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BG Steyr

The Celts

From 500 BC to 795 AD the Celts were the exclusive tribe of the island. They were not the
first inhabitants. But when they arrived they assimitlated with the native people. Most of the
Celts were, tall and blond and they learned to work with iron. they lived scattered on farms
with high walls around. There were no urban centres and the economic basis of society was
cattel rearing and agriculture. The Celts had no central political organisation, but there were
many big families, wich they called „clans“, scattered all over the island. Sometimes the
„clans“ consisted of up to five generations, and all the farmhouses, cows, sheep and fields
belonged the „clan“.

In the social life of the celts the „druid“ was very important, who had the purpose of a priest,
fortuneteller and magician. Another important person was the poet or bard. As society was
non-literate, their function was to pass on history as well was to entertain.
The Romans never came to Ireland and so the celts could keep their own culture, but
nevertheless the Celts and Romans artered.

During the fifth century AD Christianity was interoduced, and with Christianity came Latine
culture and latine script. Now the bards were not that important any more, because the monks,
Patricianus was one of the first monk in ireland (still ST. Patrick`s day), were able to write
down Ireland`s history.

At the time the most powerful clan leaders wished to have more power and so eventually they
began to rule bigger areas.  Politically, Ireland was organized into a number of  kingdoms or
tuatha, each of it was quite independent under ist elected king (a more powerful
clanleader).Groups of tuatha tended to combine, but the king who claimed overlordship in
each group had a primacy of honour rather than of juristiction. A division of the country into
five groups of tuatha, known as the Five Fifsths occurred at the beginning of the Christian
era.These were Ulster, Meath, Leister, Munster and Connaught. In 795 AD the Vikings
invaded and severely reduced the power of the Celts.
But Celtic language is still spoken in the west of Ireland.

The Vikings

At the end of the eighth century broad ships reached the Irish coast, wich were able to resist
wild storms. Those ships belonged to the Vikings, Scandanavian people from today`s Norway
and Denmark. They sailed upstream and invlicted devastation. The Vikings plundered and
destroyed monasteries, and killed all the monks and every Irish person they saw.

In 841 AD the Vikings conquered two harbours, Anagassan and Dublin, and changed  them
into fortresses, because they had decided to stay on the island forever. The natives did not put
up tough resistance (they liked peace and, as there was no big war before, they did not know
how to fight !). The climate was not as bad as in Scandinaia, and the land was much more
fertible than the ground at home.

But in the long term the harbour in the north founded by the Norwegian Vikings
(Annagassan), could not survive, in contrast to the more southern Harbour, Dublin, founded
by Danish Vikings, wich expanded. Gradually the power of the Danish grew more and more
inland. However, they also lost some of their warlike character and began to associate and
marry the Celtic inhabitants.

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At the beginning of the 11th century, many Celts became hostile to the Vikings at Clontarf
(near Dublin), finally effected when Scandinavian allies of the king of Dublin were defeated
by High king Brian Boru in 1014. The power of  the Vikings was broken. Yet there was no
peace. After Brian Boru died the local kings fought each other for the position of high king.

The Anglo - Normans

By 1166, there was widespread civil unrest. The king of Leister ( the biggest of the five ares)
Rory O`Connor lost power and went to England to ask for help. Henry II. ( king of England)
was glad to find a reason to interfere in Irish matters and so he allowed Leincester`s  king to
enlist soldiers from Wales. In 1170 a small but well equiped army arrived let by Strongbow
(an Anglo-Norman adventurer). His modern weapons were far superior to anything the locals
had so he easily overcame them. In 1172 the island became a part of Britain. By the Treaty of
Windsor O`Connor, the high king accepted Henry II. as his overlord and restricted his own
style to that of king of Connaught.

The Normans built big fortresses, wich the Irish people could not conquer, because they had
littel war experience. But after a time the Normans could not maintain their own culture, the
consequence of wich was that Normans picked up their language, culture, custome and
traditions of  the natives. They were afraid  the Normans were „becoming more Irish than the
Irish themselves“.
Britain was not happy to see that, and so passed two laws; overroling the Irish parliament.
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The Normans were not allowed to speak Irish anymore.

Mixed Marriages were forbidden.

The king took this measure to stop integration, but there was only limited success.

At that time the importance of the towns rose and there was a flourishing trade between the
Normans and the Irish people. Edward III. declared a law against that trade and against every
relation to the native people e.g. the Normans had to keep their English names.
During the firth half of the 15th century Ireland was, in effect, ruled by the three great earls, of
Desmond, Ormonde and Kildare, who combined to dominate the Dublin goverment.
In 1485 the House of Tudor gained power on the island.

