History of Ireland

Ireland was a landmass buried under thick layer of ice for millions of years. It came into substantial existence after the end of the Ice Age. The first people came to Ireland some 9,000 years ago but literally nothing is known about them except the impressive monuments constructed by them.

The Celts invaded Ireland about 2,500 years ago and introduced several things that persist even to this day such as the language, games and music. The Christianity marked its influence on Ireland during the 5^th century AD. A preacher called Peter contributed in introducing Christianity in this island. Soon, it became the dominant religion of people of this land so much that Ireland came to be known as the land of saints and scholars.

The Vikings entered Ireland in the 8^th century AD to raid, murder and destroy the island. They founded the cities of Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick and they were the first to introduce the concept of money to the island. In 12^th century AD, English warriors, called the Normans, came to Ireland. There contributions were the majestic castles and a few roads.

During the 16^th century AD, Henry VIII, the King of England founded a new form of Christianity, Protestantism. He wanted his people to follow it but had little success. His daughter, Queen Elizabeth, was much more successful. Knowing well that the Spanish would set up a base in Ireland, she had sent an army to sort the populace out, while at the same time supplanting the locals with British settlers. The Irish chieftains fought but were vanquished by British forces in the Battle of Kinsale. By 1607, these chieftains had left the country and England had won control of the entire island.

England started to move more people into Ulster to consolidate its power, which caused resentment among the locals who organized a rebellion in 1641. This petrified the new settlers, who got their own back when the recently appointed Lord Protector of England, Oliver Cromwell, arrived in 1649 and succeeded in killing many Catholic natives. Protestant Dutchman called William of Orange came on throne of England and let the Protestants and Catholics fight. This led to the Battle of the Boyne, an important event in Irish history, where the forces of William defeated the forces of the Catholic King, James.

In 1801, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. The Restrictions on Catholics were eased a little and relations became normal. In 1845, a potato disease hit the country causing all the crops to fail for four year in succession. This became a major problem, as potato was the staple diet of the majority of the population. Since The English government were so slow to react to the crisis, Starvation and disease took a grip over the country and an estimated one million people died. This also led to the migration of people from Ireland to the US and Britain, which continued until the late 20^th century.

Irish political movements began following the famine in the 19th century. Despite Britain emerging as the world power during the late 19th century, the 'Irish Question' was always top on agenda. Britain considered giving Ireland autonomy many times but only partially.

In 1912, a bill to permit Home Rule in Ireland was passed in the British Parliament. However, before it could be enacted, Europe was engaged in the First World War deferring Irish autonomy. While the war was still on, a relatively small group of Irish republicans attempted to seize power in Dublin in the Easter of 1916. This rebellion was suppressed very quickly. Within a short period, the Irish population outside of Ulster demanded full independence from Britain kindling a guerrilla war. Finally, a republican government was elected in 1919.

With increasing violence, Britain decided to go ahead with Irish Home Rule. Ireland signed a treaty allowing for limited independence, but with some a few conditions. One of them was that the country would be split in two - the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. A vicious civil war followed in the Free State between those who agreed with the Treaty and those who disagreed resulting in almost 3,000 deaths on both sides.

Eventually, the Irish Free State became an independent republic in 1948. Since this time, the newly born Republic of Ireland (Éire) has moved slowly from an inward-looking, church-dominated, impoverished state to an outward-looking, open, relatively prosperous, democratic economy. Éire joined the EEC (now the EU) in 1973, and over the past few years, it has integrated further into the European Union.

After the split, Northern Ireland continued to maintain its position within the United Kingdom. A large Catholic community lived along with a larger Protestant community. Catholics had little representation and almost no political power in this state. In 1960s, Catholics organized themselves to agitate for civil rights. This lead to rioting and civil violence between Catholics and Protestants, whereby the government of Northern Ireland requested that soldiers be brought in from mainland Britain to keep the peace. However, the British military was drawn quickly into the conflict.

A period of 25 years of vicious warfare followed between the IRA (a Catholic, armed, separatist movement), and the British security forces, with Protestant paramilitaries adding fuel to the fire each time Protestant police, soldiers or civilians were killed. This cycle of killings, bombings and violence was eventually broken by the signing and ratification of an historic accord, The Good Friday Agreement, in 1998. Since then, normal life in Northern Ireland has gradually improved. Northern Ireland now has a devolved government where Nationalist and Unionist ministers share power.

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Source: www.bbc.co.uk<