A Brief History of Modern Ireland

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Recommended: The Significance of the Anglo-Irish Agreement

In the 19th and 20th century Ireland had tried and failed multiple times to gain their independence from England. Each attempt at a rebellion however, ended in an ultimate failure. The causes of the failures of these rebellions ranged from being completely outclassed by England’s superior military or suffering from a natural disaster such as the potato famine of 1845. Due to the poor state of England during WWI Ireland attempted again to rebel with some success, however the nation was split and tension still exist today between the two factions.
Before the 19th and 20th century Ireland was treated as second rate citizens by the British, and this was made apparent in the lack of helped received during the potato famine of 1845. The Irish military was too weak to even hope of combating the superior British army until WWI. While England was not in a weakened state during WWI their army was split. This was a glimmer of hope for Ireland since the Irish men new that the British could not fight two wars at once.
There was one problem however, and that lied with some of the Irish men. About 210,000 Irishmen served the British forces during WWI (Jeffery). Also around 140,000 of these soldiers were actually volunteers (Jeffery). These men may have joined for various reasons, some joined because they believed in the cause and others may have joined because the simply wanted a job. In Ireland, which in 1914 was deeply divided between those loyal to Britain and the rebels, more local considerations may have played an important part for many individuals.
In Ireland they were certain key figures that helped ignite the rebellion in the home front. One of the major figures was a man named Sinn Fein who encouraged the Irish people to refuse t...

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... IRA) fought the Protestants organizations. Since 1969 England has sent several army divisions to stop the fighting, and more than 20,000 people have been killed or injured (Pomeray).
In November 1985, hoped for peace were raised when the Irish government introduced the Anglo-Irish agreement. This agreement was to give the republic a voice in Northern Ireland in exchange the republic would recognize England’s long-term sovereignty in the north. This agreement did not work and violence increased sharply. To this day the British army remains on guard and the IRA continues its guerrilla war.
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Works Cited

Jeffery, Keith.” Ireland and World War One.” BBC News, 10, February, 2011.Web. 15, May, 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/ireland_wwone_01.shtml
Pomeray, J. K. Ireland. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1999. Print.

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