Evidence of life on the Emerald Island stretches back 9,000 years to a tribe of Mesolithic hunter-fishers who inhabited the coasts of Ireland . In 500 B.C. the Firbolgs, who lived on the island, met their first conquerors, the Celts (or Gaels), master horsemen from Spain and France . They brought with them a primitive tribal structure, the raw material for what would become a well-organized society. Saint Patrick brought the word of Christ to Ireland in 423 A.D. As Christianity spread, monasteries became the center of population clusters, and it was here that clan kings stowed their treasures. Monks’ elaborate manuscripts, such as the Book of Kells, still survive as an early testament to the Irish talent for storytelling. Beginning in the ninth century the Irish people suffered repeated attacks by the Vikings. It was not until King Brian Ború defeated the Vikings in 1014 at the Battle of Clontarf that the Norse tyranny was brought to an end. The Irish, however, would suffer continued invasions throughout their history. 

The Normans were the next to arrive, sent to Ireland by King Henry II of England at the request of Dermot MacMurrough, who had set his sights on the throne of Ireland . For the next 300 years the Normans dug in their heels, establishing a powerful foothold, buying up large plots of land, building fortified castles, and introducing feudalism. Henry VIII proclaimed himself king of Ireland in 1541 and insisted that Irish lords surrendered their land to the crown, which would then “regrant the land by the grace of the king.” Royal clansmen, who had ruled regionally for centuries, fled to Spain . King James I of England is remembered in Ireland for the Plantation of Ulster, in which he ordered Protestant Scotsmen and Englishmen to settle in Ulster . The religious mix simply did not work, and the chronic unrest between Catholics and Protestants began. In 1641 Ulster Catholics in Portadown attempted to recover their confiscated land. Twelve thousand Protestants were killed during the rebellion. Nevertheless England continued its push to suppress the practice of Catholicism in Ireland . Resentful Catholics staged the Great Rebellion, but they were defeated by Oliver Cromwell, whose 20,000 troops killed one-third of Ireland ’s Catholic population by 1652 and handed over its land to Protestants. When James II, a Roman Catholic, ascended to the English throne, Irish Catholics were hopeful, but their optimism was short-lived. James was defeated in 1690 at the Battle of Boyne by William of Orange. Catholics in Ireland became the persecuted majority. Penal codes barred them from holding public office or indulging in a variety of social activities. Land ownership was forbidden. Inheritance laws dictated that when a Catholic property-owner died his land was divided up between his sons unless one son converted to Protestantism— in which case that son got everything. 

By the mid-1700s only seven percent of Ireland was owned by Catholics. Pressure for change built steadily. In 1782 the Irish Volunteers, 80,000 strong, posed such a threat that the English granted Ireland its independence—more or less. In fact the Irish still owed their allegiance to the British crown, Catholics were still denied a role in the politics of their own country, and the English Parliament still manipulated policy in Ireland . Disaffection with English rule reached a climax in 1798 with a significant rebellion. In six weeks of fighting 50,000 people died. Two years later the Act of  Union made Ireland a part of the United Kingdom . The Irish Parliament was dissolved and instead Ireland was represented by 100 members of Parliament in the House of Commons—none of whom was Catholic. Daniel O’Connell, a Catholic lawyer from Kerry, campaigned for the right of Catholic Irishmen to become members of  Parliament. In 1828, in a stunning victory, O’Connell won that right, and went on to call for home rule, the right of Ireland to decide domestic policy as an independent government. His countrymen lent strong support to O’Connell, but fate interrupted with the Great Famine of 1845. Failed potato crops for five years caused the death of one million citizens and prompted another million or so to set sail for America in search of a better life. In the later half of the 19th century the Irish Republic Brotherhood dedicated itself to Irish home rule, assisted by a branch in the United States that called itself the Irish Republican Army. As home rule became more and more the dominant theme, Ireland became more and more divided. Protestants in the north were not interested in separating from the protectors in Great Britain , while Catholics sought an independent Irish identity. 

On 24 April 1916 the Easter Rising took place in Dublin . Bands of armed rebels—this time middle-class intellectuals—brought the city to a halt, taking over the post office, a biscuit factory, a brewery, and a bakery, among other things. Later the leaders of the Rising would be executed, and they would be remembered forevermore as Ireland ’s greatest martyrs. From 1919 to 1921 the Anglo-Irish war raged, with the IRA gaining the upper hand against the British. Finally, in 1922 Ireland —excluding the counties of Northern Ireland with Protestant majorities, namely Antrim, Down, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh, and Derry—became a free state , adopting its own constitution in 1937. The free state of Ireland left the British Commonwealth and became the Republic or Ireland in 1949. But not every Irish citizen was happy with the state of affairs; many still believed that the country should be united and free. A civil war was inevitable. In fact, it is a struggle that continues today, though now since the peace process, in a democrtatic political way.