History UsefulNotes / TheIrishQuestion

As a sense of national identity developed, many Catholics became nationalists, seeking independence, or at least local autonomy. Scottish Protestant settlers formed the core of the segment of the Irish people who identified more with Britain, most of which lived around Ulster. That their sympathies would be such was deliberate, as they had been sent to settle for this very purpose; that they settled down in Ulster was more a question of its proximity to Scotland (Ironically, the earliest Scots ''did'' migrate from Ulster centuries ago). Likewise, Dublin had a long history of English immigration, and was a broadly Anglican area. Over time, the Protestant community in and around Dublin came to identify more with Irish culture than their Ulster counterparts (for example, Creator/JonathanSwift, a Dublin-born Englishman, wrote platitudes to the Irish), whose more standoffish faith led them along much more firm religious and eventually nationalist lines.

On the other side of the Irish Sea, hostility was worsened by a truly horrific [[IrishPotatoFamine famine in Ireland]] in the late 1840s, which killed a million and a half people and forced another one-and-a-half-million to go elsewhere. Many Irish believed that it was caused by utter stupidity at best and deliberate malice at worst on the part of London, who preferred starvation in Ireland to chaos in Britain should the former stop exporting food to industrial towns (The famine could have been avoided altogether had there been a basic crop rotation system, or the Irish themselves grew multiple varieties of potato -- both tried-and-true agricultural practice for centuries; this gets glossed over a lot but is important to know, because at the time of most farmers were tenants who could not afford to feed their families any other way). A policy often pointed to is the Corn Law forbidding Irish farmers from growing this crop and thus competing with English ones. They then turned to potatoes, which failed, and the famine struck.

Until 1916, most Irish nationalists were ''not'' republican; most even envisioned an autonomous state which recognizes the sovereignty of the [[BritishRoyalFamily House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]] (later Windsor post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI), often citing Canada as a model. Both [[QueenVicky Queen Victoria]] and [[TheEdwardianEra Edward VII]] were popular and received enthusiastic welcomes on visits to Ireland. Indeed, Victoria had a particular personal fondness for Ireland, often holidaying in Kerry. The full break only came later on when things had gotten worse.

Broadly, most of those who wished for Irish independence were Catholic, and equally broadly those who supported the union of Ireland with England and Scotland ("unionists") were Protestants. Exceptions abounded.

Depending on how you consider it, the Irish Question might cover the whole of Irish-British relations from well before the incomplete Norman conquest during the TheMiddleAges to the present. Usually, however, it refers to the period between 1801 and 1922, when Ireland was formally a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Wales had long been assimilated into English society, while Scotland entered into a mutual agreement (encouraged, according to [[RobertBurns Robbie Burns]], by [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney copious amounts of English gold]] paid to the Scottish negotiators) with England in 1707 to become the Kingdom of Great Britain, which suited the Lowland Scots quite well and the Highland Scots not at all, as they benefited little from the ensuing economic boom and then staged two failed rebellions to destroy the Union and preserve their power. The Kingdom of Great Britain had the Kingdom of Ireland under its thumb for nearly a century by the time the Irish Parliament voted to join the Union and its members went to sit at the National Parliament in Westminster, like everyone else.

There were many political attempts to reconcile Ireland into a Home Rule arrangement that would (like the current devolution of Scotland and Wales) keep Ireland in the UK. The first attempt was shot down. The second attempt passed through the House of Commons but did not make it through the House of Lords. Finally, the third attempt passed through both Houses and even received Royal Assent, but its implementation was not-at-all-co-incidentally delayed by the onset of WorldWarOne - destroying Germany and submerging domestic tensions (safe and humane working conditions, provision of living wages, women's suffrage, the future of Ireland) were the prime motivations for war among the hard-liners in the Liberal-lead Coalition Cabinet, though it was ultimately safe-guarding the post-Napoleonic order that Britain had helped established in 1815 (vis a vis the preservation of Belgian independence) that won over the undecided ministers and the voting public. In 1916, during the war, a couple of hundred radicals staged an armed uprising on Easter Monday in Dublin, and were almost all killed by the army. The public took a dim view of the rising initially, with reactions ranging from bewilderment to outright contempt, considering it something of a betrayal, especially as many Irishmen were then serving with the British Army in France. However, public opinion then changed to general shock and outspoken disapproval at the brutal (by British standards) treatment of the dozens of captured rebels, the somewhat summary execution of many of the surviving leaders, and a Draconian policy of repression to cut down on further would-be-martyrs.

The continued 'revival' of neo-Gaelic culture, and general war-wariness, increased popular support for revolutionary nationalist groups. This was dramatically exacerbated in 1918 when - with the country's manpower reserves exhausted - the possibility of extending the 1916 Conscription Act to Ireland was contemplated by the Cabinet. This was staunchly opposed by many within Ireland, and [[EnemyMine both the Unionist and Nationalist parties condemned the proposal]][[labelnote:*]] The nationalists because it would force them (many had volunteered but nobody wanted to be forced) into what they regarded as a foreign war, the Unionists because it would result in even more Nationalists trained in the use of firearms.[[/labelnote]].

