Was Ireland ever a united country? Or has it always been divided/two separate kingdoms?

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The whole of Ireland was once part of the United Kingdom, with the whole of Ireland sending MPs to the House of Commons.

At the 1916 UK General Election, it was promised that if Sinn Fein won a majority of Irish seats, Ireland would become independent.

Sinn Fein DID win a majority, though the UK reneged on the promise. The majority of seats held by pro-Union MPS (who wished to remain British) were in the north.

This led to the partition of Ireland in 1921 - 6 counties of the province of Ulster remain part of the UK, the rest, the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign nation state.

Babs

yes it was but you are opening a massive can of worms that there has been conflict over for hundreds of years. Best to go read a few history books on Ireland we have a very rich & interesting past well worth looking into. Then come visit us in lovely Ireland and see it for yourself.

Celtic Tigress (Donegal!)

Of course we were united. Britian ****** it all up.

david d

Ireland has always been seen as a single Nation by the Irish. It was OCCUPIED by the united kingdom (the Irish never voted to be part of the uk) completly after the Act of Union was created in England, but this was always resisted.
As a previous message stated, the uk govt failed to fulfil it's promise to completlye withdraw from Ireland after the vote, mainly to keep the uk conservative party in power (they needed unionist votes to keep their house majority).

leahjane17

it was a united country befor the british ******* us up 700 years ago
if it wasnt for their interference we wud still be united today

tameamseo

The Irish always regarded themselves as one country, but they had different kings and queens in different parts of the country. There was an overall High King, but only some of them really had effective control over the whole island. However, people like Brian Boru would have a real claim to have ruled a united and independent state. Starting in the 12th century, the British occupied Ireland. The country became a part of the British empire, and was still united although not independent.. At this time, some British colonists settled in the country.

After the Irish War of Independence, the descendants of these colonists didn't want to leave the UK. In northeastern Ireland, there were 4 counties where they formed a majority of the population. They threatened to rebel if they were forced to become independent along with the rest of the country. The 4 counties, plus 2 counties that had Nationalist majorities, were put into 'Northern Ireland", which consisted of 6 out of the 9 counties in the province of Ulster. NI remains part of the UK. The other 26 counties are independent. So Ireland has only been partitoned since the War of Independence in the 1920s.

dsclimb1

the troubles go back many centuries, 1920s is just a small part in a big history.

Too much to explain.

old know all

It was all part of the United Kingdom until 1921. It would all have been a single independent state after that date, but the Unionists in the North wanted to remain part of the UK.

cenfath26

Excuse me but we were not always part of the UK until 1921 - see that kind of thinking is what caused all the trouble! Very briefly: Until the mid 1500's Ireland was ruled by Chieftains, even though the country had been granted to the King of England by the only English pope a few centuries before. Norman and English invaders did arrive here, but many married and interbred with the Irish and became practically Irish themselves. The Tudors started the English occupation in earnest, and over the next 100 years or so the Irish Chieftains were defeated, surrendered or in the case of some, fled the country after rebellion (The Flight of the Earls). There were many rebellions between this time and the early 20th century, but in 1916 Irish independence was declared at the Easter Rising in Dublin. In 1948 Ireland was formally declared and recognised a Republic.

Guaranteed Irish!!!

info below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Ireland

http://www.great-britain.co.uk/history/ireland.htm

Cormac D

Well Ireland in the ye old foggy past was divided into 5 provinces Connacht, Leinster, Meath, Munster and Ulster. Pre history times there (by irish historical standards elsewhere the ejyptions were prob makeing librarys) Before that were there really any countrys anywhere anyway?

Fabio M

ireland always, will depend on england, does not matter if it is separete in nothern ireland and repluc of ireland, they will always depend of england

Squirrel

The first nation states didn't exist until about 300 years ago, so in that sense Ireland was never a country until Britain was a country but historically in the pre 12th century period there was a Monarchy operating on the island which was distinct from that of England, Scotland or Wales. It was divided up into 4 kingships with each ruler having a pretty evenly spaced chunk of land they were responsible for. After the waves of various invasions had settled, the Aristocracy which had emerged from the land based wealth system in England had their eyes on available real estate in Ireland having already conquered both Scotland and Wales.
Gradually, the ruling Irish Monarchs were defeated and plantations firmly established. In the north of the country a lot of Scottish people became settled while in the southern parts there were some of English origin, but much more widely displaced. The settlers in the north due to their greater number had over time become more used to defending themselves, while in the south they depended much more on the ruling military power. This led to the Northern settlers being much more entrenched and unlike the mostly absentee English landlords, they saw Ireland as their home. In the meantime, military power was used, sometimes with particular brutality against any group who turned against the landlord system.
This was pretty much the position for a few hundred years until various rebellions - some based on religious belief, others on the idea of an autonomous homeland - stirred things up. From about the late 19th century onwards, the upper/middle classes in Ireland saw the idea of Irish Independence as a reality and things became very hectic, eventually resulting in the war of independence, followed by the civil war. The descendants of the Scots settlers and the rest of the Island were largely divided on religious grounds but the Loyalists in the North, while wishing to remain Irish also felt a historical allegiance to the British Crown and this led to the partitioning of the island, with the North remaining part of the UK. It is arguable that the real reason this was allowed happen was for Militarily strategic purposes, where ships, submarines and aircraft could be based in an almost perfectly sheltered lough, closer to the north atlantic than any of the Scottish bases. In any case I think it is fair to say that yes, Ireland was once a united alliance of Kingdoms but the Island as a whole was never a nation state. Personally, I don't think there were ever grounds for a nation state distinct from Britain on a purely ethnic level, but possibly a political, historic and geographic one.The actual full scoop is obviously many times more complex than this but I think the basic overview is there.

Why When How

The Island of Ireland has never been a united self governing nation (much like Wales). For years it was ruled by Provinsial Kings and Queens. We were never a united country like England and our own infighting (along with many many other reasons) was our downfall.

Orla C

It was politically united until 1921, but it wasn't really before that, not in practical terms.

Most of the Protestant stock that regarded themselves as British were concentrated in the North-East, and everywhere else was predominantly Catholic - but there were large pockets of Protestants in the south.

People were very divided on which was the best way to go when partition was first suggested, which caused the Irish Civil War, which is more or less the storyling in the film 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley'.

smurfy4000

yep in became two countires in 1921 after the irish war of independance, then you had 80years od fighting in the north as the unisoits dont wanna be part of ireland, and the republicans do, if they can force serbia to give up kosovo, why not make ireland into one country like it ought to be

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