British-Irish relations

At the end of the XII century the island of Ireland was conquered by the Kingdom of England . Irish rebellions against the interventionists ended unsuccessfully and British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger became the author of the Union Act of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, as a result of which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed. At the beginning of the 20th century , the number of supporters of independence in Ireland began to increase. Most Irish supported Charles Stuart Parnell's idea of ​​giving Ireland autonomy . There were also supporters of the Sinn Fein movement, founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith , who advocated complete independence from London . However, the Ulster Protestant minority managed to postpone the referendum on Gomrul until May 1914, and then, with the outbreak of the First World War , the question of Gomrul was removed from the agenda. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein supporters set up an Irish volunteer organization. ^[2]

In 1916, taking advantage of the participation of the British armed forces in World War I, Irish nationalists organized an Easter uprising to force the British to reconsider the status of Ireland. The Irish seized the General Post Office building in Dublin and proclaimed the Irish Independent Republic. The uprising was crushed by the British, most Irish nationalist leaders were executed, with the exception of Owen McNeill , Imon de Valera and William Thomas Cosgave , who were commuted to life sentences and then granted amnesty in 1917. The harsh reaction of the British government towards the rebels shocked the public in Ireland. In the 1918 parliamentary elections in Ireland, the Sinn Fein party won the majority. Irish nationalists refused to enter the British Parliament and remained in Ireland, taking seats in the House of Representatives and proclaiming the independence of the Republic of Ireland with the election of Imon de Valera as president . Irish volunteers were reorganized into the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which took part in the war against the British armed forces , as a result of which both sides suffered heavy losses ^{[2] [3]} .

The British government responded harshly to the activities of the Irish nationalists, having organized the Black-Brown military-police forces since 1920, the repressive activities of which led to terrorist acts by the IRA. Then, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George initiated the adoption of the Irish Government Act , dividing Ireland into two parts. The Act was intended to create separate self-government institutions for two new regions of Ireland: six northeastern counties were to become Northern Ireland , while most of the territory was to be called " Southern Ireland ". Both regions of Ireland were to remain part of the UK, and it was envisaged that they would be joined in the future by self-government institutions. Irish nationalists seeking independence were not satisfied with the status of autonomy and Prime Minister David Lloyd George was forced to negotiate with them. On December 6, 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London , which resulted in the decision to create the Irish Free State ( dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations ). In January 1922, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified by the House of Representatives of Ireland ^{[2] [3]} .

Eamon de Valera took the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty as a betrayal and resigned, leading the Republican opposition, supported by a significant part of the members of Sinn Fein and the IRA. Opposing groups have formed in the country: an interim government led by Michael Collins and elected president Arthur Griffith , and on the other hand the Catholic clergy , Sinn Fein and the IRA, who refused to recognize the agreement on the division of the country into two parts. In the June 1922 parliamentary elections , the majority were supporters of the peace treaty (58 seats versus 38 for Republicans). The contradictions between the parties intensified and as a result a civil war broke out . On August 12, 1922, Arthur Griffith died of a heart attack, and Michael Collins was killed by IRA rebels on August 22, 1922. The House of Representatives of Ireland elected William Thomas Cosgrave , who drafted the Constitution of the Irish Free State, as president. On December 6, 1922, the creation of the Irish Free State was proclaimed after the constitution received Royal sanction ^{[2] [3] [4]} . On December 7, 1922, the day after the creation of the Irish Free State, the 6 northern counties of Ireland voted to remain part of Great Britain with Gomrul status, with its own parliament and government. The civil war in Ireland ended in May 1935 ^{[4] [5]} .

At the head of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, William Thomas Cosgrave pursued a peaceful policy towards Great Britain, which allowed the country's economy to experience significant growth due to the agricultural sector. However, the president’s policy was more beneficial to large landowners than to peasants and suffered heavy losses during the Great Depression in 1929. In 1932, parliamentary elections were held in Ireland in which William Thomas Cosgrave was defeated, and Imon de Valera, a Republican candidate, came to power. To reduce the influence of Great Britain in Ireland, Eamon de Valera took several measures: he took an oath before the House of Representatives of Ireland, and not before the king of Great Britain ; ceased repayment of the public debt of Great Britain, which led to an economic war between the countries. In December 1937, the Constitution of Ireland was adopted, the Irish Free State ceased to exist, and Ireland was proclaimed instead, declared a sovereign, independent and democratic state. The post of governor-general of the Irish Free State was abolished, and the post of president, elected in accordance with universal suffrage, was introduced instead. In 1938, an agreement was reached with Great Britain to end the economic war ^[6] .

In 1939, World War II broke out in which Ireland followed a policy of neutrality , but many Irish volunteered to join the armed forces of the countries of the Anti-Hitler coalition . In 1948, an economic crisis occurred in Ireland and Eamon de Valera lost the election, John Costello from the Fine Gal party came to power. In 1948, Parliament passed the Republic of Ireland Act, which entered into force on Bright Monday 1949 (the anniversary of the Easter Uprising in 1916). The Republic of Ireland was proclaimed, and the country left the Commonwealth of Nations . In response, the British Parliament passed the Ireland Act, according to which the status of Northern Ireland cannot be changed without the consent of London. As a result, the prospects for reunification of the island under a single flag became void, but at that time the status of Northern Ireland was not among the priorities for Dublin. In the 1960s, an internal conflict broke out in Northern Ireland between supporters of the alliance with Britain and the Irish nationalists, which ended in 1998 with the signing of the Belfast Agreement ^{[7] [6]} .

In May 2011, the first ever official visit of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain to the territory of independent Ireland took place. In April 2014, Irish President Michael Higgins paid a return visit to London ^[8] .

The UK is Ireland's largest trading partner. In 2017, the volume of trade between countries amounted to about 65 billion euros ^[9] .