Then came the end of the war and the 1918 general election, which was contested by the newly-relevant Sinn Féin ("We ourselves"), running on a platform of abstention from Westminster and the establishment of an independent Irish Republic. They took the election in a ''massive'' landslide, taking all but two constituencies in the country (outside of the Unionist stronghold of Ulster, naturally) - helped by the fact that Westminster had just granted suffrage to all men over 21 and women over 30, giving the nationalist majority the electoral advantage for the first time (A textbook case of NiceJobFixingItVillain from the Nationalist perspective). They also elected Countess Constance Markievicz, the first woman elected as MP to Westminster, though of course she would never sit there. Soon afterwards the Irish Parliamentary Party (moderate nationalists who were the principal drivers behind Home Rule since the 1870s) would dwindle to nothing, replaced by Sinn Féin as the main political force in Ireland. Sinn Féin formed the First Dáil Éireann in January of 1919 and began the long task of setting up the architecture of state. That same day, however, [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishRevolution the War of Independence began]]. Assassinations of officials and acts of violence against and murders of 'pro-English' citizens increased exponentially, and resulted in increasingly heavy-handed government repression with many dozens of terrorists being beaten, arrested, killed extra-judicially, sentenced to prison and hanged. The decision to recruit WWI veterans to serve as armed policemen (the 'Black and Tans' and 'Auxies') in particular proved to be a bad move, as they hired people trained and indoctrinated to exact vengeance upon a hated enemy for use in a delicate domestic political situation that called for a great deal of understanding and self-restraint. [[note]] The millions-strong British Army of 1916 onwards was a vastly different beast to the 100 000-strong peacetime army of 1914 (not least because the latter were dead to a man). The cycle of revenge on The Western Front had made many if not most of the army's surviving members into bitter and vengeance-driven people who lived for the opportunity to (brutally) murder the hated enemy (in hand-to-hand-combat). This was a far cry from the 'live and let live' attitudes of 1914 which the leadership of both sides had tried so hard to eradicate.[[/note]] Even those 'Black and Tans' who ''did not'' [[ShellShockedVeteran have a psychological dependency on warfare]] or [[BloodKnight sign up for the opportunity to kill people]] [[SociopathicSoldier with impunity]] had received fundamentally different training and conditioning for what their new role required.

Hundreds died in the cycle of violence and (increasingly lethal) repression that followed until the [[TheIrishRevolution Irish War of Independence]] was concluded with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. The Irish Free State was made independent, while Northern Ireland remained British. Following this some Free Irish republican nationalists disagreed with the terms of the Treaty, and there followed a brief and bitter civil war [[{{Irony}} that killed more than The War For Independence]]. The civil war still affects [[UsefulNotes/IrishPoliticalSystem Irish politics to this day]]--the two major modern parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are descendants of the Anti- and Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin factions, respectively. The Civil War is the ElephantInTheLivingRoom in Irish culture, and doesn't get mentioned much for fear of causing offence; notable exceptions are Sean O'Casey's play ''Juno and the Paycock'' and the recent Ken Loach Film ''TheWindThatShakesTheBarley''.) The Irish Free State eventually went on to become the current state of Ireland by unilateral declaration in 1949 (but they didn't change the license plates until 1987). For Northern Ireland see TheTroubles.

The conventional, conciliatory view is that British people should [[InnocentlyInsensitive bear in mind the people who were imprisoned or died as a result of repression and neglect/mismanagement by British governments]]. Likewise it is held that Irish people would be much happier, and find dealing with British people much easier, if they could be more forgiving and less bitter/vindictive about what happened to long-dead people they merely share an island with - an equally amazing number of Irish people will blame (all) Irish problems on Britain[[note]]regardless of where the actual cause or fault may lie, and regardless of the obviousness of said actual cause/fault[[/note]]. In certain places there are people still holding grievances (and 'grievances'[[note]]sometimes regarding ''individual people''[[/note]] dating back ''centuries'').

British-Irish relations are, after all, important to both countries - and neither a culture of historical ignorance nor one of victimisation and grudge-holding is healthy - or, incidentally, a recipe for future harmony between two very close geographical, economic, and cultural neighbours.

Depending on how you consider it, the Irish Question might cover the whole of Irish-British relations from well before the incomplete Norman conquest during the TheMiddleAges to the present. Usually, however, it refers to the period between 1801 and 1922, when Ireland was formally a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Wales had long been assimilated into English society, while Scotland entered into a mutual agreement (encouraged, according to [[RobertBurns Robbie Burns]], by [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney copious amounts of English gold]] paid to the Scottish negotiators) with England in 1707 to become the Kingdom of Great Britain, which suited the Lowland Scots quite well and the Highland Scots not at all, as they benefited little from the ensuing economic boom and then staged two failed rebellions to destroy the Union and preserve their power. The United Kingdom had the Kingdom of Ireland under its thumb for nearly a century by the time the Irish Parliament voted to join the Union and its members went to sit at the National Parliament in Westminster, like everyone else.

