The Irish Paradox

The new Irish Republic is a recent phenomenon that emerged through years of rebellions, in-fighting, and surges of nationalism that have been ever-present since the repeated English incursions onto the previously independent island, most recently made into a de jure union during the Acts of Union in 1801 and defended by British forces with violence, most prominently during the late atrocities committed by the Black and Tans shortly before the establishment of the Irish Free State (Jackson 1999, 255). One can hardly wonder how and why the nation would want its independence from an oppressive governmental regime that would use its own paramilitary forces upon its own subjects, but even though Irish Nationalism was certainly a significant force in uniting the Irish in creating such an independent nation, one must also recognize that even within the Irish ranks, divisions and violence as well as religious differences have made Ireland both a nation united over nationalism and divided over the terms of nationalism and religion. While place such as Wales or Scotland have accepted large parts of the English culture, Ireland remain adamant in staying defiantly Irish, even if its efforts in retaining this Irishness was not without conflict, and in many times, ended in disastrous bloodshed. It have created a strange paradox where while foreign rule have been strongly opposed via sometimes extreme violence and protest, but even domestic rule have been not without trouble, sometimes even more intense than that of the violence against the foreign occupiers (Jenks 1948, 48). The Irish propensity to assert not only independence but also an absolute ideology to be asserted upon its fellow countrymen showcased the fierce Irish drive to create a unified identity and sense of self that it had lost for much of the middle and post renaissance era.

Early Independent Ireland and the Normans in Ireland