In this case it had also always been a religious struggle — between Irish Catholicism and Protestantism especially the particularly English version of the latter. Religion coupled with politics based on power inequalities has always been an exceptionally poisonous and explosive mixture. We see it today around the world in an even wider-reaching kind of a so-called "clash of civilizations"… but that's another topic.
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Back to the Irish context, and down to earth, literally even, namely to the "earth apple" or pomme de terre: the potato. The Irish had adopted the potato as the single most important staple food from the 16th century onwards. When in the mid 19th century the crops were massively affected by the so-called " potato blight " a fungus-like disease that kills the plant , the poor Irish population — which had been growing rapidly Catholic country!
But one has to realize that it was actually only a potato famine — it didn't mean that there wasn't any other food around. There was. But it kept on being exported to England and overseas despite the starving masses.
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How come? It's to do with the so-called Penal Laws that had been imposed a century and a half before by Britain in order to repress Catholics and favour Protestants in Ireland. Catholics — i.
Instead they were mere tenants who had to pay their Protestant landlords for land use. This exacerbated the situation of the poor when the potato crop failed. Not only could they not eat, they couldn't afford the payments to their landlords either — let alone buy alternative food products.
The landlords — and the English — were shamefully indifferent to the situation. Few gave support to the starving population. Most just let it happen — or even aggravated the situation. So the " Great Potato Famine " was in reality not simply the result of misfortune, an act of nature or dare I say: God?
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But it was at least as much the result of sheer politics — of the powerful repressors against the subjugated poor. One immediate effect of the famine other than the starvation of hundreds of thousands of those poor was the way out: emigration. Indeed, a couple of million chose that path out of desperation. Or worse: their landlords, rather than feeding them, paid their fare to America in order to simply get rid of them. They welcomed their departure. They had been a burden. And with the poor peasants gone there was more land for farms, i. How convenient! More sheep meant more wool, and more wool meant more profit for England's booming textile industry.
It's an oversimplification, I know, but there is enough disturbing truth in this reasoning all the same. The emigrants who more or less involuntarily found themselves shipped over the Atlantic to America were initially far from saved. The ships were often crammed and ill-equipped for the journey — and as so many lost their lives during the crossing these vessels became known as " coffin ships ". However, the millions of emigrants who did make it formed the base of the vast Irish " Diaspora " today — which outnumbers the Irish at home several times over.
This influx of Irish blood into America also explains the close ties between the USA and Ireland to this day — in a way an even more "special relationship" than that with Great Britain except militarily. And it's no wonder that visits to Ireland feature very high on Americans' European travels. Many come specifically for genealogical roots tourism. Population levels in Ireland dropped so dramatically as a result of starvation and emigration from the mid 19th century that they still haven't gone back to pre-famine levels to this day. I'm not saying they should rise see here — but it has to be understood that the effect of the famine on the Irish populace is still very much a reality even over a century and a half later!
The struggle to overcome this situation, that is: the struggle to rid the country of the grip of the English "colonial" power has, unsurprisingly, also a very long and a deeply dark history in Ireland.
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There had been various rebellions and other liberation movements through the centuries. At the beginning of the 20th century, these gained, again, momentum … possibly more than ever before. Meanwhile, and despite fierce opposition by the Unionists in Ulster in the north of the country see Northern Ireland again , Home Rule for Ireland was eventually promised by England, but it promptly got delayed with the outbreak of the First World War — in which many Irish volunteered, and went fighting alongside the English against Germany.
At home, a group of rebels who had not joined the war instead used the moment to have another attempt at seizing power and declare a Republic, namely in the Easter Rising of They marched into Dublin and took control of strategic positions, including the Post Office which they made their HQ. From here they proclaimed an Irish Republic. The rebellion was, again, quickly crushed by the might of the English. But then the English "masters" made a big mistake. Not only did they capture the rebel leaders and send them to jail, they proceeded to execute 15 of them see Kilmainham Gaol.
That way, the rebels, who had actually not had much backing among the general populace to start with, were turned into martyrs! With that boost, the stone set in motion could not be stopped. After WWI, independence did come, following a short War of Independence at the end of which a Treaty was negotiated according to which Ulster in the north would remain part of the UK.
The pro-Treaty vs. When the pro-Treaty side narrowly won in , Civil War ensued but petered out by The new mostly-independent Ireland slowly found its feet and in officially left the Commonwealth and became a Republic. But it had all come at a price: partition. And the separation of Ulster from the rest of Ireland was to be the root of the bitter "Troubles" that shook the north of Ireland, and the UK at large, through the second half of the 20th century.
But that is covered under the separate headings here, namely under Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland remained a kind of poor house in Europe for many decades, with high levels of unemployment, low productivity and continuing emigration. Joining the EU in opened the country up and conditions improved. Multi-award winning hairdressing brand with more than 50 years of experience in education, superior client service and haircare expertise. Opportunities for passionate experienced hairdressers that specialise in either styling, technical or both with unlimited earning potential and great company benefits.
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