Robert Kee's history of Ireland begins with the Stone Age and includes the work of St. Patrick; the Viking and Norman invasions; and the subjugation of Ireland by Elizabethan England.
Chronicles the violence marking the 17th century, which included the rule of Cromwell and of James II, culminating in the English victory at the Battle of the Boyne (1690).
Explores a divided Ireland, citing the rebellion led by Wolfe Tone against the Penal Laws; the Act of Union in 1801; and Daniel O'Connell's victory in securing the right of Catholics to be members of Parliament.
Chronicles Ireland's potato famine in the mid-1840's, which resulted in the deaths of over a million people and the mass migration of over two million to the U.S, Canada and Australia.
Chronicles the opposition of the Ulster Unionists, led by Edward Carson, to the Home Rule Bill of 1912. Civil war in Ireland was averted only by the onset of WW1.
Irish nationalists view the war as an opportunity for armed insurrection against the British. This chronicles the lead up to the Rising on Easter Monday, 1916 and the aftermath.
The 1918 British elections result in a landslide for the Sinn Fein party, who proceed to declare Ireland an independent republic. This action begins a three-year period of violence between Irish Volunteers fighting for freedom and British forces intent on crushing the nationwide rebellion.
This examines the events that led to civil war after Ireland received dominion status in 1921, gaining freedom at the price of allegiance to the British Crown.
Chronicles events from 1928 culminating in Ireland's self-declared independence from England in 1949. Included: De Valera's rise to power; the constitution of 1937; and World War II.
