The Irish History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Irish History - Essay Example How various people responded to the Great Famine of 1845-1852 will also be discussed. Moreover, it will address the role of women in the history of Ireland, as well as the contributions of the Hollywood and Bill Clinton family to promoting peace in Ireland. The Irish Conquest came to a close during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James. This was after several years of struggle, which was characterized by very brutal conflicts. There was an Irish Parliamentary meeting in 1541, during which Henry the eighth ascended to power as the new King of Ireland. This consequently made sure there was a government in place. Therefore, having a friendly king in Ireland, the English saw it as a rare opportunity to acquire further control of over their Kingdom of Ireland to its other claimed territories. This process took them close to a century to eventually succeed in their new endeavors. The process was characterized by various fighting and negotiations between the English administrators an d independent Irish and conservative English lords (Moody and Martin 31). As stated above, the conquest only ended during the times of Elizabeth and James. After a complete conquest, the English realized their first real governance of Ireland. They then established a centralized government all over, an event which was immediately followed by a complete disarmament of the local lordships. However, I would like to argue that this conquest cannot be termed as fully successful by 1603. I admit that by this time they had established a strong control over this territory, at least physically. Some structures, however, still remained unchanged. The Irish had been dominantly Catholics, a fact that had not changed a big deal by 1603. The Irish had not yet adopted the English Protestant ideology by 1603, and there was no sign that that would happen in the near future. The English were also employing very crude methods to strengthen their hold the territory. Methods such as martial law only att racted more resentment from the natives. There was also the introduction of the infamous plantation system which meant total colonization. The English had simply just failed, at least from the ideological perspective (Moody and Martin 31). The Irish gave another life to William of Orange as a Protestant savior even after years of irrelevance among the non-Protestants. William had preached the Protestant ideologies as the ideals. He had worked so hard within the Orange Order, an organization which had emerged after the â€Å"Battle of Diamond.† The ideology of â€Å"biblical Protestantism† emerged again under the new Orange Order, with the stronger principles of reformation. This Order also only accepted those who subscribed to the Protestant ideologies (Johnson 180). William had also successfully convinced not only other Orange Order members but also other protestant Irish that it was important to help The United Kingdom rein forever. Under the English rule, the Protes tants were assured of security and prosperity, since it would highly enrich them while discriminating against the Catholics. Therefore, William’s ideas for Unionism, which opposed any form of Irish re-unification or even the independence of Scotland, was an admirable gesture that would ensure that Protestants rule over Irish Catholics forever. Therefore, William was always seen as the Protestant savior against any fall (Johnson 180). The Catholics were continuously treated