Updated yesterday with pseudo-content. I need to study fast for my Irish Lit final, so I'm making my own wee little time-line of Irish history. Could be fun/informative if you decide to read.
1171-- Dermot Macmurrough invites Henry II over for a sleepover. The rowdy Englishmen don't leave for another 800 years.
1558-1620 -- Elizabeth I enacts a plantation system of land ownership in which Protestants own farms and Catholics... don't. She ain't so great after all.
1649-- Cromwell invades Dublin and Wexford, killing thousands of innocents. And is knighted. Afterwards, the Penal Laws come into effect, and Catholics can't vote or own land at all.
1774-93-- Catholic Relief Acts pretend to get rid of the Penal Laws. As in, Catholics can rent land, but not own until they've had the land for 999 years.
1798-- Wexford Rebellion. Rocks and pitchforks don't work against cannons.
1800-- Irish Parliament votes itself out of existence. 'Nuff said.
1820-- Ordnance Survey enacted by English renames parts of Ireland to Anglicized terms. Which I swear is no different than what we already do to every other place in the world.
1829-- Catholic Emancipation Act allows Catholics to vote and run for office if they can pay the fine. Sound familiar? Yeah, thought so.
1831-- Teaching in Gaelic is outlawed, English schools are enforced. Teachers of Gaelic hold secret schools under bushes, and are arrested. These schools are rather blantantly referred to as "Hedge Schools".
1845-49-- Great Famine. Population drops 20% due to a potato blight. Some people resort to eating grass to stay alive.
1916-- Easter Rising. Instigators of the Rising even explain before-hand that the Rising is meant to fail (and with that attitude, it's no wonder!). Dublin captured for a week until English bring reinforcements. Including a giant warship on the river Liffy. Unironically enough, the warship becomes the first ship in the Irish Naval Fleet later on.
1919-1921 Guerilla War between IRA and Blacks and Tans. Michael Collins leads an elite team of assassins to carry out his wishes, resulting in the first Bloody Sunday on November 21, 1920. Eamon de Valera disagrees. Good lot that did him.
1920-- Government of Ireland Act (aka, Anglo-Irish Treaty... haha, that's a laugh and a half!). Two seperate Irish Governments called for. Okay, really two new English Governments called for.
1922-- Tentatively titled "Irish Free State" created, Michael Collins leads. IRA has a love-hate relationship with him, and assassinates him. Irony in role-reversal here: Valera leads them to do it. A-hohoho.
1937-- Irish Constitution drawn up to get all up in England's grill. English take their time getting around to it, and it's not recognised until 1949.
1972-- Yet another Bloody Sunday. A peaceful Civil Rights parade held in Free Derry, and English soldiers open fire when a slight confusion arises. English don't care until whining forces them to investigate in 1998 with the Saville Inquiry. Turns out the bombs found on one young man were planted there to feign English innocence. Now there's a surprise.
SILENCE, TRAITOR! - 2006-05-10
Irish History - 2006-05-02
Goodbye Bio! - 2006-05-01
DANCE, WATER! DANCE! - 2006-04-26
Gaaaaaah. - 2006-04-24