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The island's settlement dates back to 6000 BC. , But
only in 300 a. Is that a people is established in a
decisive way: the Celts. By the beginning of the
Christian Era, these were divided into five kingdoms,
usually referred to as the Five Fifths - Ulster, Meath,
Leinster, Munster and Connaught -, being Christianized
by St. Patrick in the 5th century. In 795, Ireland it is
invaded by the Norwegians, remaining in the island until
1014, year in which they are defeated by the main Irish
king, Brian Boru. Freed from Norwegian rule, each of
the Irish kingdoms tries to impose itself on the others,
at the same time that one begins to feel the influence
of the Reformation movement, forming, consequently,
dioceses within the borders of the different
kingdoms. However, this situation was changed in 1171,
when the English king Henry II, encouraged by popes
Hadrian IV and Alexander III, invaded Ireland, calling
himself master of the entire island.
Over the centuries, English settlers have assimilated
Irish culture, so that, in the 15th century, only the
small region of Pale (located around Dublin) remained
entirely faithful to the English Crown. The effective
power in Ireland was in the hands of the counts of
Kildare, officially designated for this purpose by
England, and this situation continued until the English
Reformation carried out by Henry VIII of England in the
16th century. This Reformation, whose spirit moved
against the Roman Church, made the Anglican Church
official, whose leader resided in the figure of the King
of England, in this case Henry VIII, an act that
extended, for example, to Ireland, attributing itself to
that monarch. title of king of Ireland (1541).
The eighteenth century was marked by demands raised
by Irish Protestants with a view to loosing control of
the English crown, culminating even in the occurrence,
in 1798, of a revolt that forced England to take a
position of strength, leading to the constitution of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on January
1, 1801. This union deepened the rivalry between
Catholics and Protestants and the constant social unrest
led Ireland to poverty, exacerbated by the famine years
between 1846-51, causing the emigration of more than 2
000 000 Irish people. After this period a revolutionary
movement known as Fenianism was born among the exiles,
which quickly spread in Ireland through the newspaper The
Irish People. This movement, financed by emigrants
based in the United States, fomented several rebel
actions (including a national rebellion in 1867) against
the British interests in the territory, thus obtaining
that some reforms were approved in the Irish Parliament,
as for example the Irish Land Law ( 1870), which
instituted the tenure and compensation principles for
those who made the most efforts to fight against
poverty. However, these actions restrained a little, due
either to the constant presence of conservatives in
power, or to rivalries that have emerged in the midst of
nationalists.
In 1906, the situation changed with the great victory
of the liberals in the parliamentary elections, allowing
the nationalists to gradually gain ground until they
were able to see a law passed by Parliament in 1911
reducing the powers of the lords. Meanwhile, Irish Ulster unionists ,
supported by the British, launched a campaign against
nationalist laws passed by the Irish Parliament, even
declaring the constitution of a provisional government
in Ulste in 1912. This climate of tension
degenerated into civil war on April 24, 1916, and the
Irish provisional government was declared, whose leaders
were however executed by the English. This act provoked
an even stronger reaction of discontent on the part of
the Irish, visible in the 1918 elections, which gave
victory to Sinn Fein (founded in the early 20th century)
led by Eamon Valera, a survivor of the 1916 Republican
revolt. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) comes into play,
organized to resist the English administration and
ensure the recognition of the Republican Government, but
quickly turns its forces towards terrorist actions.
The division of Ireland stemmed from the Irish
Governance Act, which was passed in 1920 with English
consent and American support. Following the Anglo-Irish
Treaty signed on 6 December 1921, Ireland was renamed
the Irish Free State, with Northern Ireland remaining
separate from this process. In 1937, a new Constitution
was approved, decreeing, not only the end of the rule of
the English Crown, but the replacement of the name "Free
Irish State" by the name Eire , which means Irish
in Ireland, a fact that constituted the first step
towards officialization of the Republic of Ireland,
which only happened in 1948. England recognized the new
status of Ireland in 1949, but as for the Irish
intentions to include Northern Ireland (also known as Ulster)
in this case, warned that this could only happen only by
the express wish of the Parliament of Ulster . This
problem has since marked the history of that region,
confronting, on the one hand, the will of the Republic
of Ireland to unite the island and on the other a
Northern Ireland that prefers to remain under the
English Crown. The religious factor is of enormous
importance in this division, since Ireland is
overwhelmingly Catholic, while Ulster is mostly
Protestant. The situation worsened with the resurgence
of the IRA in the late 1950s and early 1960s, whose
attacks on British forces along the Ulster border heightened
the tension between the two Irish women. In 1973,
Ireland and Ulster, signed the Sunningdale
Agreement (which lasted only one year), stating that Ulster's relationship with
England can only be changed through the express will of
the majority of the population of the North, at the same
time as the Council of Ireland is created, composed of
members of both parliaments. A similar agreement -
except for the creation of the Council - was made
between Ireland and England in November 1985, as a
result of constitutional initiatives carried out since
1981 by Irish Prime Minister Fitzgerald in defense of
reunification.
These talks at the highest level have kept out the
IRA's political arm, Sinn Fein, even after the IRA
announced on August 31, 1994 the cessation of military
operations, following the Anglo-Irish agreement signed
by John Major and Albert Reynolds in December 1993. This
agreement provided for Sinn Fein to be included in the
peace negotiations if the IRA ended acts of violence in
Northern Ireland. Thus, new attacks against England were
made by the IRA as early as 1995, but this time
privileging the city of London. This new strategy was
seen as a form of pressure on the Government of John
Major, taking advantage of the low popularity that it
had with the British.
The position of the Republic of Ireland in the face
of this situation has not changed, although in December
1994, after the break-up of the governing Labor Party /
Fianna Fail coalition led by Reynolds, the leader of the
Fine Gael party, John Bruton, was elected Prime
Minister. |
