Ireland is at the very edge of Europe, exposed to the harsh force of the Atlantic ocean. The ruggedly elegant cliffs of Achill island have withstood the pounding of the waves for millenia, and the rain lashes and soaks the sublime islands of Clew Bay. The grass is a rich, lush green, whence comes the republic's nickname: the Emerald Isle. Ireland's history is, like its scenery, harsh in some places and yet often beautiful; it is a history of violence, occupation, bravery and courage that continue to this day, yet have roots stretching back for centuries.
The Fenian Cycles give us some information on the ancient history of the island. After the original Neolithic farmers and hunter gatherers, there were a series of migrations and wars, culminating in the arrival of the Celtic Gaels. In the Dark Ages, with the advent of Christianity (that is, Celtic Christianity, which was not under the control of the Vatican until the 11th Century) and later the attacks of the Vikings, the nation retreated somewhat into a more peaceful period that focused on learning, and began a tradition of literature. It was at this time that a large number of the ornate the Celtic crosses that litter Ireland and the West of Scotland were made, and it was also at this time that the Book of Kells was made in Iona, which had been invaded by the Hibernian Scots under the kingdom of Argyll. It was a Golden Age of learning and religion, which established an Irish nation whose influence spread from Oileán na hÉireann itself to Scotland and even northern England.
Ireland in the early Middle Ages was a patchwork of medium sized Celtic kingdoms, under the nominal supervision of a High King of Éire, with its own legal system, Irish language and distinct culture. It was a culture which was plagued by tribal warfare, however, and a number of people had their eyes on the land and the riches therein. In the High Middle ages, namely the 12th and 13th Centuries, some English nobles were invited into Ireland by one of the Irish kings, in order to assist him in a war against one of his neighbours. The King of England, Henry II, visited Ireland not long after this to find that this assistance had taken advantage of the weakened Irish kingdom to launch a spree of attacks. It was in danger of becoming a full-scale invasion. In order to stop this from escalating into a new Hiberno-Norman dynasty outside English control, the High King of Ireland, Rory, was persuaded by Henry to hand over the eastern provinces as far as Meath and Waterford, in conjunction with a Papal Bull that mandated a reorganisation of the Church in Ireland (the Pope had noticed that the Celtic Church was not giving him very much money), to be coordinated by Henry. And thus Ireland came under the control of England.
However, although Ireland was known as the 'Lordship of Ireland under the Kingdom of England', and the Normans tried to instill some of their laws and systems, the country also had its own parliament and, by the 15th century, the Normans had been thoroughly Celticised. Ireland entered a second Golden Age of relative prosperity and a continuance of Gaelic culture in this time. In the 16th Century, England (which had spent most of the past three centuries fighting with France and the Turks, and getting more and more rich) turned its attention back to the growing Hibernian menace; the Reformation had destroyed the Catholic Church in Britain, and this caused the beginnings of a schism to open between Catholic Ireland and its Protestant overlords. Indeed, there was a rebellion in Ireland, aimed at ending English rule altogether, which had it succeeded might have led to history taking a very different course, but it was badly timed, and the ensuing reconquest attempt by the English state succeeded. This time however, the island had even more bitter internal struggles, and the reconquest over the next centuries turned into a genocide. After the Tudors had reasserted control, and the Kingdom of England merged with the Kingdom of Scotland in the
Union of the Crowns, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (in particular the infamous actions of Oliver Cromwell) plunged Ireland into a Dark Age of subjugation, famine and depopulation.
Britain has always had a strong connection with Ireland, since the introduction of the Gaelic language in Scotland and the monastery at Iona through the Scottish Wars of Independence which spilled across the Irish sea. Because of this, many moved across to northern and eastern Ireland shortly after the reformation, which helped to mark out Ulster as a seperate entity within the Irish nation. Unfortunately, however, many of these immigrants were Protestant, and this began the Sectarianism which lead to the Troubles. The final chapter in this story is of course the fall of the British Empire and the creation of the Republic of Ireland. Ireland had served Britain in her armies to conquer a fifth of the world, as well as to resist Napoleon in the early 19th Century, but after World War 1 the Empire was fragile. Seeing a weakness, and inspired by the surge in the idea of Nationalism, the Irish rebelled once more, this time successfully, and in 1919 the Irish Republic was born, followed in 1937 by full independence and withdrawal from British dominion. The Irish Free State had wanted to bring Ulster under its control also as part of the Irish Nation. Ulster, however, voted to become the seperate state of Northern Ireland. The persecution of Republicans in Northern Ireland, and the constant tension between Protestants and Catholics, erupted in the 1960s into the Troubles, with the formation of the IRA to support the northern Catholics and the Irish claim to Northern Ireland, and the UDF to defend the right of the Protestants to remain in Britain. The UK army was brought in to ease the violence, but it only served to exacerbate the Nationalists.
In 1998, the Republic of Ireland withdrew its claim to Northern Ireland in the Good Friday Agreement when the Nineteenth Amendment to the Bunreacht na hEireann changed the claim from Northern Ireland being a rightful part of the Irish State, to it being simply a part of the Irish Nation, ie it states that Ireland no longer has any territorial claim to Northern Ireland. Despite this, the violence continues.