The continued 'revival' of neo-Gaelic culture, and general war-wariness, increased popular support for revolutionary nationalist groups. This was dramatically exacerbated in 1918 when - with the country's manpower reserves exhausted - the possibility of extending the 1916 Conscription Act to Ireland was contemplated by the Cabinet. This was staunchly opposed by many within Ireland, and [[EnemyMine both the Unionist and Nationalist parties condemned the proposal]]. Soon afterwards the Irish Parliamentary Party (moderate nationalists who supported Home Rule) was replaced by Sinn Fein as the main political force in Ireland. Assassinations of officials and acts of violence against and murders of 'pro-English' citizens increased exponentially, and resulted in increasingly heavy-handed government repression with many dozens of terrorists being beaten, arrested, killed extrajudicially, sentenced to prison and hanged. The decision to recruit WWI veterans to serve as armed policemen (the 'Black and Tans' and 'Auxies') in particular proved to be a bad move, as they hired people trained and indoctrinated to exact vengeance upon a hated enemy for use in a delicate domestic political situation that called for a great deal of understanding and self-restraint. [[note]] The millions-strong British Army of 1916 onwards was a vastly different beast to the 100 000-strong peacetime army of 1914 (not least because the latter were dead to a man). The cycle of revenge on The Western Front had made many if not most of the army's surviving members into bitter and vengeance-driven people who lived for the opportunity to (brutally) murder the hated enemy (in hand-to-hand-combat). This was a far cry from the 'live and let live' attitudes of 1914 which the leadership of both sides had tried so hard to eradicate.[[/note]] Even those 'Black and Tans' who ''did not'' [[ShellShockedVeteran have a psychological dependency on warfare]] or [[BloodKnight sign up for the opportunity to kill people]] [[SociopathicSoldier with impunity]] had received fundamentally different training and conditioning for what their new role required.

Hundreds died in the cycle of violence and (increasingly lethal) repression that followed until the [[TheIrishRevolution Irish War of Independence]] was concluded with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. The Irish Free State was made independent, while Northern Ireland remained British. Following this some Free Irish republican nationalists disagreed with the terms of the Treaty, and there followed a brief and bitter civil war [[{{Irony}} that killed more than The War For Independence]]. The civil war still affects [[UsefulNotes/IrishPoliticalSystem Irish politics to this day]]--the two major modern parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are descendants of the Anti- and Pro-Treaty Sinn Fein factions, respectively. The Civil War is the ElephantInTheLivingRoom in Irish culture, and doesn't get mentioned much for fear of causing offence; notable exceptions are Sean O'Casey's play ''Juno and the Paycock'' and the recent Ken Loach Film ''TheWindThatShakesTheBarley''.) The Irish Free State eventually went on to become the current state of Ireland by unilateral declaration in 1949 (but they didn't change the license plates until 1987). For Northern Ireland see TheTroubles.

Until 1916, most Irish nationalists were ''not'' republican; most even envisioned an autonomous state which recognizes the sovereignty of the [[BritishRoyalFamily House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]] (later Windsor post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI), often citing Canada as a model. Both [[QueenVicky Queen Victoria]] and [[TheEdwardianAge Edward VII]] were popular and received enthusiastic welcomes on visits to Ireland. Indeed, Victoria had a particular personal fondness for Ireland, often holidaying in Kerry. The full break only came later on when things had gotten worse.

There were many political attempts to reconcile Ireland into a Home Rule arrangement that would (like the current devolution of Scotland and Wales) keep Ireland in the UK. The first attempt was shot down. The second attempt passed through the House of Commons but did not make it through the House of Lords. Finally, the third attempt passed through both Houses and even received Royal Assent, but its implementation was not-at-all-co-incidentally delayed by the onset of WorldWarOne - destroying Germany and submerging domestic tensions (safe and humane working conditions, liveable wages, female voting rights, the future of Ireland) were the prime motivations for war among the hard-liners in the Liberal-lead Coalition Cabinet, though it was ultimately safe-guarding the post-Napoleonic order that Britain had helped established in 1815 (vis a vis the preservation of Belgian independence) that won over the undecided ministers and the voting public. In 1916, during the war, a couple of hundred radicals staged an armed uprising on Easter Monday in Dublin, and were almost all killed by the army. The public took a dim view of the rising intially, with reactions ranging from bewilderment to outright contempt, considering it something of a betrayal, especially as many Irishmen were then serving with the British Army in France. However, public opinion then changed to general shock and outspoken disapproval at the brutal (by British standards) treatment of the dozens of captured rebels, the somewhat summary execution of many of the surviving leaders, and a Draconian policy of repression to cut down on further would-be-martyrs.

Given the nature of the "United Kingdom", it's natural to ask why there was not a Cornish Question, or a Welsh Question, or a Scottish Question, or even an English Question (Actually, there is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_Question sort of an English Question]], as well as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence_referendum,_2014 2014's Scotland question]]). The answer is simple: they had very little sense of nationalism as we know it today and shared a broad non-Catholic allegiance with each other by the time of the Union of England and Scotland, both of Anglican and Calvinist leanings, respectively. Most Irishmen, on the other hand, are Roman Catholic. [[ForWantOfANail One can only wonder how different the fates of Britain and Ireland would have been had a certain English monarch not been so eager for a divorce]].

Depending on how you consider it, the Irish Question might cover the whole of Irish-British relations from well before the incomplete Norman conquest during the TheMiddleAges to the present. Usually, however, it refers to the period between 1801 and 1922, when Ireland was formally a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Wales had long been assimilated into English society, while Scotland entered into a mutual agreement (encouraged, according to RobbieBurns, by [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney copious amounts of English gold]] paid to the Scottish negotiators) with England in 1707 to become the Kingdom of Great Britain, which suited the Lowland Scots quite well and the Highland Scots not at all, as they benefited little from the ensuing economic boom and then staged two failed rebellions to destroy the Union and preserve their power. The United Kingdom had the Kingdom of Ireland under its thumb for nearly a century by the time the Irish Parliament voted to join the Union and its members went to sit at the National Parliament in Westminster, like everyone else.

