The period know as "The Troubles" is merely one link in a long chain of religious bitterness and conflict stretching back across centuries of Irish history. . Since the reign of Henry VIII, when Catholic Ireland was brought under the rule of Protestant England, tension has existed between the two faiths. During the reign of James I large numbers of Protestants were settled in the north of Ireland resulting in the Protestant majority in the region that exists today. Following the defeat of the Catholic James II by the Protestant William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, most of the land in Ireland was handed over to Protestant control and the rights of Catholics were restricted. After years of civil unrest culminating in the Easter Rising of 1916, the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 recognized the religious division between Catholics and Protestants by splitting the country into two separate political units, a predominantly Catholic south and a predominantly Protestant north. The modern conflict has been polarized along many lines, ethnically between the British and the Irish, geographically, between the North and the South of Ireland, and religiously between Protestants and Catholics. Nationalist ideology, ethnicity and culture and religion are at the heart of a long historical conflict reaching its peak during the period of "The Troubles."
As the end of the19th century neared there was a rapidly growing sense of Irish Nationalism leading to a push for home rule by Catholics. Pressured to grant Ireland Home Rule, Britain began discussions about the notion however further talks were delayed. Among the Irish the delay became viewed as a political tactic meant to pacify Ireland with no intention of granting autonomy. This created divisi ...