Ireland V Great Britain Or Catholic V Protestant

Religion v Religion

Ireland v Great Britain or Catholic v Protestant

Island of Erie – Ireland Part of the United Kingdom since 1801 Ireland divided into several counties Massive English colonization in the Northern 1/6th of the island – English citizens who are Protestant

Ireland Religion: 88% Catholic, 2% Church of Ireland, 10% Protestant/Other Northern Ireland Religion: 60% Protestant, 40% Catholic

What happened after the Potato Famine? Massive migrations from the Island after 1840’s Irish nationalism – led to a political “retaking” of the island Early 1900’s – Irish national movement for Independence from England Michael Collins & Eamon de Valera led the movement In the 1920’s an independent Irish Republic was formed later in 1937 and 1949 Michael Collins was assassinated by an Irishman who believed he had compromised too much by allowing Northern Ireland to remain a part of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland consisted of six counties – Protestants are clustered in one part of Northern Ireland Most of the counties voted to remain a part of the United Kingdom – majority Protestants wanting to remain with Protestant England Irish Catholics became de facto second class citizens causing wide protests 1968 – Protests become violent and several Irish are killed in protests Tensions grow as a group organizes – the Irish Republican Army – IRA Ulster Defense Force created as an Irish Catholic/Protestant loyalist group that fights against the IRA 1972 – Bloody Sunday or the Bogside Massacre Group of Irish protesters on January 30th, during a civil rights march were fired upon by a British regiment killing 27 of them After initial investigation, British cleared of any wrong doing – some in British Parliament and Irish nationalist believed a cover-up of “whitewash” had been committed – Tony Blair Prime Minister Blair has asked and was granted the official story to be released in March of 2010 Relative peace has been established by 1999

Movies of Interest: The Name of the Father – Daniel Day Lewis Patriot Games – Harrison Ford & Sean Bean Michael Collins – Liam Neeson & Alan Rickman