Modern Ireland

The main dates in 20th-century Irish history are:

1916: unsuccessful Easter Rising in Dublin proclaims independent Irish Republic
1918: the Republican party Sinn Fein ("Ourselves Alone") won 73 of 105 Irish seats in the general election, but refused to take seats in the Westminster Parliament and organized their own assembly in Dublin
1919-1921: War of Independence; Ireland given independence as the Irish Free State, still nominally part of the British Empire; Ireland partitioned when the 6 counties of Northern Ireland elected to remain part of the United Kingdom
1921-1922: Civil War between those (led by Michael Collins) willing to accept 26-county independence with nominal British sovereignty, and those (led by Eamon de Valera) who saw anything short of a republic encompassing all of Ireland as a betrayal
1923: Irish Free State joins League of Nations
1926: foundation of Fianna Fail (described by one of its founders, Seán Lemass, as a "slightly constitutional" party), to get around Sinn Fein oath not to take part in politics until ireland reunited
1932: Fianna Fail in power under Eamon de Valera: policies of economic "self-sufficiency" instituted, intended to reduce economic dependence on Britain
1933: foundation of Fine Gael, uniting the strands of nationalism closer to the vision of Michael Collins than of De Valera
1937: Irish Constitution, perhaps the most liberal and democratic new constitution drafted anywhere in Europe in the 1930s (Irish Free State renamed Eire; the "whole island of Ireland" claimed as the national territory; the "special position" of the Catholic Church in Irish life given constitutional recognition)
1938: Royal Navy withdrawn from Irish ports and coastal defences
1940-1946: "the Emergency": Ireland neutral in the Second World War, but governed under a State of Emergency; IRA activists interned for undermining the state's neutrality towards Britain
1949: Republic established (Eire renamed Ireland)
1956: IRA launches "Border Campaign" (carrying out cross-border attacks from the Republic into Northern Ireland)
1957: De Valera orders internment without trial of IRA and Sinn Fein activists at Curragh Camp, Kildare
1958: Seán Lemass replaces De Valera as head of government; launches First Programme for Economic Expansion (moving away from protectionism)
1961-1963: unsuccessful bid for membership of the European Community
1969: beginning of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland
1970: Dublin Arms Trial: rogue elements of the Irish government and armed forces had been supplying guns to Northern Irish Republicans
1972: 30 January "Bloody Sunday" (paratroopers shoot 27 civil rights protesters in Derry, killing 13); 2 February British embassy burned down in Dublin; constitution modified to drop the "special position" clause relating to the Catholic Church
1973: membership of the European Community
Over the next 30 years, Ireland went from being one of the poorest countries in Western Europe to being one of the richest (the "Celtic Tiger" phenomenon), thanks in part to European structural funds and American investment, but also to a clear policy of making Ireland an attractive place for outside investment, and to the lack of post-industrial problems (due to a lack of older industry)
1998: Good Friday Agreement: Ireland agrees to drop a territorial claim to the whole island of Ireland from its constitution, in response for a voice in the affairs of Northern Ireland

Below, the beginning of the RTE documentary "Ireland in the Seventies", part of the "Seven Ages" series on the history of the Irish state.



For those interested:
Part 2 here
Part 3 here
Part 4 here
Part 5 here
Part 6 here