Ireland: Historical Background and Interesting Facts

Summary

This is a combo of two titles, which are about the following topics:

The Partition of Ireland: The Federal government of the U.K. of Great Britain and Ireland segmented Ireland into 2 independent polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. The government of Ireland Act 1920 was handed down May third, 1921. Both parts were to stay inside the UK, and the Act included arrangements for supreme reunification.

Northern Ireland was established with a devolved federal government and stayed a part of the U.K. Most occupants of Southern Ireland didn't recognize the self-proclaimed Irish Republic, choosing to recognize the larger Northern Ireland. The area of Southern Ireland withdrew from the U.K. and ended up being the Irish Free State, which is today the Republic of Ireland, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

The Irish Potato Famine: The year 1847, at times called "Black '47," was the absolute worst year of the period. Around 1 million people died and over a million left the nation throughout the Great Cravings, triggering the nation's population to come by 20% to 25%, with certain cities coming by as much as 67 percent between 1841 and 1851. And between the years 1845 and 1855, about 2.1 million people were leaving Ireland, primarily aboard package ships but also on steamboats and barks. This actually made it one of the biggest mass migrations from a single isle in all of history.

Let’s explore this tragic event in history, and let’s see what led up to this, what happened afterwards, and how historians look at it now.