In the context of Irish politics, Unionists are people in Northern Ireland, who wish to see the continuation of the Act of Union 1800, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which Northern Ireland, created in that latter Act, remains part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Unionists are mostly, but not exclusively, from Protestant backgrounds in terms of religion. In the context of Irish history, the term refers to those who opposed home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is a sovereign, independent state. ... Royal motto: Quis separabit (Latin: Who will separate?) Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 4th 1,685,267 122/km² NUTS 1... The 1800 Act of Union merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain (itself a merger of England and Scotland under the Act of Union 1707) to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801. ... An Act to Provide for the Better Government of Ireland, more usually the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (this is its official short title; the formal citation is 10 & 11 Geo. ... Royal motto: Quis separabit (Latin: Who will separate?) Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 4th 1,685,267 122/km² NUTS 1... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... The History of Ireland is the story of a large island at the north-west of Europe. ... Devolution or Home rule is the pooling of powers from central government to government at regional or local level. ... The Union Flag, in its modern form, was first adopted in 1801. ...

The terms Unionist and Loyalist are often used interchangeably; however, the term "loyalist" is often used in recent times to denote unionists who are not above breaking the law to maintain the status quo, or whose views are unusually hardline. Since the start of the Northern Ireland peace process, most unionists are reluctant to describe themselves as loyalists. In general, a loyalist is an individual who is loyal to the powers that be. ... When discussing northern Irish history, the Peace Process is generally considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 IRA ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of The Troubles, the Belfast (or Good Friday) Agreement, and subsequent political developments. ...

Irish Home Rule

Prior to 1912, Unionists wished to see the Act of Union 1800 (which had merged the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801) remain in place. They opposed Irish Home Rule, which mainstream Irish nationalists had sought since the 1860s. The Unionists of this period (especially outside Ulster) were almost entirely made up of the governing and landowning classes and the minor gentry. Home Rule would have involved Ireland having its own regional parliament while still remaining in the United Kingdom. This demand, the policy of nationalist leaders such as Isaac Butt. William Shaw, Charles Stewart Parnell, John Redmond and John Dillon, became the aim of the Nationalist Party, also known as the Home Rule League and later the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Home Rule League/Irish Parliamentary Party won the majority of Irish parliamentary seats in the Westminster parliaments from the 1870s to 1914. 1912 was a leap year starting on Monday. ... The 1800 Act of Union merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain (itself a merger of England and Scotland under the Act of Union 1707) to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801. ... The Union Flag, in its modern form, was first adopted in 1801. ... Devolution or Home rule is the pooling of powers from central government to government at regional or local level. ... // Nationalism is an ideology which holds that the nation, ethnicity or national identity is a fundamental unit of human social life, and makes certain political claims based upon that belief; above all, the claim that the nation is the only legitimate basis for the state, and that each nation is... // Events and trends Technology The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States is built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869. ... Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland. ... Issac Butt (September 6, 1813 - May 5, 1879) was the founder and first leader of the Home Rule League, subsequently known as the Irish Parliamentary Party. ... William Shaw was born in Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire. ... Charles Stewart Parnell (June 27, 1846 – October 6, 1891) was an Irish political leader and one of the most important figures in 19th century Ireland and the United Kingdom; William Ewart Gladstone thought him the most remarkable person he had ever met. ... John Redmond, MP John Edward Redmond (1856 – March 1918) was the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918. ... John Dillon (September 4, 1851 - August 4, 1927) was an Irish nationalist politician. ... The Nationalist Party existed under various froms from 1874 to 1973. ... The Home Rule League, sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was a nineteenth and early twentieth century Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for the island of Ireland. ... In 1882 Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, formed the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), replacing the Home Rule League, as a parliamentary party with strict rules. ... Events and Trends Technology The invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Various British governments introduced four successive Bills to set up an Irish Home Rule parliament in Dublin. The Irish Home Rule Bill 1886 never made it through the House of Commons but managed to destroy the Liberal Party government, with Whig and Radical elements leaving to form the Liberal Unionist Party in alliance with the Conservative Party. Eventually the two parties merged, calling themselves the Conservative and Unionist Party. Irelands first Home Rule Bill was introduced on 8 April 1886 by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and is now the dominant branch of Parliament. ... The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become known as... The Liberal Unionists were a British political party which split away from the Liberals in 1886, and had effectively merged with the Conservatives by the turn of the century, the formal merger being completed in 1912. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the centre-right in the United Kingdom. ... The new logo of the Conservative Party The Conservative Party is the largest centre right political party in the United Kingdom. ...

