If you pay attention to the map of The United Kingdom around 1921, you will probably see a huge change between the two, and Ireland has changed from the same color as the United Kingdom to an independent country. Judging only from the location of the island of Ireland and the island of Great Britain, it is easy to mix the two, but in fact, in terms of ethnic attributes and historical culture, the United Kingdom and Ireland are very different. Why, then, has Ireland been part of britain for hundreds of years? What happened next that caused them to part ways?
Ireland was formally incorporated into The United Kingdom since 1801, but the British invasion of Ireland began as early as the 12th century AD. The ancestors of the British were Anglo-Saxons, but the ancestors of the Irish were Celts, and from the source of history, celts appeared on the European stage earlier than Anglo-Saxons. Long before the rise of Rome, the Celts were already widely active in the middle of the European continent, which is why they became the first targets of conquest and fierce enemies of the Romans in later historical evolution.
Expanding from the Apennine Peninsula in all directions, Rome continued to encroach on Celtic lands, and the remaining Celts crossed the English Channel north into the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. However, the pursuit from Rome did not stop at the southern shore of the Strait, and Caesar advanced the Roman legions to the north of present-day England through two wars. Since then, Scotland and the island of Ireland remained in Celtic hands, while England was under Roman control, and wars often broke out between the two sides, but the overall pattern continued until the collapse of the Roman Empire.
After the withdrawal of Roman power from Great Britain, the Anglo-Saxons from northern Europe filled the vacancy in time, and after about three centuries of fusion, they finally formed the prototype of today's England. The Anglo-Saxons had a stronger desire to conquer than the Romans, and from the 12th century onwards the island of Ireland had to be subjected to frequent military pressure from the island of Great Britain. Due to the gap in overall strength between the two sides, Ireland gradually fell behind and was forced to accept British rule.
In 1529, King Henry VIII of England declared the Church of England to break with the Holy See, transforming England from a Catholic state into a Protestant state. However, the island of Ireland did not follow in the footsteps of the British king to change its faith, and Catholicism remained entrenched here. The Anglo-Saxon-Celtic contradictions coupled with protestant-Catholic contradictions, and the anglo-Irish hatred grew deeper over time, but all of this was hidden under the pressure of the mighty British force. In 1803, the Anglo-Irish Merger Act was passed, after which a large number of British immigrants began to pour into the northern part of the island of Ireland.
The immigration policy of the British gradually changed the ethnic structure of the 6 northern counties, and the division between northern and southern Ireland became irreparable. Thanks to British support, Northern Ireland soon became the industrial center of the whole island, while southern Ireland continued to serve as a source of raw materials for agricultural products and handicrafts in the economic structure of the British Empire. The infrastructure and living standards of Southern and Northern Ireland gradually expanded, and more and more Irish people began to resent British rule.
Since the 1870s, Southern Ireland has been constantly fighting for independence through armed struggle, but without exception has been strongly retaliated against by the British, and the First World War provided a perfect opportunity for Southern Ireland when they felt that the struggle was hopeless. During the War, the main British forces were attracted to the European continent by Germany, Ireland took the opportunity to attack, after continuous exchanges of fire and negotiations, the two sides finally signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, Southern Ireland broke away from the British territory, but the 6 counties of Northern Ireland continued to accept the rule of the British royal family.
Figure - Irish
Objectively speaking, today's Irish people should be grateful for the choice of their ancestors, and the successful transition of the economic structure of independent Ireland from agriculture and animal husbandry to high-tech industry. Many large multinational companies have chosen to set their European headquarters in Dublin (the capital of Ireland), and the economic level of Southern Ireland has soared all the way, and now it is not only much higher than the 6 northern counties, but even the British mainland.