Why Ireland Split into the Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland

A brief overview of the history of Ireland and the events that led to the political division of the island.

Including: the Norman and Tudor conquest of Ireland, the break away from the Roman Catholic Church, the Union of the Crowns, the various Irish Rebellions, Oliver Cromwell's effect on Ireland, Irish joining the Union, the Irish War for Independence, the following Civil War, and the recent violence in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles.

MUSIC:
"Lord of the Land" by

[billybobobenner]

Back in the 80's I was walking in Belfast when I was accosted by a masked man, brandishing a gun. He asked "Are you a Catholic or a Protestant"? I replied "Neither, I'm an Atheist". The Gunman was silent for a moment, then finally said "Is that a Catholic Atheist or a Protestant Atheist"?

[xkstfdf]

As an Irish person who grew up just outside of Northern Ireland, I will say that we get on pretty well. Often I would go up to Belfast for days out, and we would have an easy time with the northerners.
Personally, I do think that we should all be one country. But I respect the fact that a lot of Northerners want to stay with Britain as its their home, not mine.
To the people who think it's just about religion, I want to clear it up that yeah, while that's a huge part of it, it's also not just that. Religion, esp back then, was a huge deal in a persons life. What religion you were a part of defined where you lived, who you hung out with, what your ideas were, and who you were. For example: the Catholics were mainly descendants from Irish people, wether as the Protestants were mainly descendants from Irish people who joined with the British, or British people who slowly became Irish, but still kept a lot of English traditions. Soon, as everyone began to call themselves "Irish" or "northern Irish", the only real way to identify who you were aligned with was religion, and that became a sort of excuse.
This, of course, is not always the case. In the video you hear of the French trying to help the Irish rebel, and that was true. The person who tried to get that going was a Protestant called Wolfe Tone, whose mother was French and father from British&Irish descent. He later died in prison after the French failed to land ashore from bad storms, and he was captured by British soldiers.

There was so much left out in this video, as I know you have to keep it short and sweet. Irish history is tied to Britain in such a complicated and interesting way that I understand why people get angry about it-- the Irish and British were honestly so fucking cruel to each other. But it's disappointing that even now people can't forget about it and figure out a way to live peacefully. Saying that, though, we've come a long way- back in 2000 you had to cross the border with passports in your pockets and security searches, but now you can just drive up, go shopping in Victoria square and come back, and that was just in 15 years.
If you've read this far, well done. Sorry for my rambling, it's just I learn this in school and it's satisfying to finally put it to use 😂

[tjello]

In summary:

It was Henry VIII’s fault because he wanted more wives

[imperialwolf]

As a Northern Irish Protestant myself, I have absolutely no ill will to anyone, Catholic or otherwise. I consider myself neither solely Irish or British, I consider myself both. Some of the nicest people I’ve ever met were from the south and honestly hope this divide can heal itself, as unfortunately given recent actions I’m worried about it rearing it’s head again.

[sampowell]

As a Scotsman I think a lot of people are confused, it wasn’t exclusively England but Britain as a whole, the majority of Protestants in NI are descended from Scotland

[Crick]

1000 years of Irish history in under 12 minutes...

Impressive

[stephensmith]

My experience Is Mainly with Northern Ireland, Mostly Belfast But the vast majority of people I know and have met are all 100%. They are very friendly and very genuine. It has been like a second home to me over the years.

[glasgowmcglasgowfacevotegr]

"Why Ireland split" is a bit misleading - it implies it was the decision of the Irish. "Why did Britain conquer and partition Ireland" is more apt. Ah the British - leaving absolute chaos in their wake no matter where they go.

[vikramrao]

Never met an Irishman whom I didn’t like. Always the biggest smile and the most welcoming demeanor. Would love to visit someday.

[FMJIRISH]

... "Split" is an interesting way to say "colonised"

[CraigalFun]

Northern Ireland born and bred. Love the South too. Great people 👏

[mycalltoadventure]

Very informative summery. Obviously there is a lot of details left out, but a complete history would take hours and hours. Great job at condensing it down to 12 min. I’ve read dozens of books on the history of Ireland and after watching this realize I’ve only scratched the surface.

[politicallyabstract]

I'm a Swede, trying to educate my self a bit about this conflict and damn, it's been going on for far longer than I thought.

[Batten-jcws]

Five minutes into this video and my head is spinning so bad that I need a pint of Guinness.

[shaunadamson]

Very well put together, well done! Like many Australians I have both English and Irish ancestry (along with several other nations) so that makes this all the more interesting.

[Shinji_]

Ireland never had an option in splitting it was forcefully partitioned by the British.

[adamgillespie]

He kind of skipped over the reason the Irish rebelled. There was a lot of oppression.

[cbrockbishop]

This story of Ireland reminds me of Edward R Murrows comment about Vietnam, "If you're not confused by what's going on over there, you don't understand the situation..."

[adekajar]

A great source, a lot of information on the conflict, very understandable and detailed, I didn't even know that it went all the way back to the Norman conquest...and how much history the Northern Irish conflict had...Amazing video, highly recommend to anyone who needs info on this!👍👍👍

[nesirosern]

"Occupied", "annexed", "colonised", "conquered", "stolen" are all much better words, but sure I guess "split" works too