Britain’s involvement in the island of Ireland cannot be separated from history and the date chosen as the starting point for any analysis merely reflects the perspective of that commentator. Whichever period one selects to include, the tale of conflict and conquest has covered at least the last 800 years, following Henry II’s invasion in 1171. Richard II lost his throne in England (1399) while trying to assert his authority in Ireland, showing that involvement in an Irish land war could threaten even the highest authority in England. The legacy of British involvement in Irish affairs still has an impact to this day. Following centuries of conflict and conquest, two distinct groups lived in Ireland and both had done so for centuries. It is now that the heirs of these two factions can be defined. The loyalist, unionist and mainly Protestant group wish to remain part of Britain while the republican, nationalists, who are mainly Catholic, want to see Ireland united as one independent country. The 1916 republican Easter Rising in Dublin demanded immediate sovereignty but was defeated by British forces. However an independent Irish parliament, the Dail, followed the 1918 General Election and, although not recognised by London, began to replace the organs of British rule. The republican party, Sinn Fein, won three quarters of the Irish seats in that election After being rebuffed at the Peace Treaties of 1919 the Irish nationalist leaders began a bloody terror campaign and prompted an equally violent reaction. 1919 also saw the birth of the IRA, the military wing of the republicans led by Michael Collins. In 1921 Sinn Fein agreed to send a delegation, including Collins, to meet the British government in London. This was the only time until October 1997 that a British Prime Minister met with a leader of Sinn Fein. At the time, Lloyd George dropped the demand for disarmament before talks. Before a solution could be reached the demands of the unionists had to be addressed. In the 1920 Home Rule Bill, the Ulster Unionists and their Conservative allies, determined to remain part of the union with Britain, forced the partition of six of Ulster’s provinces, away from Ireland. These became self-governed 'Northern Ireland', later part of the UK. The unionists refused to allow their new parliament to fall under Dublin's rule. Partition cleared the way for a treaty to be made. The Liberal PM Lloyd George now devised a complicated treaty with the republicans, who had been fought into a military stalemate. In December 1921 the Irish negotiators, without consulting their leaders in Dublin, reluctantly agreed to accept dominion-status. This meant independence while paying token respect to the British crown and nominal loyalty to the empire. They accepted the secession of Ulster. A boundary commission was established to set the borders between the two states but ended up leaving them as they were. In 1922 the Irish Free State in the south proclaimed its independence, established full sovereignty and the British left. At the time, the 1921 agreement had the support of the majority in the north and the south but it pleased neither group and could be said to have merely postponed the major problems. However, the only alternative to the agreement was full scale war between Britain and Ireland in 1922. The London agreement split the Irish nationalists, led to civil war in the south between 1922-3 and over 1600 fatalities (far more than were killed fighting the British, 1919-21). During this conflict, Michael Collins, the military leader of the Free State forces who had signed the Treaty and now become PM, was killed. Eamon De Valera, President of Sinn Fein, the 'Irish Republic', and leader of the hard line republicans, rejected the London Treaty and demanded a united, independent Ireland. He led the republican forces in a new opposition party, elected to form the Irish government in 1932. ‘Eire’ became a fully independent nation in 1937, with republicans refusing to accept the partition of the island in 1921. Neutral throughout WWII, Ireland officially became a Republic in 1949. Since then, Irish republican forces, both political and terrorist (the IRA) have campaigned for a united Ireland. The policy of the British Government, following the precedent set by Lloyd George 76 years ago, remains that it is up to the population of Northern Ireland to vote for their own future and in the north, unionists continue to out number the republicans. However, they do not do so in the island and it is the whole population that republicans argue should be allowed to vote on the matter. Next page: The Great Depression, 1929-35