Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [23]
1916 The Easter Rising: a group of Republicans take Dublin’s General Post Office and announce the formation of an Irish Republic. After less than a week of fighting, the rebels surrender to the superior British forces.
1919–21 Irish War of Independence, aka the Black and Tan War on account of British irregulars wearing mixed police (black) and army (khaki) uniforms, begins in January 1919.
1921 Two years and 1200 casualties later, the war ends in a truce on 11 July 1921 that leads to peace talks. After negotiations in London, the Irish delegation signs the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December.
1921–22 The treaty gives 26 counties of Ireland independence and allows six largely Protestant Ulster counties the choice of opting out. The Irish Free State is founded in 1922.
1922–23 Unwilling to accept the terms of the treaty, forces led by Éamon de Valera take up arms against their former comrades, led by Michael Collins. A brief but bloody civil war ensues, resulting in the death of Collins.
1932 After 10 years in the political wilderness, de Valera leads his Fianna Fáil party into government and goes about weakening the ties between the Free State and Britain.
1948 Fianna Fáil loses the 1948 general election to Fine Gael in coalition with the new Republican Clann an Poblachta. The new government declares the Free State to be a republic at last.
1969 Marches by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association are disrupted by Loyalist attacks and police action, resulting in rioting. Culminating in the Battle of the Bogside, it is the beginning of the Troubles.
1972 The Republic (and Northern Ireland) become members of the EEC. On Bloody Sunday, 13 civilians are killed by British troops; Westminster suspends the Stormont government and introduces direct rule.
1973–74 The Sunningdale Agreement results in a new Northern Ireland Assembly. Unionists oppose the agreement and the Ulster Workers’ Council calls a strike that paralyses the province and brings an end to the Assembly.
1981 Ten Republican prisoners die from going on a hunger strike. The first to die, Bobby Sands, had three weeks earlier been elected to Parliament on an Anti–H-Block ticket. Over 100,000 people attend Sands’ funeral.
1993 Downing Street Declaration is signed by British prime minister John Major and Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds. It states that Britain has no ‘selfish, strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland’.
Mid-1990s Low corporate tax, restraint in government spending, transfer payments from the EU and a low-cost labour market result in the ‘Celtic Tiger’ boom, transforming Ireland into one of Europe’s wealthiest countries.
1994 Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams announces a ‘cessation of violence’ on behalf of the IRA on 31 August. In October the Combined Loyalist Military Command also announces a ceasefire.
1998 On 10 April negotiations culminate in the Good Friday Agreement, under which the new Northern Ireland Assembly is given full legislative and executive authority.
1998 The ‘Real IRA’ detonates a bomb in Omagh, killing 29 people and injuring 200. It is the worst single atrocity in the history of the Troubles, but public outrage and swift action by politicians prevent a Loyalist backlash.
2005 The IRA issues a statement ordering its units not to engage in ‘any other activities’ apart from assisting ‘the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means’.
2007 The Northern Ireland Assembly resumes after a five-year break when talks between Unionists and Republicans remain in stalemate. They resolve their primary issues.
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The Culture
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THE NATIONAL PSYCHE
LIFESTYLE
POPULATION
SPORT
MEDIA
RELIGION
ARTS
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THE NATIONAL PSYCHE
Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.
William Butler Yeats
The Irish are justifiably