Depending on how you consider it, the Irish Question might cover the whole of Irish-British relations from well before the incomplete Norman conquest during the TheMiddleAges to the present. Usually, however, it refers to the period between 1801 and 1922, when Ireland was formally a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Wales had long been assimilated into English society, while Scotland entered into a mutual agreement with England in 1707 to become the Kingdom of Great Britain, which suited the Lowland Scots quite well and the Highland Scots not at all, as they benefited little from the ensuing economic boom and then staged two failed rebellions to destroy the Union and preserve their power. The United Kingdom had the Kingdom of Ireland under its thumb for nearly a century by the time the Irish Parliament voted to join the Union and its members went to sit at the National Parliament in Westminster, like everyone else.

There were many political attempts to reconcile Ireland into a Home Rule arrangement that would (like the current devolution of Scotland and Wales) keep Ireland in the UK. The first attempt was shot down. The second attempt passed through the House of Commons but did not make it through the House of Lords. Finally, the third attempt passed through both Houses and even received Royal Assent, but its implementation was delayed by the onset of WorldWarOne. In 1916, during the war, a couple of hundred radicals staged an armed uprising on Easter Monday in Dublin, and were almost all killed by the army. The public took a dim view of the rising intially, with reactions ranging from bewilderment to outright contempt, considering it something of a betrayal, especially as many Irishmen were then serving with the British Army in France. However, public opinion then changed to general shock and outspoken disapproval at the brutal (by British standards) treatment of the dozens of captured rebels, the somewhat summary execution of many of the surviving leaders, and a Draconian policy of repression to cut down on further would-be-martyrs.

The continued 'revival' of neo-Gaelic culture, and general war-wariness, increased popular support for revolutionary nationalist groups. This was dramatically exacerbated in 1918 when - with the country's manpower reserves exhausted - the possibility of extending the 1916 Conscription Act to Ireland was contemplated by the Cabinet. This was staunchly opposed by many within Ireland, and [[EnemyMine both the Unionist and Nationalist parties condemned the proposal]]. Soon afterwards the Irish Parliamentary Party (moderate nationalists who supported Home Rule) was replaced by Sinn Fein as the main political force in Ireland. Assassinations of officials and acts of violence against and murders of 'pro-English' citizens increased exponentially, and resulted in increasingly heavy-handed government repression with many dozens of terrorists being beaten, arrested, killed extrajudicially, sentenced to prison and hanged. The decision to recruit WWI veterans to serve as armed policemen (the 'Black and Tans' and 'Auxies') in particular proved to be a bad move, as they hired people trained and indoctrinated to exact vengeance upon a hated enemy for use in a delicate domesetic political situation that called for a great deal of understanding and self-restraint. [[note]] The millions-strong British Army of 1916 onwards was a vastly different beast to the 100 000-strong peacetime army of 1914 (not least because the latter were dead to a man). The cycle of revenge on The Western Front had made many if not most of the army's surviving members into bitter and vengeance-driven people who lived for the opportunity to (brutally) murder the hated enemy (in hand-to-hand-combat). This was a far cry from the 'live and let live' attitudes of 1914 which the leadership of both sides had tried so hard to eradicate.[[/note]] Even those 'Black and Tans' who ''did not'' [[ShellShockedVeteran have a psychological dependency on warfare]] or [[BloodKnight sign up for the opportunity to kill people]] [[SociopathicSoldier with impunity]] had received fundamentally different training and conditioning for what their new role required.

Given the nature of the "United Kingdom", it's natural to ask why there was not a Cornish Question, or a Welsh Question, or a Scottish Question, or even an English Question (Actually, there is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_Question sort of an English Question]], as well as one [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence_referendum,_2014 2014's Scotland question]]). The answer is simple: they had very little sense of nationalism as we know it today and shared a broad non-Catholic allegiance with each other by the time of the Union of England and Scotland, both of Anglican and Calvinist leanings, respectively. Most Irishmen, on the other hand, are Roman Catholic. [[ForWantOfANail One can only wonder how different the fates of Britain and Ireland would have been had a certain English monarch not been so eager for a divorce]].

Given the nature of the "United Kingdom", it's natural to ask why there was not a Cornish Question, or a Welsh Question, or a Scottish Question, or even an English Question (Actually, there is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_Question sort of an English Question]], as well as one [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence_referendum,_2014 from Scotland coming sometime in 2014]]). The answer is simple: they had very little sense of nationalism as we know it today and shared a broad non-Catholic allegiance with each other by the time of the Union of England and Scotland, both of Anglican and Calvinist leanings, respectively. Most Irishmen, on the other hand, are Roman Catholic. [[ForWantOfANail One can only wonder how different the fates of Britain and Ireland would have been had a certain English monarch not been so eager for a divorce]].

