ireland in the 20th century

• political change: until 1920 the island of ireland was a single entity of 32 counties
• ireland was partitioned into 2 separate political entities:

  • northern ireland (6 counties)
  • the free state (later becoming the republic)-26 counties
• it changed through both peaceful democratic efforts:

  • daniel o'connell- catholic emancipation (early 1800s)
  • charles stewart parnell and irish parliamentary party (late 1800s)
  • john redmond (early 1900s)
  • as wll as through violent acts:
  • 1798 uprising
  • easter uprising 1916
  • the war of independence (1919-1921)
• the government of ireland act 1920-the act of the westminister government that created two different states on the island: "northern ireland" and the "irish free state" (partition)
• the unionist party- the dominant political party in northern ireland-could not be challenged because of of the large majority of unionists in elections
• the nationalists party-represented one third of the population
• joe devlin- leader of the nationalist party
• james craig- the prime minister of northern ireland from 1920-1940
• the orange order-a protestant organisation that upholds protestant traditions such as parades and marches
• royal ulster constabulary-an armed police force set up in 1922
• B-specials - a reserve (part time) police force
• the specials powers act (1922)- this gave the RUC and the B-specials wide-ranging powers of arrest and imprisonment
• harland and wolff-the name of the biggest ship building companies in belfast
• gerrymandering - re drawing the boundaries of constituencies to make sure the unionist party always has a majority in elections
• catholics lost their job in the civil service
• some industries operated (unofficial) protestant only recruiting policies
• schools run by the catholic church were given less help that those run by protestants churches
• sectarianism-suspicion of, and often a violent confrontal between two subdivisions of a group; often based on religious ideas

  ie; two different forms of christianity: catholicism and protestantism
• catholics and protestants dock workers co-operated in protesting against job losses
• quickly this co-operation broke down into sectarian riots in 1935