Question1: The historical background to the Conflict in Northern Ireland

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Karan Kooner 10.8

Question1: The historical background to the Conflict in Northern Ireland

Explain why differing views between Unionists and Nationalists resulted in the Partition of Ireland in 1921.

 This essay will be about the different views of the Unionists and Nationalists. It will also be about how these views resulted in the partition of Ireland in 1921. The Unionists are mostly protestant. They are in favour of being united to Great Britain. The nationalist are in favour of a Republic Ireland and do not want to be united with Great Britain. They are generally Catholic.

 The British needed to gain control of Ireland because they were developing their own form of Roman Catholicism. The British also feared that Ireland could be used as a base for invasion by England’s Catholic enemies. The Pope gave permission to Henry II to invade in 1169. The invasion was not successful and the English could only secure control of an area around Dublin known as The Pale. The British managed to conquer most of Ireland through invasion, plantations and penal laws. The invasions from the British had a great effect on the Catholics. There were rebellions and murders against the Protestants. The plantations took land from Catholic Irish rebels and were given to loyal Protestant supporters. By 1750 95% of the land was owned by the Protestants even though 75% of the Irish population was Catholic. This increased the resentment towards the Protestants. The Penal Laws were extremely severe laws passed against the Catholics. The laws stopped Catholics from having any kind of authority. With the Penal laws the Protestants made the Catholics a lower and unimportant class with hardly any rights. The new laws meant that Catholics were not allowed to vote, become a member of parliament, Take professionals jobs and pass on his land to just one of his sons, but if one of his sons become a Protestant that all of the land will go to his Protestant son.

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 The Potato famine, 1845 – 1851, caused about one million Irish farmers and their families deaths. It is said that if the Protestant landlords did not take their rent during the famine there would have been enough crop to feed Ireland. This increased the hatred towards the English and there was a rise in Nationalism movement in the 1880s. The rise in Nationalism strengthened Unionism. Nationalists and Unionists did not agree on the idea of Home Rule. The Nationalists were in favour of Home Rule, as it meant that Ireland would rule itself from its own Parliament in Dublin. The ...

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