The Irish Home Rule Bill 1893 passed in the Commons but succumbed to the veto of the House of Lords.The House of Lords had far more Conservatives than the House of Commons. The Home Rule Act 1914 passed (or at least passed all stages under the Parliament Act, 1911, which curbed the veto power of the Lords) but never came into force, due to the onset of World War I (1914–18). The fourth Bill, known as the Government of Ireland Act 1920, envisaged two Irish home rule states: Southern Ireland which would have had a nationalist majority, and Northern Ireland which would have a much smaller unionist majority. Only the latter became a reality, while the former became the Irish Free State. In August 1892, William Gladstone was re-elected as Prime Minister and he depended on Irish Parliamentary Party MPs to form a majority. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... The Government of Ireland Act 1914, more generally known as the Third Home Rule Act (or Bill) or the (Irish) Home Rule Act 1914, was an Act of Parliament passed by the British House of Commons in May 1914 which sought to give Ireland internal self_government within the United Kingdom... In the United Kingdom, Parliament Act refers to each of two Acts of Parliament, passed in 1911 and 1949 respectively. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machine guns, and poison gas World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, the War of the Nations and... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... An Act to Provide for the Better Government of Ireland, more usually the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (this is its official short title; the formal citation is 10 & 11 Geo. ... Southern Ireland was the twenty-six county Irish state envisaged by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. ... Royal motto: Quis separabit (Latin: Who will separate?) Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 4th 1,685,267 122/km² NUTS 1... The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Irelands 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British and...

Irish unionists opposed Home Rule for many reasons. Much of their support in southern and western Ireland (the provinces of Munster, Leinster and Connacht) came from landed gentry who feared that a nationalist assembly would introduce property and taxation laws more suitable to a small island than the laws imposed from Westminster, which were designed for a much larger area, the entire United Kingdom. Some also feared that they would experience a similar sort of discrimination that the Protestant Parliament of Ireland up to 1800 had practised on Catholics, namely the notorious Penal Laws, or the more subtle discrimination that followed, although this is hard to credit as Ireland would have remained part of the UK. Others identified strongly with the Crown and British rule, and wished to see both continue unchanged in Ireland. However one should not presume that Irish unionist support came entirely from the landed gentry, or that all Protestants supported Unionism. Many working class and middle class Unionists and some gentrified Catholics supported the maintenance of the union, while many Protestants (most notably Charles Stewart Parnell) supported home rule. Alternate uses: See Munster (disambiguation). ... Leinster (Irish: Laighin) is the eastern province of Ireland, comprising the counties of Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. ... Connaught redirects here. ... Before the Industrial Revolution, the gentry was located between the yeomanry and the nobility. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... This article is about the legislature abolished in 1801. ... 1800 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... In the most general sense, penal is the body of laws that are enforced by the State in its own name and impose penalties for their violation, as opposed to civil law that seeks to redress private wrongs. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... Charles Stewart Parnell (June 27, 1846 – October 6, 1891) was an Irish political leader and one of the most important figures in 19th century Ireland and the United Kingdom; William Ewart Gladstone thought him the most remarkable person he had ever met. ...

Other Unionists, particularly in Ulster, had economic fears, suspecting that a nationalist parliament in Dublin, on a predominantly agricultural island, would impose economic tariffs against industry. Parts of Ulster were then the most industrialised parts of Ireland and would have suffered. Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland. ...

