The Troubles

When trouble started in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s it took many people by surprise. However the violence and suffering which Northern Ireland has been experiencing are simply the latest events in an old story which began long ago.

Reformation and Plantation

The history of Anglo-Irish relations began with the colonization of Ireland by the Normans under Henry II of England in the 12th century. Over the next two centuries these Norman settlers became 'more Irish than the Irish', and it is possible that Ireland might have ended up as a contented Anglo-Irish society under the British Crown. However, in the 16th century Henry VIII quarrelled with Rome and declared himself head of the Anglican Church. Resistance from Irish Catholics was strong but was put down by Henry's armies. And so by trying to force Irish Catholics to become Anglican and by taking a lot of their land, Henry began the two lasting problems of Anglo-Irish relations - religion and land.

What he started was continued by his daughter Elizabeth I. Ulster was a specially difficult area to bring under her rule. The soldiers of the province of Ulster successfully fought against Elizabeth's armies until 1603, but were finally defeated. Then the 'Plantation of Ulster' began. 'Plantation' meant that twenty-three new towns were built in Ulster to protect the needs of 170,000 new, Protestant settlers known as 'planters', most of whom came from Scotland. This policy of plantation soon changed the structure of society in Ulster.

Religion separated the planters and native Irishmen. The Scots planters were Presbyterians, a form of Protestantism, and they were deeply suspicious of Catholics and Catholicism. But they brought with them their own laws and customs relating to land, which encouraged greater social stability and economic growth. The Scots also placed great emphasis on education and hard work, and they were good at business. All this sowed the seeds of Ulster's 19th century industrialization, which made it different from the rest of Ireland.

Cromwell and William of Orange

During the Civil War in England, things became even worse in Ireland. A Catholic army was formed there in support of the king, Charles I, but Cromwell's Puritan (Protestant) force of 20,000 men was too strong for them. Cromwell's army not only defeated the Catholic, royalist army but also killed many civilians as well. This caused more bitterness between Protestant and Catholic, planter and native.

Forty years later there was again Irish support for the deposed Catholic king, James II, but in 1690 the Protestant forces of William of Orange (WiIliam III) finally defeated the Catholics led by James at the Battle of the Boyne.

Famine

No event in Irish history has had a deeper effect on Irish national feeling than the Great Famine of 1845-9. In the 19th century most of the Irish depended on agriculture - indeed, most of them depended on simple potato-farming for their survival. The poor peasants made their living from tiny pieces of land and had to pay high rents for this land. Potatoes were their main food and when the potato harvest was bad for four years in succession, there was a terrible famine in the country.

The Great Famine left one million people dead and forced another million to emigrate to the United States of America. It also left bitter feelings towards the British Government because they had not done enough to help the poor people during the famine.

Although these events took place three hundred years ago, they are still remembered in Ulster today. The Protestants still call themselves Orangemen and annually celebrate William's victories over the Catholics with parades and banners. The bitterness of history is kept alive in Northern Ireland.

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 102 f.

There are still parts of the world where thousands, even millions, of people are hungry and even die of starvation. Do you know any places where this is happening?

Do the rich nations of the world do enough to help poor countries?

Can an individual do anything to help someone who is starving on the other side of the world?

What do you think is meant by 'the Troubles'?

Who were the Normans?

Why did Irish Catholics dislike Henry VIII?

Who were the 'planters`?

How did plantation change the structure of Ulster society?

In what way did Ulster become different from the rest of Ireland during the 19th century?