nukchebi0 wrote:
jord wrote:
nukchebi0 wrote:
Was Northern Ireland originally part of Ireland before England "borrowed" it?
Yes.
And most Irish people think it belongs to England, even though England stole it from Ireland?
This debate is sort of moot, because Ireland can refer to the island as well as the political entity.
In the 1801 Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britian the entirety of Irelands was brought under British control, by all technicalities the Irish voted themselves out of power, although it was obviously encouraged heavily by the British.
From then on Ulster started forming strong economic links with England and unlike the rest of Ireland was industiralising at a decent rate, particuarly in the cotton and shipyard industries.
Throughout the next 100 years, as im not in the mood to right an essay, essentially Ulster becamse very close to England whilst the south was the opposite, in 1912 after England created the third home rule act, ulsterman saw this as a real threat and militarised in order to protect the union, however the first world war broke out and it melted away.
We then had the easter rising in 1916, where the south had militarised sufficiently and attempted to break the union early, this failed. Then came the Anglo-Irish war where Michael Collins eventually made a deal with England that they would be removed from the union, however the 6 counties of ulster previously declared would remain in the union.
Although both Ulster and the mainland of Ireland wanted Ireland to stay as a whole, they understood from their differing views this was impossible and settled for the compromise.
Then we move into more recent Irish history, and im bored of typing.
So, yeah, thats your answer.