For much of the period up until 1920, though the Unionist support base predominated in four of the nine counties of Ulster (where Presbyterians and Anglicans outnumbered Roman Catholics), the Irish Unionist Party's leadership came from the rest of Ireland. Its most prominent leader, the Dublin-born barrister and politician Sir Edward Carson, opposed not merely Home Rule but any attempt to divide Ireland into two. Other southern Unionist leaders included the Earl of Middleton and the Earl of Dunraven. 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events WIKIPEDIA EATS VAGINA January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland, located near the midpoint of Irelands east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. ... Edward Carson HMSO image The Right Honourable Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson, PC (February 9, 1854 – October 22, 1935) was a leader of the Irish Unionists, a Barrister and a Judge. ... The Partition of Ireland took place in May 1921. ...

When, following the curbs placed on the power of the House of Lords in 1911 it became clear that home rule would come, Unionists, particularly in parts of Ulster, mounted a campaign that threatened to establish a Provisional Government of Ulster through the use of violence if Home Rule were to come about. They set up the Ulster Volunteer Force, the first modern Irish paramilitary organisation, and imported 25,000 rifles from Imperial Germany, to fight the British government. 90,000 men had joined by the middle of 1914. Irish Unionism received the support in the period from the 1880s to 1914 from leading English Conservative politicians, notably Lord Randolph Churchill and future British prime minister Andrew Bonar Law. Slogans such as Ulster Will Fight and Ulster Will Be Right expressed the determination of unionists to oppose Irish Home Rule by whatever means it deemed necessary. This article is about the British House of Lords. ... 1911 was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is a loyalist paramilitary (terrorist) group in Northern Ireland. ... This article or section should include material from German Monarchy The term German Empire (the translation from German of Deutsches Reich) commonly refers to Germany, from its consolidation as a unified nation-state on January 18, 1871, until the abdication of Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918. ... The United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. ... // Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the centre-right in the United Kingdom. ... Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill The Right Honourable The Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman. ... The Right Honourable Andrew Bonar Law (September 16, 1858 - October 30, 1923) was a Conservative British statesman and Prime Minister. ...

Partition

The creation of the Unionist-dominated Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, and the later creation of the Irish Free State in the territory the above Act had called Southern Ireland separated southern and northern unionists. Unionists were in the majority in four counties (Antrim, Derry, Down and Armagh) but insisted on control over the counties of Fermanagh and Tyrone as well. As these counties had a large land area but were thinly populated compared to the other four, it was felt that the slight dilution of the pro-Union population was worth it for the extra territory. The exclusion of three Ulster counties, Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan from Northern Ireland, and hence the United Kingdom, left Ulster unionists there feeling isolated and betrayed. They established an association to canvass their fellow unionists to reconsider the border, but to no avail. Many assisted in the policing of the new region, serving in the B-Specials, while continuing to live in the Free State. See external link The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Irelands 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British and... County Antrim ( in [Gaelic) is one of the six Irish counties that form Northern Ireland. ... For other places with similar names, see Londonderry (disambiguation) and Derry (disambiguation). ... County Down, (An Dún in Irish) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, covering an area of 2,448 km² (945 square miles). ... County Armagh (Contae Ard Mhacha in Irish) is a county in Ulster, Ireland. ... County Fermanagh (Fear Manach in Irish) is often referred to as Northern Irelands Lake District. ... This article is about County Tyrone. ... Donegal (Dún na nGall in Irish) is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. ... Monaghan (Muineachán in Irish) is a town in the Republic of Ireland, the administrative capital of County Monaghan. ... Cavan (An Cabhán in Irish, meaning the hollow) is the main town and administrative centre of County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. ... Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland. ... The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) was a reserve force of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. ...

