how did the northern ireland conflict start? what was the cause?

Answer 1

The roots of the conflict are going way back to medieval times. The English colonized Ireland and because the northern part was the most rebellious lands from the local aristocracy and landowners was taken and given to Protestant colonists (planters).

After the Republic became independent the North was left out because the majority of the people were Protestant and did not want to join the new republic.

For a long time the Catholic population was discriminated against. Inspired by the civil rights movement in the USA they organized their own civil rights movement in the 1970s which led to violence, rioting, internment and caused Britain to put the province under direct rule.

I used to live in Belfast (for a short while) and the population is still segregated along ethnic (Irish v British) and religious (Catholic v Protestant) lines. Apartheid is still going strong in Northern Ireland.

Answer 2

This is a short potted answer. There are many other factors, some of which you can read about in the attached link.

The origins of the conflict go all the way back to the 17th century when England under the Protestant protectorate of Oliver Cromwell finally succeeded in subduing the Irish who had been in constant rebellion. His regime was extremely harsh, for example he executed the entire population (including women and children) of Drogheda. The last hope of a Catholic Ireland was crushed at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when William of Orange defeated the Catholic James II.

Much of the north of Ireland became colonised by Scots and English Protestants, which then served to divide this part of the country from the predominant Catholic Irish populace, both religiously and economically, as the Protestants tended to hold the better agricultural land.

The early 20th century saw Protestant fighting Catholic on the issue of home rule. The Protestants feared a majority Catholic rule and the Catholics wanted total independence for a united Ireland. This period saw the creation of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) as we know it today. In 1921 a treaty was signed which split Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, which became a republic in 1949.

An uneasy peace lasted until 1968/1969 when violence flared in Londonderry and Belfast. This lasted through into the 90's and became known as "The Troubles".

Answer 3

The area now known as Northern Ireland has had a diverse history. From serving as the bedrock of Irish resistance in the era of the plantations of Queen Elizabeth and James I in other parts of Ireland, it became itself the subject of major planting of Scottish and English settlers after the Flight of the Earls in 1607 (when the native Gaelic aristocracy fled to Catholic Europe).

The all-island Kingdom of Ireland (1541—1800) merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 under the terms of the Act of Union, under which the kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain merged under a central parliament, government and monarchy based in London. In the early 20th century Unionists, led by Sir Edward Carson, opposed the introduction of Home Rule in Ireland. Unionists were in a minority on the island of Ireland as a whole, but were a majority in the northern province of Ulster, and a very large majority in the counties of Antrim, and Down, small majorities in the counties of Armagh and Londonderry, with substantial numbers also concentrated in the nationalist-majority counties of Fermanagh and Tyrone. These six counties, containing an overall unionist majority, would later form Northern Ireland.

The clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords of the controversial budget of Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd-George, produced the Parliament Act 1911 which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. Given that the Lords had been the unionists' main guarantee that a home rule act would not be enacted, because of the majority of pro-unionist peers in the House, the Parliament Act made Home Rule a likely prospect in Ireland. Opponents to Home Rule, from Conservative Party leaders like Andrew Bonar Law and Lord Randolph Churchill to militant unionists in Ireland threatened the use of violence, producing the Larne Gun Running incident in 1912, when they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for the Ulster Volunteer Force. Randolph Churchill famously told a unionist audience in Ulster that "Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right".

Prime Ministers
of Northern Ireland

Sir James Craig. (1922—1940)

John Millar Andrews (1940—1943).

Sir Basil Brooke (1943—1963)

Captain Terence O'Neill (1963—1969)

James Chichester-Clark (1969—1971)

Brian Faulkner (1971—1972)
The prospect of civil war in Ireland was seen by some as likely. In 1914 the Third Home Rule Act, which contained provision for a temporary partition, received the Royal Assent. However its implementation was suspended for the duration of the intervening First World War, which was only expected to last a few weeks but lasted four years. But by the time it concluded, the Act was seen as dead in the water, with public opinion in the majority nationalist community having moved from a demand for home rule to something more substantial, independence. Lloyd-George proposed in 1919 a new bill which would divide Ireland into two Home Rule areas, twenty-six counties being ruled from Dublin, six being ruled from Belfast, with a shared Lord Lieutenant of Ireland appointing both executives and a Council of Ireland, which Lloyd-George believed would evolve into an all-island parliament