The Tudors

Henry VII. repieled the autonomy of the Irish parliament in 1494. Now every English law was
also in force in Ireland; this resolution was called „ Poynings Acts“. It subjected the meetings
and legislative drafts of the Irish Parliament to control of the English king and council. At the
time of the Reformation Henry XIII. broke all relations with the Pope. He forbade all monastic
orders, including the Irish and confiscated their estates. The Irish people were inceuded
because at that time the monasterie were very important for records of Irish history, culture
and education. Marry Tudor stopped this supression a few years later, but she was afraid of the
strong Celtic traditions, and so, many English men, mainly farmers settled in Ireland to bring
Irish culture to an end.As a result resistance in Ireland grew against the English.

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The Irish policy of Elisabeth I. had the destinction of having reduced the country to obience
for the first time since the invasion of Henry II. Economically, the towns and the countryside
were exloited by the new administrators while the Queen`s expenditure was increased.
Most resistance came from Ulster were the clan tradition was strongest.
James I. continued Elisabethan policy and as a result the exodus of Irih soldiers and
churchmen to catholic countries on the continent was unabated.That made the Irish question
an international one.

However they realised they could not defeat the English king James I. and so the leaders flet
to Rome. This flight was called „The Flight of the Earls“. That consequence of that was that
the king of England confiscated all the estates and setteled protestant farmers, comming from
England and Scotland.

Oliver Cromwell stopped civil riots in England, but in 1641 civil riots also began in Ireland.
The Catholics, who fought against the newly settled Englishmen, were persecuted by the
protestant.In Ireland there were far more Catholics than Protestants, but the Catholics were not
organized and so they lost. In 1549 Oliver Cromwell wanted to stop that civilwar in the way
he had done in England. He came to the island and defeated all opposition. By 1652 all Irish
resistance was over.

His methodes were hard. The Irish were forced into the west of the country where the ground
was poorest. His phrase was „to hell or to Connaught“. After he left, he rewarded his soldiers
by giving them the best land.

At that time many Irishmen emigrated to America or in Europe or India.
A renewed campaign against Catholics and Anglicans was not successful. Charles II. declared
then complete religious toleration.

Protestantism existed mainly in the North, wich meant Ulster. The new inhabitants, most of
them Scots, were very hard working people, who did not damage the economy, quite the
reverse; now the economy in the Noth improved. This led to tension between the „ Economy-
North“ and the „Farming-South“.

In 1689 there was a battle between the Irish, the Catholics, the English and the Protestants,
wich today is called the „Battle of Boyne“. The catholic Ex-king James II. lost the battle to his
son-in-law, William of Orange and flet to France. Irish Catholicism suffered ist most
humilitating setback.That victory of the English is celebrated every year. The Protestants
arrange a procession though the towns of northern Ireland with orange flags and pennats:
that`s often the cause of endless riots and feuds.

Tension between North and South became worse because the farming industry in Southern,
and Central Ireland was weakened by a law wich stated it, was forbidden to export wool
except to England. That means, that the English could control the woolprices and so Ireland
became more dependent on England.

From the 19th century to Independence

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Because the fear of the French and local rebellions, Enland and Ireland came closer and had
an act of Union in1801.That provided that Ireland would have in the United Kingdom about a
one-fifth of representation of Great Britain.

In 1829, the „Catholic Emanicipation Act“ declared that Catholics and the Protestants should
have the same voting and other rights. Now Catholic Irish people were able to attend the
„House of Lords“ and the „House of Commons“.

The aim of the nineteenth century was to give equal rights to Protestants and Catholics, and to
improve the farmer`s social and economic situation.

In the first half of the 19th century Daniel O`Conell though to give equal rights to Catholics.
1840 he organised mass demonstrations and for a while he was sucessful. But he began to get
worried that the demonstrations would lead to puplic disorder and eventually cancelled them.
This lost him his popularity.

Most Irish people lived on farmes. Their main diet was potatos. In 1845, because of bad
weather the poteto-crop failed. This lead to famine in rural areas. England supplied grain, but
there were distribution problems and, whereas the towns had enough food many country
people starved. Asa consequence many people emigrated to Norther America or industriel
cities. A further and even greater famine occured in 1849. The result of the combined famine
were:

- 1 million irish people emigrated

- 1,5 million people died of starvation

Evictions were widespread and cottages were demolished by landlords to prevent other
impoverished tenants from occupying them.
In 1870 there was a further land reform. Many Catholics were given their own land. Now,
most Catholics wished to have a parliament in Dublin as an opposit to London. This craeted
tension with many of the Protestant „Anglo-Irish“ who, did not wish to see any change.
In 1912 when the demand of Home Rule was granded, the Protestants of northern Ireland
refused to abide by the new law and killed it. They prefered British rule because they were
afraid of being dominated by a Catholic majority on the island.