Some unionists in the south simply adapted and began to associate themselves with the new southern Irish regime of William T. Cosgrave and Cumann na nGaedhael. On January 19th 1922, leading unionists held a meeting and unanimously decided to support fully the government of the new Free State. Many gained appointment to the Irish Free State Senate, where the Earl of Dunraven became speaker or Cathaoirleach (pronounced 'ka-here-loch'). One Unionist political family, the Dockrells, joined and became TDs (MPs) over a number of generations for Cumann na nGaedhael and its successor party, Fine Gael (the governing party in the 1920s, the main opposition from 1932 onwards). The single Ulster Protestant in the current Dáil is a member of Fine Gael. The Dublin borough of Rathmines had a unionist majority up to the late 1920s, when a local government re-organisation abolished all Dublin borough councils. William Thomas Cosgrave, ( June 6, 1880 - November 16, 1965) served as the first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932. ... Cumann na nGaedheal (League of the Gaels) was an Irish language name given to two Irish political parties. ... The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Irelands 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British and... A TD or Teachta Dála (Irish for Dáil Deputy, pronounced chock-ta dawla) is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Irish Oireachtas (pronounced orr-och-tas) or National Parliament. ... Cumann na nGaedheal (League of the Gaels) was an Irish language name given to two Irish political parties. ... Fine Gael (IPA in English and in Irish, approximate English translation: Family of the Irish) is the second largest political party in both the Republic of Ireland and Ireland as a whole. ... Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America and in Australia as the Roaring Twenties . In Europe it is sometimes refered to as the Golden Twenties. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Dáil Éireann[1] is the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland. ... Rathmines is a suburb on the southside of Dublin. ...

However, having lost their privileged status, most Irish unionists simply withdrew from public life. The number of Protestants declined in the Irish Free State and in its successor state, the Republic of Ireland. IRA attacks in the 1920s drove away many who assisted the British in the Anglo-Irish War, in the process burning many historic homes as reprisals for the Crown forces' destruction of the homes and property of republicans, suspected or actual. Others had suffered disproportionately in World War I, losing their sons and heirs on the bloodied fields of Flanders and the Somme. Some that remained became victims of the Roman Catholic Church's Ne Temere decree imposed by Pope Pius X, which required Catholics in mixed marriages to ensure that all children of the marriage were brought up to follow the Church of Rome. This decree contributed greatly to the religious divide in Ireland, and is still in force. As a result, many eligible Protestant women, who because of the deaths of Protestant men in World War I were denied the availability of Protestant husbands, either married Catholics or remained unmarried, either way ending the Protestant family line. This reversed an earlier trend of Catholics becoming Protestant to avoid discrimination. A disingenuous tactic used by the British in the Anglo-Irish conflict was to draw attention to the religion of IRA victims if they were Protestant, and to play it down if they were Catholic. This was a crude but effective device, used to great effect in the press in Ireland and Britain, to portray the IRA as sectarian. In reality, the IRA killed anyone they believed was aiding the Crown forces, regardless of religion, and had many Protestant volunteers. In Castlederg in Tyrone, Protestants outnumbered Catholics in the local IRA at the time. The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Irelands 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British and... The succession of states theory asserts that all possessions and territory held by a state are automatically transferred to the successor state, the state which succeeds it. ... The West Cork Flying Column during the War of Independence. ... An Irish War of Independence memorial in Dublin The Anglo-Irish War (also known as the Irish War of Independence) was a guerrilla campaign mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army under the proclaimed legitimacy of the First Dáil, the extra-legal Irish parliament... Irish Republicanism is the nationalist belief that all of Ireland should be a united independent republic. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machine guns, and poison gas World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, the War of the Nations and... Flanders (Flemish, Fleming) (Dutch: Vlaanderen (Vlaams, Vlaming), French: Flandre(s), (flamand, flamand), German: Flandern, (flämisch, Flame) has two main designations: a constituent community of the federal Belgian state through its social and political organisations, and through the institutions of the Flemish Community (with its own Flemish government and Flemish... Somme is a French département, named after the Somme River, located in the north of France. ... Ne Temere (literally meaning not rashly in Latin) is a decree (named for its opening words) of the Roman Catholic Congregation of the Council declaring invalid any marriage of a Roman Catholic or any person who has ever been a Roman Catholic, unless contracted before a qualified Roman Catholic priest... His Holiness Pope Saint Pius X, born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto (June 2, 1835 – August 20, 1914), was Pope from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII. He was the first pope since the Counter-Reformation Pope St. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1... Sectarianism is an adherence to a particular sect or party or denomination, it also usually involves a rejection of those not a member of ones sect. ... This article is about County Tyrone. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ...

