ABSTRACT
Ireland was linked to Britain in 1800 by the Act of Union. This ended in 1921 as the three southern provinces became the Irish Free State and two-thirds of the northern province, Ulster, remained within the United Kingdom. Within the last seven years of the period a major conflict had developed between the republicans on the one hand and the Ulster unionists on the other. The former saw Britain as a colonial power exploiting the Irish population, while the latter believed equally passionately in continued integration.
