Irelands Troubles

Before 1600
First invasion by Normans in C12th English Pale of Settlement around Dublin Reformation: Ireland remains Catholic Elizabeth I: prolonged war

C17th Conflict
1607: Plantation of Ireland 1641: Irish Rebellion 1649: Cromwellian reconquest & settlement. 1685: Catholic James II restores lands to Irish 1690: Battle of the Boyne Williamite conquest and settlement

C18th: Protestant Ascendancy

Ireland dominated by Anglo-Irish Protestant landowners Penal Laws vs Catholics until late C18th Catholics excluded from politics and public life Irish parliament reestablished in 1770s

Late C18th : Rebellion & Union

Influence of French Revolution plus existing grievances led to attempted rising in 1798. This was to be supported by French troops: they arrived too late! The British responded with savage repression. Pitt attempted to solve the problem by allowing Catholics political rights, but linking this with Act of Union with Great Britain Only the Act of Union was passed, in 1800.

Emancipation and Famine

1800-29 saw a struggle to gain Catholics full political rights. This was followed by an unsuccessful campaign against the Act of Union 1846-8:the failure of the potato crop due to disease led to famine: of 8 million people, about 1 million died, and 1 million emigrated... A small-scale rebellion followed in 1848

The Irish Republican Brotherhood

The IRB was founded in America, and dedicated to the overthrow of British rule. It was republican and democratic in its aims. From the 1860s the Fenians carried out a series of outrages both in Ireland and England...

Home Rule
The Home Rule League was created in the 1860s to campaign for the repeal of the Union. From the 1870s it became the dominant political organisation in Ireland From 1885 William Gladstone, the Liberal leader, brought forward Home Rule Bills in Parliament. He was defeated in 1886 & 1893. The Tories remained utterly opposed to Home Rule, as did the mainly Protestant population of Ulster.

Sinn Fein
The defeat of Home Rule was a setback for Irish politics Some took to nonpolitical action to encourage Irish identity: poetry readings, music, gaelic football etc. They later formed Sinn Fein, Ourselves Alone, and became involved in republican political activity

Home Rule Crisis

In 1910 a new Liberal government re-introduced Home Rule, and the Bill passed in 1914. The Ulster Protestants, encouraged by the Tories, refused to accept Home Rule. They organised the Ulster Volunteers to resist by force if needs be. In response Irish Nationalists organised the Irish Volunteers. Civil War seemed likely. The crisis was cut short by the outbreak of The Great War

Easter Rising
The majority of all Irish supported the war against Germany. Large numbers volunteered. Members of the IRB saw Englands peril is Irelands opportunity; they planned a rising which took place on Easter Monday, 1916. A force of about 400 men seized the Dublin Post Office, but the rising provoked little support. The British took a week to put down the rebellion, using artillery and 16,000 troops

After Easter
The Easter Rising won little sympathy at first. In the following weeks the British executed all the main leaders this brutality turned the rebels into martyrs. By the end of the War, the Home Rule League was losing influence and the Republicans dominated Irish politics. In 1918 the Republicans won 75 of 105 Irish seats. They refused to sit at Westminster and instead created the Dil irran in Dublin as the legitimate government of Ireland.

Irish War of Independence

The Irish Republican government declared war on Britain, and the IRA began a guerrilla war against the British authorities. The RIC was a major target; to supplement them the British raised the Auxiliaries - the Black and Tans ex-soldiers who were held responsible for numerous atrocities, notably the burning of Cork. All aspects of the British presence became targets, including all those with links to the old Protestant ascendancy, even if sympathetic to Ireland. The war was ended by the Treaty of 1922, which created the Irish Free State, but left Ulster outside it...