Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
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Ireland (Eire)
While visiting the UK WE took a ferry, across the Irish Sea, and spent a couple of days in and around Dublin. i love Ireland and look forward to a return trip, sometime soon, to take a closer look around! Ireland has a total area of 70,280 sq km, making it slightly larger than West Virginia. Ireland rises from sea level (of course!) to an elevation of 1,041 metres (3,415 ft) atop the summit of Carrauntoohil. Ireland's weather is influenced by North Atlantic currents which makes for mild winters and cool summers. |
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Click Here for our trip through England. |
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Click Here for pix of Wales and Scotland. |
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Click Here for our daytrip to France... |
A Brief (very brief!) History of Ireland:
Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600 and 150 B.C. Norsemen began invading the island in the late 8th century but ended when King Brian Boru defeated the Danes in 1014. English invasions began in the 12th century - starting seven centuries of struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions.Several years of guerrilla warfare were touched off after a failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion. In 1921 this resulted in independence from the UK for 26 of Ireland's southern counties (Ireland was partitioned under the terms of the United Kingdom's Government of Ireland Act 1920). Six northern (Ulster) counties still remain part of the UK. In 1948 Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth, joining the European Community in 1973. Irish governments continue working for the peaceful unification of Ireland with various difficulties still in the way - at the bottom of this page I have a bit more information on Bloody Sunday and The Troubles...
Today (or at least as I write this in early 2007!), Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom and consists of the six aforementioned counties (out of a total of nine) of the province of Ulster. Northern Ireland, as I mentioned above, became its own political entity in 1921 and is part of the four "Home Nations" that form the United Kingdom. The remaining counties and provinces of the island, comprising about five sixths of the land area, are the sovereign state of the Republic of Ireland. Most of the people throughout Ireland are Catholic while those in Northern Ireland are Protestant.
Like most Americans, I don't know as much about European history as I should so I asked some of my Irish friends (many of whom were either born there or have spent lots of time on the island) how Protestants ended up controlling Northern Ireland and where the political division and violence came from that I remembered as a kid in the 60s and 70s?
From what I can piece together, Protestant King William of Orange's troops defeated the Catholic army of King James at the Battle of the Boyne to strengthen his claim to the English throne and British control over Ireland. By the end of that century Ulster was heavily settled by those who would eventually be more aligned with Britain than Ireland itself. From that time forward, until about the time I created this page, various factions, guerrilla groups and political entities have fought and argued over the unification of Ireland or the continued status quo of Northern Ireland.
Okay, not a very eloquent presentation as evidenced by serious email complaint I received from Desiree, a college researcher in the eastern U.S., but probably a good summary that is broad enough to increase my own countrymen's understanding of Ireland!
- Roger J. Wendell
Golden, Colorado - 2007
(Click on any of this page's "thumbnail" images for a larger view...)
GPO
We made a special trip to the General Post Office where we could
still see the marks left by bullets from the 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion...
 OifiganPhoist |
 GPO - General Post Office |
 Stampaí |
 Bullet-mark |
 Pointing to the bullet-marks |
The GPO served as the headquarters for the 1916 Easter Rising's leaders. The assault by British forces severely damaged the building and it wasn't repaired until the Irish Free State government completed the work several years later. As you can see from my photo, the original outside columns are still pocked with bullet-marks.
