IRA og konflikten i Nordirland

IRA stands for the Irish republican army, and is an underground Irish nationalist organization founded to work for Irish independence from Great Britain. It was declared illegal by the Irish government in 1936, but continues activity aimed at the unification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The conflict in Northern Ireland is also known as the troubles. The troubles refer to approximately three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

The troubles started as a conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, but later turned in to a civil war. The conflict dates all the way back to 1169. In 1169, the British King wanted to help the pope by converting the Irish to Christianity. The conflict started just after the Protestants began to attack catholic areas in Belfast. The IRA reappeared, to protect the Catholics, but they started making demands to Great Britain. They demanded that Northern Ireland should be a part of Northern Ireland instead of a part of Great Britain. The demands started a civil war.

Ireland was attacked dozens of times by British troops in the 16th century, and that was when the British tried to sell Irish grounds to British and Scottish people. The supposed thought was that Ireland should be a place to live for British peasants and landowners, But the British preferred the cheap Irish labor. That is one of the major reasons to why the British colonization did not work.