The Ireland-Britain Conflict

Conflict between Great Britain and Ireland began more than 800 years ago.

Conflict has existed, on different scales and with differing intensities, between Ireland and Britain for more than eight centuries. Today conflict is largely non-violent and focuses on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom or be reunited with the Irish Republic.

Invasion and Colonization

Conflict began when the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland between 1167 and 1171, although their sphere of influence was largely restricted to the east coast. Irish chieftains throughout much of the island kept their lands and over time many Anglo-Normans integrated into Irish society.

Plantations

In the 1600s thousands of English and Scottish settlers were brought to Ireland by British landowners. They displaced Irish Catholics which led to violent conflict.

Union

Until 1800, Britain effectively treated Ireland as a colony, but the Act of Union made the island an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Irish nationalist movement calling for independence grew stronger, giving rise to a Unionist movement that wished to maintain Ireland within the Union.

Partition

In 1921 the British government agreed to give 26 Irish counties a measure of independence as the Irish Free State (from 1949 the Republic of Ireland). The six northeastern counties remained within the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland.

Conflict in Northern Ireland

Violence flared in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s over whether Northern Ireland should remain in the United Kingdom. More than 3,400 people were killed in more than 30 years of conflict. The Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, tried to find a way to bring peace to the region.

References

• "The Oxford Companion to Irish History"; edited by Stephen Connolly Ph.D; 1997.