Misc. Pix:
 Downtown Dublin |
 OShea's |
 Tax Relief |
 Irish Ferries |
 Inside the Jonathan Swift |
 The Steine of Dublin |
 Trinity College |
 Trinity College |
 To the Book of Kells |
 The Book of Kells |
 DART |
 River Liffey |
 Tourist Transport |
 Irish Nationwide |
 Sir John Gray |
 Dublin Castle |
 Me and a Mailbox... |
 Thomas Read, Dame St. |
 Street musician |
 Knobs and Knockers |
Signs of Dublin:
 Booze 2 Go |
 No Footballing |
 Govinda's Vegetarian Res. |
 Dublin City Hall |
 Bank of Ireland |
Beatle Lyrics on Ireland:
Give Ireland Back to The Irish Paul McCartney Album: Wild Life Give Ireland Back To The Irish Give Ireland Back To The Irish Don't Make Them Have To Take It Away Give Ireland Back To The Irish Make Ireland Irish Today Great Britian You Are Tremendous And Nobody Knows Like Me But Really What Are You Doin' In The Land Across The Sea Tell Me How Would You Like It If On Your Way To Work You Were Stopped By Irish Soliders Would You Lie Down Do Nothing Would You Give In, or Go Berserk Give Ireland Back To The Irish Don't Make Them Have To Take It Away Give Ireland Back To The Irish Make Ireland Irish Today Great Britian And All The People Say That All People Must Be Free Meanwhile Back In Ireland There's A Man Who Looks Like Me And He Dreams Of God And Country And He's Feeling Really Bad And He's Sitting In A Prison Should He Lie Down Do Nothing Should Give In Or Go Mad Give Ireland Back To The Irish Don't Make Them Have To Take It Away Give Ireland Back To The Irish Make Ireland Irish Today Give Ireland Back To The Irish Don't Make Them Have To Take It Away Give Ireland Back To The Irish Make Ireland Irish Today |
Sunday Bloody Sunday John Lennon & Yoko Ono Album: Some Time in New York City Well it was Sunday bloody Sunday When they shot the people there The cries of thirteen martyrs Filled the Free Derry air Is there any one amongst you Dare to blame it on the kids? Not a soldier boy was bleeding When they nailed the coffin lids! Sunday bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday's the day! You claim to be majority Well you know that it's a lie You're really a minority On this sweet emerald isle When Stormont bans our marches They've got a lot to learn Internment is no answer It's those mothers' turn to burn! Sunday bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday's the day! You anglo pigs and scotties Sent to colonize the North You wave your bloody Union Jack And you know what it's worth! How dare you hold to ransom A people proud and free Keep Ireland for the Irish Put the English back to sea! Sunday bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday's the day! Well, it's always bloody Sunday In the concentration camps Keep Falls Road free forever From the bloody English hands Repatriate to Britain All of you who call it home Leave Ireland to the Irish Not for London or for Rome! Sunday bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday's the day! |
The Luck of the Irish John Lennon & Yoko Ono If you had the luck of the Irish You'd be sorry and wish you were dead You should have the luck of the Irish And you'd wish you was English instead! A thousand years of torture and hunger Drove the people away from their land A land full of beauty and wonder Was raped by the British brigands! Goddamn! Goddamn! If you could keep voices like flowers There'd be shamrock all over the world If you could drink dreams like Irish streams Then the world would be high as the mountain of morn In the 'Pool they told us the story How the English divided the land Of the pain, the death and the glory And the poets of auld Eireland If we could make chains with the morning dew The world would be like Galway Bay Let's walk over rainbows like leprechauns The world would be one big Blarney stone Why the hell are the English there anyway? As they kill with God on their side Blame it all on the kids the IRA As the bastards commit genocide! Aye! Aye! Genocide! If you had the luck of the Irish You'd be sorry and wish you was dead You should have the luck of the Irish And you'd wish you was English instead! Yes you'd wish you was English instead! |
I think there were a few different "Bloody Sunday" incidents throughout world history. However, the most famous one took place on January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland. It was during that incident that 26 civil rights protesters were shot by members of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment. Thirteen people, six of whom were minors, died immediately while a 14th died from his wounds a few months later. Other bands besides the Beatles, including U2, have also sang about the incident.
The Troubles
"The Troubles" describes two periods of violence during twentieth century Ireland. The first took place from about 1919 to 1921 and then 1922 through 1923. These were the Irish War of Indpendence and the Irish Civil War, respectively. The second part of The Troubles took place from the late 1960s until the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998. It's been estimated that over 3,400 people were killed during this later episode of The Troubles. The Troubles have been variously described as terrorism, a many-sided conflict, a guerrilla war, a low intensity conflict, and even a civil war...
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