Trouble in Northern Ireland.

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Philip Singer, 10W1

History GCSE Assignment – Ireland

Since the beginnings of time, there have been many arguments, battles and controversies in Ireland, but few people realise just how the current disagreements came about. Just like the conflict in Jerusalem, it appears that very few people know about the origins of these conflicts, and I hope to shed some light on the Irish troubles by going over some key events in its history.

Every year there seems to be trouble in Northern Ireland when thousands of Protestants take part in marches celebrating their success in July 1690 at the Battle of Boyne. The Protestants usually march (or try to) through mostly Catholic areas, which they say is rubbing salt into the wounds, and usually there is some form of stand-off or violence on these marches.

Whilst before this conflict there was tension between the catholic and protestant communities, the Battle of Boyne has gone on to escalate this several times over. If anything, it was the catalyst for the start of the Irish problems. Whereas before the Battle, it seemed that tensions went no further than playground jibes and disagreements. After the battle, it evolved into full-blown war.

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As a direct consequence of the Battle of Boyne, Partition was bought in, splitting Ireland into two chunks for the first time. This brought about irrevocable problems, and led to the first traces of major violence other than the Battle.

Now I’m going to shift a couple of hundred years down the line to the 1960’s when the Civil rights movement came over from America, with the realisation that Protestants got better treatment with governmental services over Catholics. Martin Luther King was making a difference in America, and so the Irish tried to make their lives fairer and ...

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