As we all know, the name of the United Kingdom is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", many friends will wonder, Ireland has been independent for a full century, why didn't Northern Ireland follow its independence?
Britain is under the impression that it is a rich country; but Ireland is richer than Britain.
Ireland's GDP per capita in 2020 was US$83,000, ranking 3rd in the world.
The UK has half the GDP per capita than Ireland, at just $40,000, ranking 22nd in the world.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > in fact, Ireland did have a long-standing independent force that had always wanted to separate from Britain. </h1>
So, does Northern Ireland feel poor and love the rich, and only then do they want to get independent from Britain and join Ireland? Not quite.
There are both historical and religious reasons for Northern Ireland's independence.
Northern Ireland was one with Ireland 200 years ago and is now part of the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland covers an area of 14,100 square kilometres, accounting for 16th of the entire island of Ireland; the population is 1.71 million (2004), of which 54% are descendants of English and Scottish immigrants, protestant (Christian), and the rest are mostly Irish and Catholic.
It is only the Catholics of Northern Ireland who are demanding independence; the Christians advocate remaining in England.
As early as 1169, Ireland was invaded by the British and became a British colony.
In 1801, Britain and Ireland formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
After the British invasion of Ireland, the Irish resisted relentlessly.
In 1919, the Irish Sinn Fein Party formed the IRA, demanded Irish independence, and waged an armed struggle against the British colonial authorities, which made the British government desperate and embarrassed.
It is no exaggeration to say that Ireland has become a burden for Britain.
In this context, the British government was determined to lay down this burden and signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, allowing the 26 counties of southern Ireland to form a "free state".
At the same time, the British took the 6 northern counties into their hands and did not allow them to become independent.
Since then, the island of Ireland has formed a situation of division between north and south, which is the origin of the Irish problem.
In 1937, the Irish "Free State" declared its independence and established the Republic of Ireland, but remained a member of the Commonwealth.
It is worth noting that the newly formed Irish government, in its promulgated constitution, claimed sovereignty over the entire island of Ireland.
On 21 December 1948, the Irish Parliament declared its secession from the Commonwealth.
On 18 April 1949, the British government recognized Ireland's independence, but still did not return the 6 northern counties and changed the name of the country to "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
The British Parliament also reaffirmed its sovereignty over Northern Ireland in the Irish Act passed in the same year. After Ireland's independence, successive governments have not abandoned their claims to Northern Ireland and advocated the reunification of Ireland.
The British granted Northern Ireland a large degree of autonomy, but due to the majority of Northern Ireland's Protestant population, the Home Rule government has been controlled by the Protestant Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party.
Protestants, on the other hand, advocated unity with Britain, which provoked strong resentment among the Catholics and the IRA under its leadership.
Because of the long-term lack of improvement in political status and the inability to achieve political demands, Catholics in Northern Ireland have lost patience.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Since 1967, Catholics in Northern Ireland have gradually abandoned the means of peaceful struggle in favor of the IRA (founded by Sinn Féin in 1919) in favour of the reunification of Northern Ireland and Ireland through violence. </h1>
Not to be outdone by seeing Catholics raise their guns, Protestants set up paramilitary organizations in tit-for-tat.
The IRA did not play its cards and began to use terrorist means such as assassinations and bombs against protestants; the Protestants were not willing to sit still, they retaliated with tit-for-tat, and began to fight violence with violence.
In the summer of 1971, the two sides came and went, pushing the terrorist activities to a climax, and hundreds of residents suffered from pond fish disasters.
The British government naturally favored the Protestants who advocated remaining in Britain and suppressed the IRA.
The British government's approach intensified the tension between the two factions, and the Catholics became more angry and fully supported the IRA carrying out terrorist activities, and the situation became more and more unmanageable.
During an anti-government march in January 1972, British troops opened fire on crowds demonstrating, killing and injuring dozens of Catholics in the clashes, prompting a shocking "Blood Sunday" incident.
After the incident, the IRA terrorism became more rampant, and they created a series of terrorist attacks in public in Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland became a hell on earth, and hundreds of people were killed in the attacks.
The IRA terror campaign was indeed effective, and the British and Northern Ireland Home Rule governments lost control of the Catholic community, which was completely under the control of the IRA.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > in the face of chaos, the heads of government in the UK are too big to compromise and make policy adjustments. </h1>
In March 1972, the United Kingdom first introduced a Draft Constitution of Northern Ireland, which stated that Catholics should be treated kindly and given equal political and social rights with Protestants.
Not only that, but the British government likes to say it will set up a tripartite committee of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Northern Ireland to discuss the future of Northern Ireland.
However, the IRA did not eat this set, saying that it would continue to fight and would not give up until the goal of independence was achieved.
