The Continuing Problems in Northern Ireland

The Continuing Problems in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland. A country within a country, torn apart by warfare,

allegiance and religion. A country whose problems reach deep into the

roots of history. Northern Ireland’s problems began as far back as the

early 16th century, when English settlers wished to control Ireland.

The English settlers were Protestant, but the people of Ireland were

devout Catholics. Throughout the 16th and 17th century, there were

power struggles between the clan chiefs, effectively dividing the

whole country. However, in July 1690, William of Orange, the catholic

leader of England, clenched a famous victory over James II, the former

protestant king of England in the Battle of the Boyne. Ireland became

a wholly Protestant ruled country. While this incident did not cause

the modern day problems in Ireland, it certainly laid the foundations

for it.

Move forward just over three hundred years, to April 24th 1916, where

the citizens of Dublin should have been celebrating a peaceful Easter

Monday. However, this Easter Monday would be completely different from

anything they had ever experienced before. The Irish nationalists,

enraged that the Irish problem was being ignored in favour of World

War II, decided to strike back at the British government and bring the

Irish problem into the public spotlight. James Connolly’s Citizen Army

and about 1200 IRB volunteers marched into the center of Dublin and

took over various strategic positions, such as many train stations,

the College of Surgeons, and the GPO. However, just one week later,

the rebellion failed at the hands of British troops, who re-took

Dublin from the...

... middle of paper ...

...e Unionist government was unfair, so the British government

brought ideas of a better, unbiased future.

In my opinion, the most important event of the recent conflicts in

Northern Ireland was the Easter Rising, because the long and short

term, effects laid the foundations for all the other events above.

Some other events not mentioned above, such as Partition, also played

a large role in the conflict in Northern Ireland. However, it seems

that the conflict in Northern Ireland will never be resolved until

everyone gets what they want, which appears to be almost impossible.

Who knows what the future holds for Northern Ireland? One thing is

certain though. As long as these events stay in people’s minds, the

history, and indeed the future, of the Northern Ireland will be

remembered as one of violence, betrayal and death.