The continued 'revival' of neo-Gaelic culture, and general war-wariness, increased popular support for revolutionary nationalist groups. This was dramatically exacerbated in 1918 when - with the country's manpower reserves exhausted - the possibility of extending the 1916 Conscription Act to Ireland was contemplated by the Cabinet. This was staunchly opposed by many within Ireland, and [[EnemyMine both the Unionist and Nationalist parties condemned the proposal]]. Soon afterwards the Irish Parliamentary Party (moderate nationalists who supported Home Rule) was replaced by Sinn Fein as the main political force in Ireland. Assassinations of officials and acts of violence against and murders of 'pro-English' citizens increased exponentially, and resulted in increasingly heavy-handed government repression with many dozens of terrorists being beaten, arrested, killed extrajudicially, sentenced to prison and hanged. The decision to recruit WWI veterans to serve as armed policemen (the 'Black and Tans' and 'Auxies') in particular proved to be a bad move, as they hired people trained and indoctrinated to exact vengeance upon a hated enemy for use in a delicate domesetic political situation that called for a great deal of understanding and self-restraint. [[note]] The millions-strong British Army of 1916 onwards was a vastly different beast to the 100 000-strong peacetime army of 1914 (not least because the latter were dead to a man). The cycle of revenge on The Western Front had made many if not most of the army's surviving members into bitter and vengeance-driven people who lived for the opportunity to (brutally) murder the hated enemy (in hand-to-hand-combat). This was a far cry from the 'live and let live' attitudes of 1914 which the leadership of both sides had tried so hard to eradicate.[[/note]] Even those 'Black and Tans' who ''did not'' [[ShellShockedVeteran have a psychological dependency on warfare]] or [[BloodKnight sign up for the opportunity to kill people]] [[SociopathicSoldier with impunity]] had received fundamentally different training and conditioning (kill the hated enemy with extreme gusto and prejudice, there's a good man) for what their new role required (let the unseen not-enemy try to kill you but don't you dare hurt them or anyone else when you defend yourself, you worthless monster).

Hundreds died in the cycle of terrorism and (increasingly lethal) repression that followed until the [[TheIrishRevolution Irish War of Independence]] was concluded with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. The Irish Free State was made independent, while Northern Ireland remained British. Following this some Free Irish republican nationalists disagreed with the terms of the Treaty, and there followed a brief and bitter civil war [[{{Irony}} that killed more than The War For Independence]]. The civil war still affects [[UsefulNotes/IrishPoliticalSystem Irish politics to this day]]--the two major modern parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are descendants of the Anti- and Pro-Treaty Sinn Fein factions, respectively. The Civil War is the ElephantInTheLivingRoom in Irish culture, and doesn't get mentioned much for fear of causing offence; notable exceptions are Sean O'Casey's play ''Juno and the Paycock'' and the recent Ken Loach Film ''TheWindThatShakesTheBarley''.) The Irish Free State eventually went on to become the current state of Ireland by unilateral declaration in 1949 (but they didn't change the license plates until 1987). For Northern Ireland see TheTroubles.

British-Irish relations are, after all, important to both countries - and neither a culture of historical ignorance nor one of victimisation and grudge-holding is healthy[[note]]though the latter culture would be an ''excellent'' basis for justifying a 'national' culture of 'Revanchism' in preparation for [[WarOf1812 a War of Irish Liberation/Second Irish Revolution (to seize British/Northern Ireland)]][[/note]] - or, incidentally, a recipe for future harmony between two very close geographical, economic, and cultural neighbours.

Ever-so vaguely: "What do we, 'the British', do about 'Ireland' and 'the Irish'?" It is a "Question", because many languages use the same word for it and do not make a real distinction between "question" and "problem". German (whose roots are most similar to those of English, Dutch/Flemish aside) and Mandarin Chinese (the world's most-spoken first language) are two such languages.

Depending on how you consider it, the Irish Question might cover the whole of Irish-British relations from well before the incomplete Norman conquest during the TheMiddleAges to the present. Usually, however, it refers to the period between 1801 and 1922, when Ireland was formally a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Wales had long been assimilated into English society, while Scotland entered into a mutual agreement with England in 1707 to become the Kingdom of Great Britain, which suited the Lowland Scots quite well but was much to the consternation of Highland Scots, who benefited little from the ensuing economic boom such that they staged two failed rebellions to destroy the Union and preserve their power. The United Kingdom had the Kingdom of Ireland under its thumb for nearly a century by the time the Irish Parliament voted to join the Union and its members went to sit at the National Parliament in Westminster, like everyone else.

Depending on how you consider it, the Irish Question might cover the whole of Irish-British relations from well before the incomplete Norman conquest during the TheMiddleAges to the present. Usually, however, it refers to the period between 1801 and 1922, when Ireland was formally a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Wales had long been assimilated into English society, while Scotland entered into a mutual agreement with England in 1707 to become the Kingdom of Great Britain, much to the consternation of Highland Scots who benefited little from the ensuing economic boom such that they staged two failed rebellions to destroy the Union and preserve their power. The United Kingdom had the Kingdom of Ireland under its thumb for nearly a century by the time the Irish Parliament voted to join the Union and its members went to sit at the National Parliament in Westminster, like everyone else.

The situation was soured by an undeniable streak of anti-Irish feeling in Britain. The Irish were often ridiculed in newspapers and magazines, portrayed as shambling ape-like thugs in political cartoon (such as the image above), are deemed unfit for self-government even by better-minded Britons, and are often despised (and feared) for their poverty, [[FightingIrish propensity for violence]], and -- above all -- their insistence on their Catholic faith. Since the sixteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church is frequently identified with {{Evil Foreigner}}s seeking to invade and destroy British culture; against the backdrop of the Spanish Armada, the Gunpowder Plot, the Jacobite uprisings, and near-constant war with France, it is easy to see why British Catholics are almost always treated with suspicion. This view changed over the course of the 19th century, as anti-Irish rancor faded and by the late 1880s had largely died down.