As a result, the efforts of the British government were in vain.
In the three years after 1972, bombings in Northern Ireland were frequent, and innocent civilians were killed every day.
Not only that, but the IRA was becoming more and more rampant, spreading terrorist attacks to the British mainland.
More than 200 people were killed or injured in the 1973 London car bombing alone.
In 1974, terrorism escalated again, with multiple terrorist attacks killing hundreds of people.
The IRA's attack methods are similar to those of Pakistani militants, not only by means of gun battles, assassinations, snipers and bomb explosions, but also by means of suicide bombs, car explosions, and remote-controlled explosions.
In response to the terrorist attacks of the IRA, the Protestants in Northern Ireland resolutely responded.
Protestants formed into armed groups for self-defense and counterattack.
These armed groups include the Northern Ireland Defence Association, the Northern Ireland Freedom Fighters, the Northern Ireland Volunteer Army, the Northern Ireland Defence Corps, etc.
In addition to fighting IRA terrorists, Protestants also victimized innocent Catholics, forcing them to leave their homes, move south into the Republic of Ireland, or emigrate overseas.
At the end of the 1970s, the bloody conflict between the two sides reached a climax.
In March 1979, sir Richard Sykes, the British ambassador to Northern Ireland, was assassinated; in August, the Earl of Mountbatten's family was killed by IRA on a cruise ship; and 12 British soldiers were killed by the IRA.
In the face of the ongoing bloodshed, the Pope could not sit still.
When Pope John Paul II came to Ireland in September 1979, he delivered a speech in Drogheda to the hundreds of thousands of Catholics gathered in the audience, "Abandoning violence and returning to the way to peace". He also called on politicians to prove to the violent elements that "justice can be achieved through peaceful, political means, and that peace can achieve the cause of justice, but violence cannot".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Pope's speech touched Northern Ireland Catholics and calmed the anger in their hearts. </h1>
Thanks to the efforts of the Holy See, the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the northern Irish problem has finally entered the track of a political settlement, and terrorist attacks have been significantly reduced.
In 1982, the British Government led by Margaret Thatcher, the Government of the Republic of Ireland and the Protestant and Catholic political factions in Northern Ireland held several rounds of political consultations premised on peace.
In the end, the parties decided to elect Parliament on a proportional basis and rebuild the Government of Northern Ireland.
The unrest of the people of Northern Ireland, despite their desire for peace, regardless of sectarianism, expressed support for the proposal, and the IRA lost its mass base in the Catholic community.
In December 1993, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland jointly issued the Downing Street Declaration, in which both sides made certain concessions and reached a consensus on the permanent cessation of violence by the IRA and the inclusion of Sinn Fein in peace negotiations.
The proclamation was warmly echoed by Catholics and Protestants alike.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > under enormous pressure, the IRA and Protestant armed forces had to change course, respect public opinion, and abandon armed struggle. </h1>
Britain welcomed this and immediately announced the lifting of the ban on Sinn Fein, the official political organization of the IRA.
In December 1997, under the mediation of the United States, IRA and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams had a historic meeting with Blair at the Prime Minister's Residence in Downing Street.
On 10 April 1998, the negotiating parties reached the Good Friday Peace Agreement.
The main contents of the agreement cover the following two aspects:
The United Kingdom phased out the military sanctions on Northern Ireland, while Ireland deleted the sovereignty claim to Northern Ireland from the Constitution.
The forces of all factions renounced force and ceased all acts of violence.
Establish a coalition government that unites the major political parties of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Parliament was elected before the agreement came into force, and Protestants and Catholics achieved a basic equilibrium in the composition of parliament, implementing the political principle of "bi-national shared power".
After the Good Friday Peace Agreement, violent clashes and terror between the IRA and Protestant militants came to a close.
However, the northern Ireland problem is still not fully resolved.
The gap between Catholics and Protestants has not dissipated, and their respective beliefs and value systems have made it difficult for them to bridge the gap.
Statistics on the religious population in 2011 show that the number of Catholics versus Protestants in Northern Ireland is already very close, at 41 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.
Since the British government allowed Scotland to allow an independence referendum in 2014, the Northern Ireland independence forces also want the British government to allow an independence referendum to be held in Northern Ireland.
In April 2021, a survey conducted by Northern Ireland polling agency Lucid Talk on behalf of the BBC found that if a vote had been held at that time, around 43 per cent of voters in the region would have voted to leave the UK, while 49 per cent would have voted to remain in the UK and 8 per cent had said they had not yet decided.
However, 51 per cent believe that northern Ireland will no longer be part of the UK in 25 years, and 37 per cent believe that northern Ireland will remain part of the UK.
It can be seen that Northern Ireland is still possible by independence in the future.