Quote: (09-06-2014 12:56 PM)bojangles Wrote:
The 6 counties of Ireland were never '1' state before the English arrived, it's a similar story to India for example.
Not sure what you mean Bojangles.
There are 32 counties in Ireland as a whole, North and South, but only 6 in the state of NI. Hence my referral to the "6 counties".
If you mean Ireland was a divided country previous to 1921, comparable to India/Pakistan then you are wrong.
So called "British" unionists in the North were perfectly happy to call themselves Irish and celebrate their Irish identity previous to Home Rule.
There was never any mention of partition, or splitting the country in half from anyone.
It was only that when Independence and "Home Rule" for the country became a reality after WW1 that Protestants in the North kicked up a fuss, threatening all sorts of chaos if Ireland became independent and left the Union.
Their thinking was because Catholics made up 80% of the population in Ireland "Home Rule would mean Rome Rule", and the religious freedoms they enjoyed under the Union would become a thing of the past (they actually had a point there, but that's for another discussion).
But instead of telling them to put up with independence because they were democratically vastly outnumbered, Britain instead decided to placate Unionists by giving them their own state, which would come to be known as "Northern Ireland".
Solely on the basis of a sectarian headcount, the British drew a line in the sand from Newry in the North East to Donegal/Derry in the North West, a border which was deliberately designed to give Unionists a perpetual majority (until today that is, where it's now close to 50-50).
Hence why the border looks somewhat "unnatural", with County Donegal (which is as much of an Ulster county as any in NI) on the North Western seaboard excluded from this new state because it had a majority Catholic population.
So yes, the final result was similar to India/Pakistan.
But the formation of NI was precipitated solely by Unionism's bullying and temper tantrums, and refusal to accept the democratic will of the people of Ireland.
And not a whole lot has changed to be honest. They're still at it, with their sectarian marches, flag protests, and hate filled politics.
Quick aside (and it's somewhat pedantic), but to refer to NI as "Ulster" is completely erroneous. There are 9 counties in Ulster, but 3 reside in the Republic (Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan). The remaining 6 make up the state known as NI.