Ireland quesion -- Protestants vs Catholics?

Question

I was reading a short story set in Ireland for school. It was about the war between the Republicans and the Free Staters. I have to make a posterboard for this story (It's "The Sniper". You can read it on the web). Does anyone know if the Republicans were the Protestants and the Free Staters were the Catholics (since, both religions aren't getting along very well there)? I really need help on this! Thanks!

Answer 1

Right. First of all, your story was set in 1921. The date alone should clue you in. Ireland in 1921 was a very different world to Ireland of 2007.

Republicans were MAINLY Catholic and wanted the island as a whole to be Irish, and in the Irish Civil War, they were lead by Eamonn De Valera, an American with an Irish mother and Spanish father. The Free Staters were also MAINLY Catholic who felt that partitioning the North (as it still is today) was a stepping stone to fully regaining the northern counties further on down the line - many people in the north were Protestant and/or considered themselves British (and it's still the same today). Free Staters were lead by the great Michael Collins who is known as Ireland's lost leader because he was killed while still in his thirties, and it is generally believed although never proven that De Valera ordered his assassination.

Before this, the Republicans and Free Staters were actually one group fighting for a common cause, which was ending English rule in Ireland. If you go back a few years to 1916, you'll discover that the same guys were involved: De Valera was then the leader, and Michael Collins was his second in command, but De Valera was imprisoned due to his involvement in the 1916 Rising, but as the authorities didn't know Michael Collins (he proved to be a very elusive character) they didn't detain him. So while De Valera was in prison in Wales, Collins created mayhem in Dublin with guerrilla-style warfare and brought the English government to its knees - and you must also remember that England was recovering from World War I as well, so the country was pretty vulnerable.

So later both sides are mainly Catholics, and it was very much a case of brother against brother, because people felt so strongly about the north.

If you go back even further, you will surprised at who actually wanted Ireland to be politically separate from England - many of the people who supported Ireland's political independence were actually from Protestant stock. So it's not nearly as clear-cut as you might have imagined.

By the way, as for both religions not getting on very well in Ireland - please get more up-to-date information before saying things like this. Yes, we have had our differences and things in Northern Ireland are still a bit hairy at times, but generally in the Republic Protestants and Catholics and Muslims and Bahai (not sure of the spelling of that one) and Jews and Pagans and Hindis and all the others that live here get on very well indeed. Where I live in the South-West of Ireland, there are many Protestants, and nobody cares about this.

As I said, it's not nearly as clear-cut as many would have you believe.

Answer 2

As Orla says Protestants have wanted independance for Ireland, but mostly republicans are catholic and free staters are in the republic, but technically anyone who lives in the "South" is a free stater regardless of religion, but its commonly meant to me a catholic, I am catholic but not a republican or a fan of the Ra. With many protestant friends

Answer 3

Irish Free Staters

Answer 4

No you are way off.
What you are talking about does not even concern religion, its the irish civil war of 1922,

The irish free state in all contexts does not exist anymore just as the british empire nolonger exists.

Answer 5

Hi

The film *The Wind That Shakes the Barley* could help you with this

Answer 6

orla c is correct in every detail, good answer