Ireland had originally been inhabited by Neolithic (Stone Age) tribes and had been gradually settled by Bronze Age tribes known in legend as Firbolgs, Nemedians, Fomorians and Tuatha De Danaan. According to the "Book of Invasions" the three sons of Mileadh of Spain invaded Ireland around 400 - 350 B.C.E. These were the Iron Age Celts and they slowly took control of the island. By about 800 C.E. the Celts were masters of all Erin having imposed themselves on the five existing kingdoms of Ulster, Connaught, Munster and North and South Leinster. The high kingship was established by Conn at Tara in about 200 C.E.
In 432 C.E. St. Patrick not only removed all snakes from the Emerald Isle but also began its conversion from the Druidic religion to Christianity. Ireland became an important place of learning and the export of Irish manuscripts to Europe was a major industry. Many scholars of distinction studied in the Irish monasteries. Later missionaries converted the people of northern England and southern Scotland. The Church in Ireland, although with orthodox Roman beliefs, had some indigenous practices and rituals which emphasised decentralisation of authority. This set it apart from the centralist Roman Church.
Around 800 C.E. the Vikings began to raid the coastal settlements and in 916 the Norse kingdom of Dublin was established. Lasting for only a hundred years it was ended at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. The Irish were only to have another century and a half of freedom from invaders. Pope Adrian the Fourth decided that the differences between the Irish and the Roman forms of Christianity were such that Rome should enforce its authority upon the Irish congregations. He chose the murderer of Thomas A'Beckett, his own Bishop in England, to perform this task. In 1176, Henry the Second of England began the invasion which continues today. It took the Celts some 1200 years to gain total control of the island and it looks as though it will take that long to remove their control.
A combination of petty jealousies within and determined landgrabbing by the Norman Lords of England led to strange alliances, vicious fighting and brutal retaliations. Those characteristics can still be seen in the smaller but still notable war between the Irish Republicans and the Provos today. The chief excuse for continuing the battle today is the Catholicism of Ireland and the Protestantism of the English rulers. For more than four hundred years, since the Reformation, this has been a festering sore in relations between the two countries and has caused most of the repression in Ireland.
The ideals of the French Revolution were grasped by the Irish Catholics and in 1798 the peasantry at Wexford rose up and made a brave but illfated attempt to free the yoke of the invaders. As a consequence William Pitt the younger decided that Union between the two countries allied with Catholic emancipation would be the best way to solve the problems. In 1801 Union was proclaimed but in 1803 the patriot Robert Emmet led yet another doomed uprising.
Through all of this strife the British had an armed presence in Ireland. To many of the Irish the Army was the only way out of a life which saw them both poor and oppressed. In the regiments they at least had some relief from poverty. Many joined the British Army and travelled the world. Some returned home after their years of service, some were buried in the battlefields on which they fell and others settled wherever their military service ended....
