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Home Rule?
The Irish begins rioting to establsih own home rule. 75.000 Catholics fought against 100.000 Ulster Volunteers. -
War interrupts
At the outbreak of WW1 the nationalist party and the British agreed to postpone the problem of Home Rule until the end of war, even though the Nationalists were very close to get their own Home Rule -
Revolutionary Nationalists takes over
WW1 was going badly for Britian so a small group of Fenians organised an armed rising in Dublin, called Easter Rising. They took over the General Post Office and declared Ireland an independent republic. -
Revolutionary Natrionalists put to prison
A few days after the armed rising, the British had put the Revolutionary Nationalists to prison, after their failed attempt to declare Ireland and independent republic. -
The triumpf of Sinn Fein
At the general election in 1918 the Irish people had three choices for the future of Ireland. Here they chose comeplete independence and voted for Sinn Fein and the Revolutionary nationalists. Soon after they declared Ireland an independent republic and set up their own parliament. -
British Rearm and Gurerilla war
The British troops was send in to put down the self-proclaimed Irish government. Ulster Protestant was unionists, so the gave full support to the Britsh. The next two years followed a war between the British army and The Irish Republican Army, IRA. -
Divided Ireland
The British government saw no more options than dividing Ireland in to two parts, the North and the South. The North was mainly Protestant Unionists, where as the south was Catholic nationalists. -
Treaty between Ireland the British.
In 1921 Sinn Fein and a group of IRA members signed a treaty with the British government, where it was decided that Ireland becampe an independent republic but still as a part of the british empire. -
Civil War
The treaty with the British caused displeasure amongst many Nationalists. The IRA was divided into two opposing groups, the ones who accepted the treaty and the ones who rejected it. This two sides fought in a civil war, that resulted in a victory for those who accepted it. -
Irish Election and Eamon de Valera
The first 10 yeras after the civil war, the ones who accepted the treaty with the British ruled Ireland. But in the 1932 election they were defeated by Fianna Fail and their leader Eamon de Valera. With two short breaks, he remained in power until 1959, and he build a strong and independent state in the south. -
De Valera's constitution
In 1937 De Valera introduced a new constitution. This called for a united Ireland and said that Northern Ireland had no right to exist.
The new constitution gave special position for the catholic church.
Great efforts were made persuade people to speek Gaelic but Ireland remained largely english speaking. -
A free Ireland
After the constitution de Valera did his best to cut all remaining ties with Britian. It didn't happen until 1949, where de Valera was not at power anymore.