Northern Ireland Divide?

Question

Does Any1 know why only Nothern Ireland is part of the UK? What is the history behind it?

Answer 1

Hearsay is that when the UK offered Ireland independence in the 1920's, it offered two choices. (1) Independence for the whole island, but it had to take on its share of the UK National Debt (mostly built up during WWI). (2) The northern 6 counties stay part of the UK, and independence free of debt for the rest of the island, so that's what they chose.

Answer 2

Okay, brief lesson in Irish history. The area now known as Northern Ireland was in fact one of the last places to be "planted" by UK settlers, mostly Scottish. However, it remained the place where British culture remained the strongest as they had gained in experience from previous plantations ("planting" settlers in conquered lands). After the Irish War of Independence 1919-1922 the Treaty negotiations specified that these 6 counties would remain part of the UK. The alternative for the Irish Provisional Government was full scale war, against a fully trained army as opposed to the largely guerilla army of Ireland. The remaining 26 counties became the Irish Free State, silll a member of the Commonwealth and only became a Republic in 1949.

Answer 3

to couter 'qeen of the stone age'
you'd have to go back a while but the main troubles date back to the late 19th century when Ireland started asking for self governance or Home Rule.
Basically the English gov. promised them self governance if they fought in the 1st world war while at the same time promising the loyalist protestants that they would remain under british rule if they fought.
As you can imagine this didn't work out to well.
jump to easter rising of 1916 when a group of nationalist tried to overthrow the british in ireland.
then on a bit to 1920 when they british said the nationalists could have self governance but they'd have to keep four counties of loyalist for a little while.
the british implied that the four counties couldn't sustain themselves and would beg to be part of all ireland within a few years.
then onto the fact that the UK kept 6 counties and gave them lots of cash and guns.
Each side has been fighting for self rule or UK rule ever since.
Incidentally if you look right back to 1690 you will see the irish fighting the irish because they were conned into fighting by the french and the dutch.

Answer 4

The north was always more closely linked with the UK. When the English started planting settlers in Ireland in the 16th century it was most effective in the north. Therefore, when Ireland gained semi-independence under the 1922 Anglo-Irish treaty, the six northern counties stayed under British rule.

Answer 5

In 1921, the British Government in their wisdom decided to free 26 counties of Ireland from British rule - they became the Republic of Ireland. The remaining 6 counties were kept by Britain and formed the state of Northern Ireland, which had it's own parliament (Stormont) and was ruled by the protestant majority which oppressed the Catholic minority who considered themselves Irish, not British. This led to massive discrimination against the Catholics which resulted in the Civil Rights movement of 1968/9. When the Northern Irish government used the police and b-specials (a protestant militia) to attack the Civil Rights protesters and the Catholic community in general, the British Army were called in to try to maintain some kind of peace. After shooting 13 peaceful, unarmed demonstrators in Derry (Bloody Sunday), the British Army lost all credibility within the Catholic community and led to the growth of the IRA. 30 years of violence ensued, with atrocities committed by all sides (police, British army, IRA, loyalist paramilitaries). Eventually a ceasefire happened and the Peace Process began. It is still ongoing, but with overt reluctance by Ian Paisley's party, the DUP, to accept power-sharing with the Catholic community, represented by Sinn Fein. It is still ongoing today. Big mistake in 1921 for economic and political reasons has cost thousands of lives and polarised both communities in Northern Ireland. Very brief summary of Irish history, (and probably biased, because I grew up in Northern Ireland during the 60's and 70's, which was hell for a Catholic) which is very complicated. There are lots of books, websites and opinions on this subject, which is contentious to say the least. Try this site: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ for a fairly unbiased account of the history of the Troubles

Answer 6

Question 1.

Because the majority of people in the 6 of the counties in the NE part of the island of Ireland didn't want to leave the UK. Referendum held in early 1920s.

Question 2.

Start with the Norman Invasion of 1169 and keep reading until you get up to date.

Answer 7

up till 1921/22, the completed island of eire develop into area of the united kingdom, earlier to this, it develop into exploited as a source of raw substances, riches and so on and this develop into taken decrease back to britain, the irish catholics were compelled onto small plots of land contained in the barren West, raped,overwhelmed murdered and so on by technique of British infantrymen. This presented about an uprisng in 1916, which brings us decrease back to the early 1920's at the same time as formal agreements were set out. contained in the area of N.eire there develop right into a majority of protestants, who got here round from scotland and settled there. some thing of eire develop into ninety 5% catholic. Britain stated ok we will provide you inclusive of your independence, yet we opt for those 6 counties contained in the North, as many ppl there nevertheless opt for to be less than rule of the dominion. The irish agreed (with the objective of having northern eire decrease back contained in the close to destiny). subsequently there is conflict and debate over who has the right to the country. the adjustments are: eire makes use of the euro, NI the british pound. eire has its personal authorities who're completely self sufficient, NI has a authorities, yet they take orders, and recieve funds from, the parliament in london. Irish police (the Gardai) are unarmed, in NI the police service have many guns and distinctive protection stress style autos. guidelines are rather a lot the same (as eire followed its criminal gadget from britain in 1922)

Answer 8

Ah come on, 600 years+ ain't gonna fit in one answer.
But in a nutshell: Brits invaded Ireland, stole, murdered, plundered etc, Irish started fighting back, blood and guts, tried to make peace, came up with a treaty, compromised they could keep north cos thats where most of the staunchest prozzies were anyway, catholics/nationalists who lived in norn iron not happy bout this, started bombin out the prozzies, they bombed back, now we don't want them but we can't cut them off, well we could but we'd need a big saw and frankly we're lazy, phew.

Answer 9

I think it's all about the protestants (northern ireland) not wanting to be attached to the Catholics (Ireland) but the guy before was right- you would be better off looking in books

Answer 10

Bloody hell, thats a big question for Yahoo, nice one !

There are very few un-biased descriptions of what happened.

You'd be better off with books rather than 'internet to ensure you get an educated view.