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The problem between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland started a long time ago. It is more political than religious. For centuries the English had tried to gain control of Ireland. Until the 16-th century, England controlled only a small area of Ireland around Dublin. English rulers, including King Henry VIII (1491-1547), Queen Elizabeth I (153-1603) and Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) gradually conquered the whole of Ireland. The last area to resist the province in Ulster, in the north of Ireland, but in the Irish were defeated. In 1910 the British Government offered Ireland a mild form of Home Rule - full self-government in regard to purely Irish affairs. Opposition was basked by the generals of the British Army's troops in Ireland. The Irish patriots formed their own military organizations of the Irish Volunteers, drilling troops for the fight. The Labour Party in Ireland established the Irish Army. The Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army jointly started preparation for an insurrection. The set date was Monday of Easter Week, 1916. Although the uprising was a failure, it laid the foundation for another stage of the fight for freedom. In 1921, an independent Irish state was set up, that is the Republic of Ireland. In the north of Ireland six countries were dominated and controlled by Protestants, who refused to join the new Irish state. These six countries stayed part of the UK and are now called Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a very beautiful place. It is a land of mountains, rivers and lakes. It has a rugged coastline and one is never more than half an hour away from the coast by car. The people of Ireland have always been known for the stories and myths. They say that giants used to live on the Antrim coast, north of Belfast. One giant, Finn McCool, the commander of the king of Ireland's army, fell in love with the woman giant in Scotland. He wanted her to come to Ulster so he started to build a bridge, the Giant's Causeway, so that she could walk across the sea. |