As a sense of national identity developed, many Catholics became nationalists, seeking independence, or at least local autonomy. Scottish Protestant settlers formed the core of the segment of the Irish people who identified more with Britain, most of which lived around Ulster. That their sympathies would be such was deliberate, as they had been sent to settle for this very purpose; that they settled down in Ulster was more a question of its proximity to Scotland (Ironically, the earliest Scots ''did'' migrate from Ulster centuries ago). Likewise, Dublin had a long history of English immigration, and was a broadly Anglican area. Over time, the Protestant community in and around Dublin came to identify more with Irish culture than their Ulster counterparts (for example, JonathanSwift, a Dublin-born Englishman, wrote platitudes to the Irish), whose more standoffish faith led them along much more firm religious and eventually nationalist lines.

The situation was soured by an undeniable streak of anti-Irish feeling in Britain[[note]]Continuing sixteenth-century policies of identifying Catholicism with nasty evil foreigners, during the penal era anti-Catholicism was reflected in government policy, by Catholics forbidden to vote, hold public offices, or participate with civil society in many other ways. It has been argued that the excommunication of Elizabeth in 1570 provided the ideal opportunity for the Cecil administration to implement its abiding achievement: the propagation of the idea it was impossible to be a Catholic and a good Englishman. Against the historical backdrop of the Spanish Armada, Gunpowder Plot, Civil War, the flight of James II, the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, and almost constant war with France, it is easy to see how anti-Catholic, anti-foreign (specifically, Spanish and of course French) feeling was easily sustained in the nation's consciousness. In that context, vehement anti-Catholicism was found in both the mainstream press and satirical journals. Rome was Babylon, and the Pope its Whore: he was the Scarlet Lady, the Antichrist, whose followers were enslaved in his service, and who would cheerfully murder all good Protestants in their beds, given the chance.[[/note]]. The Irish were despised (and often feared) for their Catholicism, poverty and perceived recourse to violence. The Irish were regularly mocked in British newspapers and magazines, portrayed as shambling grotesque ape-like thugs in political cartoons - see the picture on this page. Even the better-minded Britons tended to view the Irish as being unfit to govern themselves. This view changed over the course of the 19th century, as anti-Irish rancor faded and by the late 1880s had largely died down.

On the Irish side, hostility was worsened by a truly horrific [[IrishPotatoFamine famine in Ireland]] in the late 1840s, in which over a million people died and many more were forced to emigrate. Many Irish people believed and still do that it was caused by at best stupidity and at worst deliberate malice on the part of the British government, who preferred starvation in Ireland to the chaos in Britain that would result if Ireland stopped exporting food to industrial towns.[[note]]It should be noted that the worst of the famine could have been avoided altogether if there had been even a basic system of crop rotation in Ireland, or the Irish themselves grew more than one variety of potato. Not a case of ScienceMarchesOn as both the importance of crop rotation and crop variety had been a staple of sound agricultural practice for centuries already. This point gets glossed over a lot but is important to know. The reason for this is because at the time of the great Potato famine most were tenant farmers who could not afford to feed their families any other way.[[/note]]. A policy often pointed to is the Corn Law forbidding Irish farmers from growing this crop and competing with English ones. They then turned to potatoes, which failed, and the famine struck.

Note that, until 1916, most Irish nationalists were ''not'' republican; most envisaged even a mostly independent Ireland being ruled by [[BritishRoyalFamily the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]] and Canada was often cited as a model for Ireland. Both [[QueenVicky Queen Victoria]] and [[TheEdwardianAge Edward VII]] were popular and received enthusiastic welcomes on visits to Ireland. Indeed, Victoria had a particular personal fondness for Ireland, often holidaying in Kerry. The full break only came later on when things had gotten worse.

[[caption-width-right:250:[[TheSimpsons A Completely Unbiased Comparison.]]]]

Ever-so vaguely: "What do we, 'the British', do about 'Ireland' and 'the Irish'?" 'Question', because, many languages use the same word for and do not make a real distinction between the English-language words 'question' and 'problem'. German (whose roots are most similar to those of English, Dutch/Flemish aside) and Mandarin Chinese (the world's most-spoken 'first language') are two such languages.

Many modern countries were once British protectorates, or administered by Britain as part of her Empire proper. Ireland is unique in actually having been an integrated ''part'' of the United Kingdom (of England[+Wales], Scotland, and Ireland), in the same way Poland was once divided up between and integrated into Prussia, Austria and Russia in the 18th century. Like in Poland, proto-nationalism in Ireland never quite died in spite of this due to Napoleon I's establishment of a semi-independent 'Grand Duchy of Poland' and the sentiments of the literate elite who composed the vanguard of nationalism as we know it today in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Depending on how you consider it The Irish Question might cover the whole of Irish-British relations from well before the incomplete Norman Conquest during the TheMiddleAges to the present day. Usually, however, it refers to the period between 1801 and 1922 when Ireland was formally a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Wales had long-since been conquered and pacified by the English when the country was formally integrated into England and and its ruling elite into English society in 1536. England and Scotland later, by mutual agreement, formed the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 - to the consternation of the Highland Scots Clans who benefited little from the economic boom which followed, such that they staged two failed rebellions to destroy the new country and preserve their own power. The United Kingdom had had the Kingdom of Ireland well and truly under its own thumb for nearly a century by the time the Irish Parliament voted to join the union and its members went to sit at the National Parliament in Westminster, like everyone else.