Furthermore, land reform from the 1870s to the 1900s broke up many of the large estates. Protestant families, who had owned most of the land, saw it returned to their largely Catholic tenantry. Many chose in the 1920s to use their compensation money to settle in Britain, often in other estates they owned there. In addition, the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland from 1871 by an Act of Parliament led that Church to sell many of its estates and bishops' palaces, in the process laying off many Protestant workers who themselves then moved away. (Previously, the Church had had considerable wealth thanks to tithes (mandatory taxes) which the local Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist communities had to pay to the (Anglican) Church of Ireland. The loss of this money underlined the economic vulnerability of the Church of Ireland.) Events and Trends Technology The invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell. ... // Events and Trends Technology Lawrence Hargrave makes the first stable wing design for a heavier-than-air aircraft Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first documented flight in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft Mass production of automobile Wide popularity of home phonograph Panama Canal is built by the United... The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ...

However, little evidence of widespread discrimination against Protestants in the Irish Free State/Éire exists. The first President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde (1938–45), and the fourth, Erskine Hamilton Childers (1973-74), belonged to the Church of Ireland. Mary Robinson, the seventh had both Catholic and Protestant branches in her family and was married to a Protestant. Leading ex-Unionists like the Earl of Granard and the Provost of Trinity College Dublin gained appointment to the President of Ireland's advisory body, the Council of State. Map of Éire Éire (pronounced ) is the Irish name for Ireland. ... The President of Ireland (Irish: Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of the Republic of Ireland. ... Douglas Hyde (Irish name Dubhghlas de hÍde) (17 January 1860 - 12 July 1949) was an Irish language scholar who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Erskine Hamilton Childers (11 November 1905 - 17 November 1974), the son of Robert Erskine Childers (author of The Riddle of the Sands), served as the fourth President of Ireland from 1973 until his death in 1974. ... The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... Mary Robinson (Irish name Máire Bhean Mhic Róibín; born 21 May 1944) was the first female President of Ireland, serving from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. ... The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin or more commonly Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Irelands oldest university. ... The Council of State is the name of an organ of government in many states, and especially in republics. ...

In contrast, anti-Catholic discrimination was widespread and actively encouraged at the highest level of government in Northern Ireland, even though Sir Edward Carson (now raised to the peerage as Lord Carson) had expressly urged the Northern Ireland Unionist prime minister, Sir James Craig to ensure absolute equality in the treatment of Roman Catholics, to ensure the stability of the new entity. (Craig openly encouraged discrimination against Catholics.) Boundaries demarcated electorates in such a way as to produce Protestant majorities in areas that would otherwise, by a fair drawing of boundaries, have produced nationalist councillors. Decades later, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, openly described the Northern Ireland of most of the twentieth century as a 'cold house of Catholics', a process he said the Belfast Agreement must change. Many unionist leaders, particularly in the DUP, continue to deny that discrimination ever took place. Edward Carson HMSO image The Right Honourable Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson, PC (February 9, 1854 – October 22, 1935) was a leader of the Irish Unionists, a Barrister and a Judge. ... James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon (8 January 1871 - 24 November 1940) was a prominent Unionist politician and the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. ... The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland, and was the party of government in Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. ... The Right Honourable David Trimble (born on October 15, 1944 in Belfast) is a Northern Ireland politician, and former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), former First Minister of Northern Ireland. ... The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was a major step in the Northern Ireland peace process. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ...

