When was Britain at war with Ireland?

Answer 1

The war between Britain (England to be more precise) and Ireland began when an English King sent his army to invade Ireland to expand His empire for His own greed. This was about 500 years ago. The invasion was met with resistance and detest as Celtic Irish people were forced to abandon their traditions, such as religious beliefs. The native Irish were bansihed from their land and replaced with Protestants, this was known as the plantations. Oliver Cromwell in particular forced the Celtic natives to either move to the West of the island where the land was less fertile because of the salts blowing from the harsh sea. This is where the phrase "to hell or to Connaught (Ireland's most westerly province)" came from.

The English also introduced something called the penal laws, which favoured Protestants over Catholics. Although the laws were revoked, Catholics were still discriminated against as recently as 40 years ago. This led to civil rights marches. One notable occassion in County Derry is known as Bloody-Sunday. It is called Bloody Sunday because the British army opened fire on peaceful protestors. A report on that incident will be published soon, probably after the upcoming UK election. This was actually the second Bloody Sunday. On the first Bloody Sunday, the British army entered a sports stadium known as Croke Park in Dublin. They opened fire on innocent spectators. Hence why there was debate over whether the English Rugby team should have been allowed to play in Croke Park about two years ago. They were allowed to play and spectators from both sides clapped as they ran onto the pitch from the tunnels.

Britain and Ireland have a long and complex history. Recently bitterness and ill feelings between the two nations have started to fade due to the hard-work of the British Labour government, notably the previous Prime Minister Tony Blair as well as the Irish government, notably An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. However, the biggest success came from the work of the DUP (notably Rev. Ian Paisley) and Sinn Féin (Gerry Adams/Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness). Rev. Ian Paisley was particularly a hard-line outspoken critic of powersharing with Sinn Féin and initially resisted attempts by the government in Dublin to have a say in Northern politics. Eventually his attitude changed and his relationship with the Government in Dublin changed. On one memorable occassion, the then First Minister shook hands with his counterpart, An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Rev. Paisely is probably now one of the most respected Unionist politicians on both sides of the border. His successor Peter Robinson has continued in building bridges with Nationalists and is also a respected politician on both sides.

Although this is a long answer, it is more truthful than pretending that the war was the result of spontaneous action by the IRA. Although most people in the Republic now believe that continued military action by the IRA is no longer necessary and is more terrorism than a fight for freedom, they were supportive of the armed campaign in 1916, which eventually lead to the formation of the Irish Free State, which later became Poblacht na hÉireann (Republic of Ireland). Also, raw feelings are usually between the Irish and English. The Welsh are usually considered neutral in the matter and the Scottish are from the same Celtic bloodline as the Irish.