Given the nature of the 'United Kingdom,' it's natural to ask why there was not a Cornish Question, or a Welsh Question, or a Scottish Question, or even an English Question[[note]]Actually, there is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_Question sorth of an English Question]], as well as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence_referendum,_2014 Scottish question]][[/note]]. The answer is simple, really; these peoples had very little sense of nationalism as we know it today and shared a broad non-Catholic allegiance with each other by the time of the Union of England and Scotland in 1707. Scotland was strongly Calvinist, and England (inc. Wales and Cornwall) was broadly Anglican. Most people in Ireland were, on the other hand, Catholic. [[ForWantOfANail This does make one wonder how British and Irish history would have been different had a certain King of England not been so eager for a divorce]].

As senses of national identity developed many Catholics in Ireland became Irish Nationalists -- wanting independence or at least autonomy in running their own local government rather than sitting at Westminster. Scottish Protestant settlers in Ireland formed the core of those people in Ireland who came to identify more with 'Britain' and British nationalism, most of these living in the areas around Ulster. That their sympathies would be such was deliberate, as they had been sent to settle for this very purpose; that they happened to live in Ulster was more a question of its proximity to Scotland[[note]]Ironically, the people who became the Scots migrated there from the Ulster area of Ireland to begin with-centuries later some of them went back[[/note]]. Dublin had a long history of English settlement by this time, and was a broadly Anglican area. Over time, the Protestant community in and around Dublin came to integrate more with Irish culture than their Ulster counterparts,[[note]]For instance JonathanSwift, an Anglican born in Dublin but thoroughly English by ancestry, defended Ireland as early as the 1690s[[/note]] whose more stand-offish faith led them along much more firmer religious and eventually nationalist lines.

Ever-so vaguely: "What do we, 'the British', do about 'Ireland' and 'the Irish'?" 'Question', because, many languages use the same word for and do not make a real distinction between the English-language words 'question' and 'problem'. German (whose roots are most similar to those of English) and Mandarin Chinese (the world's most-spoken 'first language') are two such languages.

Ever-so vaguely: "What do we, 'the British', do about 'Ireland' and 'the Irish'?"

A significant symbolic step towards reconciliation was made in 2011, with Queen Elizabeth II making a state visit to Ireland -- the first visit from a British monarch since King George V's visit in 1911, and the first ever since Ireland gained independence. Although subject to criticism and protest from numerous quarters, the visit was widely regarded as a success and the Queen widely praised, particularly for a speech delivered at a state dinner in which she both acknowledged the regrettable past between the two nations while asserting how much closer, richer, and happier the British and Irish peoples have gotten since then.

A significant symbolic step towards reconciliation was made in 2011, with Queen Elizabeth II making a state visit to Ireland -- the first visit from a British monarch since King George V's visit in 1911, and the first ever since Ireland gained independence. Although subject to criticism and protest from numerous quarters, the visit was widely regarded as a success and the Queen widely praised, particularly for a speech delivered at a state dinner in which she both acknowledged the regrettable past between the two nations while asserting the significant developments that had been made since then.

The continued 'revival' of neo-Gaelic culture, and general war-wariness, increased popular support for revolutionary nationalist groups. This was dramatically exacerbated in 1918 when - with the country's manpower reserves exhausted - the possibility of extending the 1916 Conscription Act to Ireland was contemplated by the Cabinet. This was staunchly opposed by many within Ireland, and [[EnemyMine both the Unionist and Nationalist parties condemned the proposal]]. Soon afterwards the Irish Parliamentary Party (moderate nationalists who supported Home Rule) was replaced by Sinn Fein as the main political force in Ireland. Assassinations of officials and acts of violence against and murders of 'pro-English' citizens increased exponentially, and resulted in increasingly heavy-handed government repression with many dozens of terrorists being beaten, arrested, killed extrajudicially, sentenced to prison and hanged. The decision to recruit WWI veterans to serve as armed policemen (the 'Black and Tans' and 'Auxies') in particular proved to be a bad move, as they hired people trained and indoctrinated to exact vengeance upon a hated enemy for use in a delicate domesetic political situation that called for a great deal of understanding and self-restraint. [[note]] The millions-strong British Army of 1916 onwards was a vastly different beast to the 100 000-strong peacetime army of 1914 (not least because the latter were dead to a man). The cycle of revenge on The Western Front had made many if not most of the army's surviving members into bitter and vengeance-driven people who lived for the opportunity to (brutally) murder the hated enemy (in hand-to-hand-combat). This was a far cry from the 'live and let live' attitudes of 1914 which the leadership of both sides had tried so hard to eradicate.[[/note]] Even those 'Black and Tans' who ''did not'' [[ShellShockedVeteran have a psychological dependency on warfare]] or [[BloodKnight sign up for the opportunity to kill people]] [[SociopathicSoldier with impunity]] had received fundamentally different training and conditioning (kill the hated enemy with extreme gusto and prejudice, there's a good man) for what their new role required (get shot at but try to avoid firing back or hurting anyone, you worthless monster).