By the 1960s, belated attempts by a moderate new Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Terence O'Neill to create equality created a backlash led by fundamentalist Protestant preacher and politician, the Rev. Ian Paisley. Nationalists launched a Civil Rights movement under John Hume, Austin Currie and Ivan Cooper. A collapse in government control, the controversial killing of 13 unarmed civilians by the British army Parachute Regiment in Derry/Londonderry on Bloody Sunday (30 January 1972) and the emergence of the Provisional IRA, alongside Protestant paramilitary groups like the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force, led to the suspension, then abolition, of the unionist-dominated Stormont parliament and government (1972). After two decades of brutal killing by paramilitary groups on both sides of the political divide in Northern Ireland and the police and British army, a ceasefire and inter-community negotiations produced the Belfast Agreement (also known as the "Good Friday Agreement"), which attempted with mixed success to produce a power-sharing government for Northern Ireland, to which both the unionist and nationalist communities could give allegiance. The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland, appointed by the Governor of Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. ... The Right Honourable Captain Terence ONeill, Baron ONeill of the Maine (September 10, 1914 - June 12, 1990), was the fourth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. ... In comparative religion, fundamentalism has come to refer to several different understandings of religious thought and practice, including literal interpretation of sacred texts such as the Bible or the Quran and sometimes also anti-modernist movements in various religions. ... The Reverend and Right Honourable Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, MP, MLA (born 6 April 1926), known widely in Northern Ireland as Dr. Ian Paisley, is a prominent politician and church leader from Northern Ireland, and is head of the Democratic Unionist Party. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... John Hume John Hume (born January 18, 1937) is an Northern Irish politician. ... http://www. ... Ivan Cooper, a Protestant M.P. best known for leading the proscribed anti-internment march, which ended being known as Bloody Sunday on January 30, 1972, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, where 14 unarmed men and boys -- only one of whom, Gerry Donaghy (of the Junior IRA), could be adjudged a... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Parachute Regiment cap badge The Parachute Regiment is the infantry element of the airborne troops of the British Army. ... For other incidents referred to by this name, see Bloody Sunday. ... January 30 is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) is a paramilitary group which aimed, through the use of violence, to achieve three goals: (i) British withdrawal from Ireland, (ii) the political unification of Ireland through the merger of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland , and (iii) the creation of an all... The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is a loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland, outlawed as a terrorist group in the UK and Republic of Ireland, which is perceived by its supporters as defending the unionist community from Irish Republican Terrorism. ... The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is a loyalist paramilitary (terrorist) group in Northern Ireland. ... The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which existed from June 7, 1921 to March 30, 1972, when it was suspended. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was a major step in the Northern Ireland peace process. ...

While some commentators regularly use the religious terms 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' as interchangeable with 'nationalist' and 'unionist' in Northern Ireland, some differences do exist between them. Not all Catholics support nationalist causes, for example. The Ulster Unionist Party has Catholic members; one of its most respected MLAs (Member of the power-sharing Legislative Assembly) is Catholic. Many Catholics served in the former and current Northern Ireland police forces, the Royal Irish Constabulary and in the British army, although at no time did any of these organisations enjoy widespread support among Ulster Catholics. The Catholics who joined were often unionist, as all of these organisations opposed republicanism, sometimes violently. This put these people at odds with sentiment in their communities. One of the strangest events in Northern Ireland is that the anti-Catholic right-wing Protestant leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, the Rev. Ian Paisley, attracts some Catholic votes in his constituency in elections to the British and European Parliaments (he serves in both). That may be a personal quirk, due to his reputation as a good constituency MP who will help anyone, irrespective of their religion. In contrast his party, the DUP, has never had any Catholic members. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland, and was the party of government in Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. ... A Member of the Legislative Assembly, or MLA, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to the Legislature or legislative assembly of a subnational jurisdiction. ... The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. ... The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is the police service that covers Northern Ireland. ... The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was one of Irelands two police forces in the early twentieth century, alongside the Dublin Metropolitan Police. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ...

