Could anybody give me a summary about the origins of the Northern Ireland troubles. When did it all start?

Question

And why is there such animosity between the two communities even to this day. call me weird but all the people in Northern Ireland look like European caucasians to me so it can't be a racial thing.

Will Protestants and Catholics ever be able to get on really well with each other or is that just a stupid suggestion?

One of the most upsetting episodes I can remember in Northern Ireland was a few years ago when Infant schoolchildren couldn't even walk to school without causing a riot with the opposing republicans even throwing stones on the street. When I saw that on the news I thought, that is just inexcusable. Whatever has happened in N. Ireland. that is bad.

Answer 1

First things first - this is a very, very contentious issue.

Second, it depends which bout of the 'troubles'.

Basically, back in 1900 the UK was the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland'. Ireland was 80% Catholic and 20% Protestant. The Irish Catholic MP's elected formed a block of about 80 odd MP's. Due to the 1909 budget and associated sillyness, the Liberals went from 400 odd seats to a hung parliament with 272 (see the link below).

The agreement reached to pass the Parliament Act was that in exchange for a Home Rule Bill (which the House of Lords could no longer stop and the Parliamentary arithmetic was there to ensure it passed), the Irish Nationalists would support the Liberal Government.

Now, the long and the short of it was that there was a lot of dithering about how much of Ireland to give Home Rule to. There was option:
a) all of Ireland
b) Ireland bar the 9 counties of Ulster (which included 3 catholic dominated counties), or
c) Ireland bar the 6 protestant counties of Ulster.

In the end, World War One came along and made sure that decision didn't need to be made. But the end of the War 73 Sinn Fein MP's were elected, didn't attend Westminster and set up the parliament in Dublin.

To cut a long story short, Lloyd George proposed the Free State treaty, which then triggered the Irish Civil War.

That is the short story of how we've ended up in the bloody awkward situation of having a lot of Protestants who want to remain part the Union in with some Catholics who desparately don't all blowing each other up.

The links below are the essential reading you should do - if you've time Wilson's 'Downfall of the Liberal Party' or Searle's book on the same topic are good. Failing that the Oxford History of the British Empire has some stuff in it which will enlighten you further.

Answer 2

Very very briefly...The problems of northern Ireland started with King Henry VIII. and have been going on since in Various forms.
Ireland was Catholic. During the wars with Spain, England (Which was not catholic) was afraid that the spanish might invade via Ireland.
In later years policies were developed whereby any Englishman going to Ireland and marrying an Irish female was given benefits by the English government. The main idea behind this was to eventually reduce the majority of the Catholics. Then the IRA came into being.The IRA have been fighting the British Government for over a century.It is only in the last few years that the Political branch of the IRA called Sein fein has called a cease fire and are now involved in the northern Ireland government.

Answer 3

Depending on what side of the divide you are talking to, you could get a few different answers: from the Catholic side, the hard liners could say that it all began back in the 16th Century with the Elizabethan plantations of Ulster while the Protestant side could argue that it all began with the Rebellions of the 19th and early 20th Century.

Ulster has the distinction of being the only successful plantation by the British in Ireland - all the other saw the planters becoming intergrated with the native Gaelic and the already assimilated Gaelic Normans who had come over 500 years before.

Just from this brief outline of the history of that province, you can gather that there is a lot of suspision and mistrust between those of different heritage backgrounds (most of the planted Ulstermen were Scot Presbyterian and Protestants while the natives were prodominantly Catholic.)

Protestants and Catholics are able to get along, but the problem is there is an active hardline political divide - Loyalists, Unionists, Republicans and Nationalists. Loyalists and Republicans are seen as the extremists while the Unionists and Nationalist are seen as the groups more open to discussion and compromise.

Does this help u in any way ?

Answer 4

It's a long, long story. In a nutshell, the Protestants were immigrants from Scotland and England, and their first loyalty was to the crown. The Catholics were native Irish, who had been under the thumb of various and sundry invaders since the first years of the modern era. The Irish had once had had a vibrant and dynamic society, with schools of higher education, monasterys, a written language, and among the Catholic countries of that era, were one of the more advanced.

They have been resisting invaders for hundreds and hundreds of years, and have survived famine, suppression of their language and culture, and repression as a people. Ireland won it's indepenence in 1917, but the northern counties were retained by the UK. The Orangemen (loyalists, protestants) support the crown, the Irish (IRA, Sinn Fein, Provos, Catholics)remain true to their Irish roots.

Answer 5

I would say religion is an excuse, it's territorial really. The republicans / nationalists (normally catholic) want a united Ireland, and the unionists / loyalists (normally protestant) want to stay part of the UK. Because Southern Ireland is largely catholic and the UK protestant, that is why religion has been dragged into it. As for the origins of the conflict, it depends who you want to listen to, but it goes back hundreds of years.

As to whether catholics and protestants can ever get on together, on an individual level many do, but there are so many grievances on both sides it will take a long time for the two communities to truly integrate.

Answer 6

Finnykin has it wrong. There were originally people living in Ireland who we now know as the Irish. The Celtic race, from what we now know as Scotland, were murderous, brutal, thugs who sailed over to what we now know as Northern Ireland and made colonies there, usurping the Irish through battle. The English then took advantage of these Celts, used them as employed thugs (so they wouldn't complain when asked to hand over some land) and sent it's own people to settle a few areas. Most of Northern Ireland is made up of the original Celt descendants. The general thinking is that they won 'their' land in fair battle (thence adopting 'English religion' along the way under influence from the money banded about) and still wish to be considered as part of the UK, while the Southern Irish, seen as poor losers, are still trying to grasp back whatever land was theirs even though they surrendered it in battle. Religion is only the excuse, not the actual cause because people have been misinformed along the way. This is thousands of years in the making, not just the last few hundred.

Answer 7

the roots of all conflicts are economic

proof: anywhere where there are religious or racial differences with no economic injustice, there are no 'religious' or 'racial' wars

the protestants in northern ireland have the money and power and they keep the catholics down, and out of politics

stop overpay and underpay and you stop war

justice causes happiness because it stops conflict

we have super hyper extreme injustice

1% get 90% of world income

99% get 10% of world income

israeli per capita income US$23,000

palestinian $1000

extreme wealth/poverty in the middle east

egalitarian peaceful scandinavia

Answer 8

What year, decade, century would you like me to start? A good read is Ireland by Robert Kee. I find with Irish history the better you get at it the more confusing it becomes

Answer 9

Have you just arrived on this planet? I would have thought that most of the world's population knew the details of this conflict.
The "Irish Problem" has been going on since the 17th century and is complicated (as most disputes are) : it isn't just about Religion, though that does play a major part in the dispute, it is also to do with sovereignty, style of democracy and lifestyle. Many have tried a solution and many more have failed.

Answer 10

Northern ireland should be given back to The republic