The native Irish and the settlers were separated by language, religion and political views. There were also big economic differences between them. The settlers (Unionists/Protestants) held more of the land and power than the Nationalists. They could pay smaller amounts to rent the land than the Nationalists and could also get the good pieces of land, leaving the native Irish small pieces of marshland.
This helps shape views of the Protestants and Catholics today. The Catholics/Nationalists still use the plantations to argue that the land belongs to them, and that it was stolen away from them. They also use it to show that they can’t let the British rule them because they have treated them badly in the past and don’t have the Irish issues at head. This is one of the reasons that they live isolated from the Protestants.
The Protestants are still worried that the native Irish will try and claim back the land that is rightfully there’s. This is a reason why they need the British, to protect them in Ireland, as they are the minority.
Before the Plantations, there were two views in Ireland but this helped shape the views of both sides because it created a separation between them instead of it being about a difference of opinion.
Another key event in history that helped shape the views of the Nationalists and Unionists were the Protestant massacres of 1641 and the Catholic massacres of 1649. The massacre in 1641 was the rebellion of the Catholics in Ulster against the Protestant settlers. They felt that the Protestants were treating them unfairly by stealing their land and resented having to pay high rent for the land so tried to fight to win it back.
The Irish knew that the English had trouble of their own back in England and so would be too busy to deal with the rebellion. The rebellion soon spread to the whole of Ireland and by 1642 they controlled most of Ireland. When the civil war broke out in England the native Irish sided with the King against Parliament. This proved a fatal mistake because the King lost the civil war and the native Irish were quarreling between themselves.
After winning the civil war in England the leader of the Parliamentarian’s Oliver Cromwell was free to deal with the Irish rebels. The Irish had massacred between 2000-3000 Protestant settlers and the settlers were after revenge. In 1649 backed by Cromwell they got their chance.
Cromwell landed with a huge army in Ireland and was determined to punish the rebels. He brutally killed thousands of them like they had killed the settlers and was responsible for the massacres of huge amount of soldiers and civilians. The rebels had no chance of defending themselves against the size of the English army. When the rebels had been crushed Cromwell took the land away from the native Irish gave it back to the settlers.
This helped shape the views of the Protestants and Catholics today. The Protestants are still scared of a repeat of the rebellion by the Catholics today. Many of the Protestants feel that it was a planned attack, and that the Catholics were just trying to brutally kill as many of the Protestant settlers as possible, even though the Catholics argue that it wasn’t. They say that if the Catholics are allowed to rule then protestants will be persecuted.
The Catholics use the massacres to prove how bloodthirsty the Protestants and the British are. They use this as one of the reasons why Ireland shouldn’t have a union with Britain. Cromwell is still hated by Catholics today. They use the massacres to motivate young people to join republican movements even if they support violence. The Catholics ignore the massacre that they caused to the Protestants in 1641 and the Protestants ignore the massacre of the Catholics that they caused with Cromwell. Both sides use propaganda such as leaflets and songs to tell people of their viewpoint and use only the parts of history that support their point of view.
The massacres helped shape the views of both the Catholics and Protestants because it created resentment, hatred and mistrust between the two sides that is still unrepaired today.