The mildly nationalist SDLP, on the other hand, has often attracted sympathetic Protestants and had them elected. Sinn Féin has also had some Protestant members and elected officials, more often in the Republic. However it highlights the sheer nature of the complexity of Northern Ireland politics, and of the dangers of drawing simplistic 'Catholic = nationalist' 'Protestant = unionist' definitions in trying to understand Northern Ireland politics. Northern Ireland is an administrative region and one of four parts of the United Kingdom. ...

Today, except for the minuscule Irish Unionist Alliance founded in the 1990s, southern Irish Unionism no longer exists as a political movement. Northern Ireland has a large number of unionist parties. The largest is now the right-wing Democratic Unionist Party led by the Rev. Ian Paisley, MP. // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining a similar mindset. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... The Reverend and Right Honourable Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, MP, MLA (born 6 April 1926), known widely in Northern Ireland as Dr. Ian Paisley, is a prominent politician and church leader from Northern Ireland, and is head of the Democratic Unionist Party. ...

When Northern Ireland was formed in 1921, Protestants dominated the state. Recent census data shows that Protestants now account for less than half the population of Northern Ireland for the first time, with Catholics only a few per cent less. (Though few abroad realise it, Northern Ireland has citizens who are neither Catholic or Protestant. The third biggest group, interestingly, are the Chinese, and the province also has a small but long-standing Jewish community, with significant numbers of Hindus and Muslims of Indian and Pakistani birth or descent as well.) Jews in Ireland, although tiny in numbers (1,790 according to the Republic of Ireland census of 2002), have a long history. ... This article is about the Hindu religion; for other meanings of the word, see Hindu (disambiguation). ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ...

This does not mean that nationalists and unionists have equal numbers; some suggest that up to one fifth of Protestants harbour sympathies towards nationalism (even if they still vote for the mainstream Unionist parties or the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland), while as many as one-third of Catholics could be called 'soft unionists' (i.e., if given a choice and guarantees against discrimination, they'd prefer Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom rather than join with the Republic of Ireland, though they may vote for nationalist parties like the Social Democratic and Labour Party or the middle-of-the road Alliance Party.) Furthermore, a strong decline in the Catholic birthrate (through smaller family size, use of contraception or abortion, etc.) may slow down or even reverse the growth in the Catholic population. However that may be balanced in turn by an increased rate of emigration of young Protestants, often to study and then work in Britain. These young people are more likely to remain in the lands of their ancestors (England and Scotland) than nationalists. How these changes will affect the long-term number of Protestants and Catholics remains currently impossible to assess. Furthermore, until the issue is put to the test in a vote, it remains impossible to calculate with certainty how many Protestants in reality endorse nationalism and how many Catholics in reality endorse unionism (see Demographics and politics of Northern Ireland). The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), is a political party operating in Northern Ireland. ... The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP — Irish: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is the smaller of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... Transport in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history Caledonia List of not fully sovereign nations Subdivisions of Scotland National parks (Scotland) Traditional music of Scotland Flower of Scotland Wars of Scottish Independence National Trust for Scotland Historic houses in Scotland Castles in Scotland Museums in Scotland Abbeys and priories in Scotland... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

One final historical point of interest: while southern unionism predominantly (though not exclusively) originated in Church of Ireland circles and the upper-middle to upper classes, northern unionism remains and has been predominantly (though not exclusively) associated with the working and middle classes and predominantly Presbyterian. Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ...

External links

Main Unionist parties

• Ulster Unionist Party
• Democratic Unionist Party
• Alliance Party

Nationalist/Republican parties

• Social Democratic & Labour Party
• Sinn Féin

Constitutional Reform in the Republic of Ireland

• Reform Movement
• Irish Unionist Alliance