The continued 'revival' of neo-Gaelic culture, and general war-wariness, increased popular support for revolutionary nationalist groups. This was dramatically exacerbated in 1918 when - with the country's manpower reserves exhausted - the possibility of extending the 1916 Conscription Act to Ireland was contemplated by the Cabinet. This was staunchly opposed by many within Ireland, and [[EnemyMine both the Unionist and Nationalist parties condemned the proposal]]. Soon afterwards the Irish Parliamentary Party (moderate nationalists who supported Home Rule) was replaced by Sinn Fein as the main political force in Ireland. Assassinations of officials and acts of violence against and murders of 'pro-English' citizens increased exponentially, and resulted in increasingly heavy-handed government repression with many dozens of terrorists being beaten, arrested, killed extrajudicially, sentenced to prison and hanged. The decision to recruit WWI veterans to serve as armed policemen (the 'Black and Tans' and 'Auxies') in particular proved to be a bad move, as they hired people trained and indoctrinated to exact vengeance upon a hated enemy for use in a delicate domesetic political situation that called for a great deal of understanding and self-restraint. [[note]] The millions-strong British Army of 1916 onwards was a vastly different beast to the 100 000-strong peacetime army of 1914 (not least because the latter were dead to a man). The cycle of revenge on The Western Front had made many if not most of the army's surviving members into bitter and vengeance-driven people who lived for the opportunity to kill an enemy - a far cry from the 'live and let live' attitudes of 1914 which the leadership of both sides had tried so hard to eradicate.[[/note]] Even those 'Black and Tans' who ''did not'' [[ShellShockedVeteran have a psychological dependency on warfare]] or [[BloodKnight sign up for the opportunity to kill people]] [[SociopathicSoldier with impunity]] had received fundamentally different training and conditioning (kill the hated enemy with extreme gusto and prejudice, there's a good man) for what their new role required (get shot at but try to avoid firing back or hurting anyone, you worthless monster).

The continued 'revival' of neo-Gaelic culture, and general war-wariness, increased popular support for revolutionary nationalist groups. This was dramatically exacerbated in 1918 when - with the country's manpower reserves exhausted - the possibility of extending the 1916 Conscription Act to Ireland was contemplated by the Cabinet. This was staunchly opposed by many within Ireland, and [[EnemyMine both the Unionist and Nationalist parties condemned the proposal]]. Soon afterwards the Irish Parliamentary Party (moderate nationalists who supported Home Rule) was replaced by Sinn Fein as the main political force in Ireland. Assassinations of officials and acts of violence against and murders of 'pro-English' citizens increased exponentially, and resulted in increasingly heavy-handed government repression with many dozens of terrorists being beaten, arrested, killed extrajudicially, sentenced to prison and hanged. The decision to recruit WWI veterans to serve as armed policemen (the 'Black and Tans' and 'Auxies') in particular proved to be a bad move, as they hired people trained and indoctrinated to exact vengeance upon a hated enemy for use in a delicate domesetic political situation that called for a great deal of understanding and self-restraint. [[note]] The millions-strong British Army of 1916 was a vastly different beast to the 100 000-strong peacetime army of 1914 (not least because the latter were dead to a man). The cycle of revenge on The Western Front had made many if not most of the army's surviving members into bitter and vengeance-driven people who lived for the opportunity to kill an enemy - a far cry from the 'live and let live' attitudes of 1914 which the leadership of both sides had tried so hard to eradicate.[[/note]] Even those 'Black and Tans' who ''did not'' [[ShellShockedVeteran have a psychological dependency on warfare]] or [[BloodKnight sign up for the opportunity to kill people]] [[SociopathicSoldier with impunity]] had received fundamentally different training and conditioning (kill the hated enemy with extreme gusto and prejudice, there's a good man) for what their new role required (get shot at but try to avoid firing back or hurting anyone, you worthless monster).

Many modern countries were once British protectorates, or administered by Britain as part of her Empire proper. Ireland is unique in actually having been an integrated ''part'' of the United Kingdom, in the same way Poland was once divided up between and integrated into Prussia, Austria and Russia. Like in Poland, proto-nationalism in Ireland never quite died in spite of this, mostly due to the sentiments of the literate elite who composed the vanguard of nationalism as we know it today in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The continued 'revival' of neo-Gaelic culture, and general war-wariness, increased popular support for revolutionary nationalist groups. This was dramatically exacerbated in 1918 when - with the country's manpower reserves exhausted - the possibility of extending the 1916 Conscription Act to Ireland was contemplated by the Cabinet. This was staunchly opposed by many within Ireland, and [[EnemyMine both the Unionist and Nationalist parties condemned the proposal]]. Soon afterwards the Irish Parliamentary Party (moderate nationalists who supported Home Rule) was replaced by Sinn Fein as the main political force in Ireland. Assassinations of officials and acts of violence against and murders of 'pro-English' citizens increased exponentially, and resulted in increasingly heavy-handed government repression with many dozens of terrorists being beaten, arrested, killed extrajudicially, sentenced to prison and hanged. The decision to recruit WWI veterans to serve as armed policemen (the 'Black and Tans' and 'Auxies') in particular proved to be a bad move, as the screening process was minimal - many of those who signed up were more often than not either suffering from shell-shock, or [[SociopathicSoldier had enjoyed the war a bit too much]] and were [[BloodKnight looking for an excuse to cause some more violence]].