Day 59

Because I have a gorgeous Irish friend, I thought today I'd find out a little bit about the history of Ireland and why so many probs????

And I apologise in advance, I'm going to see some facts badly wrong in my translation.

From  what I can see, problems began as early as the mid 5th century when the arrival of English christian missionaries started to try and remove the celtic religion.  1169 marked the beginning of 700 years of Norman, and later English involvement with England asserting direct control over the island after the Reformation.  The 17thC was also marked by a policy of Plantation whereby masses of English and Scottish Protestants settled in Ireland.  This started the division of Ireland on the grounds of religion.  From this period on, sectarian conflict became a recurrent theme in Irish history.

In 1613, the Catholic majority in the Irish parliament was overthrown.  This was brought about by the creation of numerous new boroughs, all of which were Protestant-dominated. By the end of the seventeenth century all Catholics, representing some 85% of Ireland's population then, were banned from the Irish parliament. Political power rested entirely in the hands of an Anglo settler-colonial, and more specifically the Protestant state church (Church of Ireland), minority while the Catholic population suffered severe political and economic restrictions.

In 1801, the Irish Parliament was abolished and Ireland became a part of a new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Act of Union.

The Irish Parliamentary Party strove from the 1880s to attain Home Rule self-government. The Government of Ireland Act 1914, also known as the (Irish) Third Home Rule Bill, was an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.  Under it, Ireland would still remain part of the United Kingdom but would have limited self-government.

The issue of Home Rule satisfied some in Ireland, but not all. It was this latter group of people who simply rejected that London had any right to impose any rule on Ireland. Their target was simple: Irish independence and the removal of all aspects of British rule from the island. As the British would be unwilling to simply go along with this, such independence would have to be fought for – hence the armed uprising.

In 1922, after the Irish War of Independence and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the larger part of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom to become the independent Irish Free State — and after 1948 the republic, Ireland. The six north eastern counties, known as Northern Ireland, remained within the United Kingdom. The Irish Civil War followed. The history of Northern Ireland has since been dominated by conflict between (mainly Catholic) Nationalists and (mainly Protestant) Unionists. This conflict erupted into the Troubles in the late 1960s until an uneasy peace thirty years later.

Jaysus!  What a blimmin mouthful. I don't think I've done a good job of this Self Improvement fact.  OK, I've done an absolute shite job  (love my Irish'ness in my cursing?).  It's a sea of facts and history and it has gone on for almost forever.  In a nutshell...catholics v protestants, British v Irish, those wanting involvement with the UK v those who don't.

Once again I apologise profusely for my sloppy interpretation of this important period of world history!
FYI, this was one of the hardest Self Improvement facts.  Ever.  Back to tall bridges or weather extremes next time!