after overthrowing the english monarchy
executing charleston first and declaring
himself lord protector of scotland
england and ireland cromwell ruled over
the three kingdoms until his death in
1658
during this time there was more
confiscation of land from the native
catholics and anyone even suspected of
being involved in the 1641 rebellion was
executed
his son richard very briefly ruled
afterwards but the monarchy was restored
in 1660 when charles ii became king
son of the executed charles the first
charles ii was protestant but his
brother james ii
had converted to catholicism during his
time in france so when charles ii died
in 1685
scotland england and ireland once again
had a catholic monarch
at this point the majority of people in
scotland and england were protestant and
many were uneasy with james ii as their
monarch
however next in line to the thrones his
daughter mary who was protestant
this all changed in 1688 with the birth
of his son though would be james iii who
would undoubtedly be raised catholic
the only reason his daughter mary was
protestant was because his late brother
and former king demanded she be raised
as such
so with this change it looked like
scotland and england would have a
catholic monarchy for the foreseeable
future
the birth of the king's son sparked what
became known as the glorious revolution
in which the two major political parties
invited william of orange to invade
england and take the throne
william of orange successfully defeated
his father-in-law
who also happened to be his uncle since
william and mary were first cousins
and they took the throne together as
william iii and mary the second
king and queen of england of course this
also made them king and queen of ireland
and with a catholic majority this was
obviously not received well
this started a war in ireland between
the native irish led by james ii
who were mainly catholic against the
kingdoms of scotland and england
the william it war in ireland resulted
in victory for king william
for the next century catholic majority
ireland was ruled by a protestant
minority
known as the protestant ascendancy in
1707 the kingdom of scotland and the
kingdom of england joined to create the
kingdom of great britain
and then in 1798 there was an uprising
against british rule in ireland
in the irish rebellion of 1798 inspired
by the french revolution a decade
earlier
the rebellion failed but it caused a lot
of uncertainty on the political
situation of ireland
there were concerns that ireland might
ally themselves with france and break
away from british rule
so in 1801 ireland joined the union and
became the united kingdom of great
britain and ireland
opposition to the union was strong and
occasionally escalated into violence
the late 1800s saw a rise in demand for
self-government
and in 1886 the first home rule bill was
proposed
in response to this the liberal unionist
party was created in support of the
union and opposed irish home rule
the bill failed as did the second bill
proposed in 1892 but in 1914 the third
home rule bill was passed
but 1914 was also the year in which
world war 1 started and therefore the
bill had to be put
on hold with the british army still
occupied with the war in europe
irish republicans staged a rebellion in
dublin called the easter rising with a
goal of putting an end to british rule
in ireland and establish an irish
republic
the rising took place over the course of
just a few days but nearly 500 people
died
most of whom were civilians but with far
superior numbers the british army
managed to suppress the rebellion
the result was an unconditional
surrender by the rebel forces and most
of the rebel leaders were executed
in the 1918 uk general election an irish
political party called shin
fein who supported irish independence
and many of their members had
participated in the easter rising when
73 of the 105 irish states had the
british parliament
but they chose to not take their seats
at the british parliament and instead
decided to form their own irish
parliament
and proclaim an irish republic as a
newly independent country
the irish republic claimed the whole
island of ireland but there was a lot of
support for the union in the north
especially in ulster in which four of
the nine counties won a unionist
majority
this led to the irish war for
independence primarily between the ira
and the british army
in 1920 with the warsaw ongoing a fourth
home rule bell was passed
superseding the third home rule bill
that was passed but never implemented
this partitioned ireland into northern
ireland and southern ireland
northern ireland consisted of six of the
nine counties of ulster
this was despite two of them having a
catholic majority the rest of the island
became southern ireland
the split was intended to be a temporary
solution to the war
so ireland would remain part of the
united kingdom with home rule but
instead of having one irish parliament
in dublin there would be two
one in dublin for southern ireland and
one in belfast for northern ireland
this was an attempt to meet demands of
both irish nationalists and
irish unionists and while the northern
irish government was successfully
established the southern irish
government was not
the war continued and the southern irish
government never functioned
the irish war for independence lasted
for two and a half years resulting in a
ceasefire and the anglo-irish treaty
the treaty established the irish free
state which would become a dominion of
the british commonwealth
along with the likes of canada australia
and south africa among others at the
time
the treaty included the whole island of
ireland but had an opt-out clause for
northern ireland which they immediately
exercised so the short-lived southern
ireland became the irish free state
some were happy with the situation but
others were not many were unhappy that
ireland was still part of the british
empire and wanted total independence
so the irish nationalists were split
between the pro-treaking nationalists
and the anti-treaty nationalists the
political party's shin fame split into
two separate parties
pro-treated shin fein that was happy
with the status quo and the anti-treaty
shin fein that sought
full independence in the 1922 irish
general election the two political
parties that won the most seats were
sinn fein and shin fein
with the pro-treaty party winning more
seats the disagreement escalated into
civil war just one year after the end of
the war for independence
many men who had fought together in
ireland's war for independence were now
on opposing sides of a civil war
the pro-treaty forces emerged victorious
affirming the status of the irish free
state of british dominion
after the war the anti-treaty shin fame
refused to take their seats to the irish
parliament and protested the treaty
because of this their leader eamon de
valera resigned from the party and
founded a new political party
fina fall and they became the dominant
political party in ireland from 1932
onwards
he strongly opposed the treaty as well
but thought his former party's tactics
were not helpful
in 1937 a referendum was held for a new
constitution to remove all british ties
from ireland
56 percent of people voted in favor and
ireland's dotted new constitution
becoming a fully independent country
the country changed its name to ireland
just ireland
the country is often referred to as the
republic of ireland to differentiate
itself from the island of ireland but
its official name as simply ireland
this was to reflect the fact that
ireland's claimed territory was the
entire island believing the partition of
ireland to be illegitimate
despite is claimed though northern
ireland continued as normal as part of
the united kingdom
ireland exercised their independence by
choosing to remain neutral in world war
ii which started just two years later
and while that should be the end of the
story there were three decades of
ongoing violence from the late 1960s to
1990s in a period known as
the troubles the violence was mainly
concentrated in northern ireland but
occasionally spilled over into ireland
england and even mainland europe
although the majority of northern
ireland's population was protestant and
unionist there was a substantial
minority
or catholic and nationalists and wanted
northern ireland to join the republic
after three decades of conflict between
various organizations and thousands of
casualties a ceasefire was called to put
a stop to the violence in 1998 with the
good friday agreement
the agreement caused the republic of
ireland to amend their constitution
removing the territorial claim over
northern ireland and the british and
irish governments agreed that if a
majority of people in northern ireland
wish to leave the united kingdom and
join the republic the governments will
make it happen
the lasting impact of the troubles can
still be seen today especially in
belfast in which there are walls that
separate protestant and catholic
communities and there is still
occasional violence
however the situation is improving and
the government has made a goal to remove
all these so-called peace walls by the
year 2023