The Irish Revolution

The Easter Rebellion, an uprising of Irish nationalists in Dublin on Easter Monday,1916, was
doomed to failure, in part because of limited support from Irish people. Britain`s
overreaction, however, including the execution of 15 Irish nationalist leaders, set the stage for
Sinn Fein to replace Home Rule as the dominant political party. Founded in 1902 by Athur
Griffith, a Dublin journalist, Sinn Fein called for Ireland to become a Republic independend
of Britain, and for an end to the partition movements in the Protestant north. In 1918 election
Sinn Fein canditates won 73 of the 106 seats allotted to Ireland in the British parliament.
In Jannuary 1919 the Sinn Fein members of parliament met in Dublin as the Dail Eireann or
national assembly. They proglaimed Ireland`s independance, and formed the goverenment
with Eamon De Valera as president. There followed guerilla attacks by Irish in surgents, later
called the Irish Republican Army ( IRA), on British forces, paticulary the black and tans the
much hated auxiliary force of the Royal Irish Constabulary. these attacks and British reprisals
escaleted into an ugly war in wich hundreds of people were killed.
In december 1920 the British parliament enacted the goverenment of Ireland bill, providing
one parliament for the six counties of Protestant „northern“ Ireland and enother for the

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remaining twenty six counties forming „souther“Ireland. The Protestant majority in norther
Ireland accepted this limited Home Rule, and elected a seperate parliament in Mai 1921.The
partitation was, however, not accepted by the Roman Caatholic minority in the north, and
majority in the south. Afforts to implement the new goverenment in the other 26 counties
served only to solidify Sinn Fein`s position. The gurrila war ended with a truze on July
11th.Negations between representatives of the Dail and the British goverenmentof prime
minister David Lloyd George produced a Treaty signed on december 19921. Under the traty
the 26 counties of Saorstat Ireman would become the Irish freestate within the
Commonwealth of Nations, with a status equal to that of Canada, and a modified oath of
alligance to the British monarch. The Dail redefested the Traety on January 1922 by o vote of
64 to 25 De Valera who oposed the Treaty resigned as president of the Dail and was replaced
by Sinn Fein founder Athur Griffits.Mikel Collins another Sinn Fein leader, became chairman
of the provisional goverenment.

The Irish Freestate

Under the leadership of De Valera, the disident Sinn Fein Group known as the Republicans,
called  for a resumtion of the struggle against Britain and instituted a compain wich amounted
to civil war, against the provisional gouverenment.With the question of the Treaty the chief
issued an election for a provisional Dail was held in June 1922. Canditates supported the
Treaty won a majority of the seats. The Republicans, refusing to recognize the autority of the
new Dial, proclaimed a rival goverenment and intensivid their attacks on the Irish freestate. In
the insuin the struggle hunderts were killed on both sides, including prominet Republican
leaders such as Collins. Meanwhile the Dail, headed now by William Cosgrave, trafted a
consitution providing for a picameral legislature: The Dail Eireann (House of Representives)
and Seanat Eireann (senate) the constitution was adopted on October 1922. Following aproval
by the British goverenment, it became operative on december 6. The official goverenment of
the Irish freestate was instituted
In 1916, about 2 tousand people (Republicans) began an armed rebellion in Dublin. After a
week  the police and the army put it down. Yet the Republicans achieved great electural
sucess. In 1919 there was a renewed rebellion (The Easter Rebellion) troughout the country.

From Independence to the Present Day

A peace agrement was reached between the Republicans and the Irish goverment. This
agreement devided the country into two self-govering areas Northern and Southern Ireland.

Northern Ireland (6 counties in Ulster) and Republic of Eire (23 counties + 3 in Ulster

)

. The

two new states had their own parliaments, but nevertheless Northern Ireland was part of
United Kingdom.The IRA ( Irish Republic Army) refused to accept this devision and there
was a civil war wich the new Irish goverement won.

Present Day

In 1937 De Valera created a new constitution.This document abolished the Irish Free State
and established Eire as a „sovereign independent democratic state“. The constitution provided
for an elected president as head of state; a prime minister as head of government; and a two

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house legislature. In 1938 Douglas Hyde became the first president of Eire and De Valera
became prime minister.

In 1949, the 30th anniversary of Easter Rebellion, Eire became the Repuplic of Ireland,
formally free of alligance to the British crown. Northern Ireland status was confirmed as a part
of the United Kingdom until the parliament chose otherwise. Sinn Fein and the IRA have
never accepted this, the slight improvement in relations between Eire and Britain was marred
by a violent terrorist campain in Britain. In 1962, in Northern Ireland major civil unrest began.
In with a three-sidet conflict including the IRA, the British goverement and the UDA, a
protestant para military group. Over three thousand people were killed when a cheasefire  was
declared in september 1994.

There have been important developements in Eire. It became a member of the European
Community in 1972.. This had led to economic improvement and increased national
confidence though unemployment, emigration and inflantation is still high. In 1991 the Treaty
on European Union on Maastricht was signed.
( De Valera: The establishment of the autonomy of the Irish republic was predominated by his
influence: 1th prime minister; 1959 elected president - after 7 years elected again - )
At the time of writing the prospects for peace are uncertain with a renewed IRA compain in
London.