The Complete History of Ireland 🇮🇪 | Fascinating Documentary

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The earliest evidence of humans in Ireland dates to around 34,000 years ago, with Homo sapiens confirmed from around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The retreat of the ice after the Younger Dryas (c. 9700 BC) marked the start of Prehistoric Ireland, including the Mesolithic and Neolithic (from c. 4000 BC). The Copper Age arrived with the Beaker Culture (c. 2500 BC), followed by the Bronze Age (c. 2000 BC), and the Iron Age (from c. 600 BC) with the Hallstatt and later La Tène Celtic cultures.

By the Classical era, Ireland was inhabited by Gaelic-speaking peoples. Christianity began spreading by the late 4th century CE, replacing Celtic paganism. By the 6th century, a monastic, literate Christian society had developed. Viking raids began in the late 8th century, leading to cultural exchange and the founding of coastal towns. Their influence waned after the Battle of Clontarf (1014).

In 1169, the Normans invaded, initiating centuries of English involvement. While initial conquests were substantial, a Gaelic resurgence reversed many gains, confining English power to areas like The Pale near Dublin. English control dwindled until the end of the Wars of the Roses (1488), when the Tudors refocused on Ireland. Resistance came from both Gaelic and Norman-Irish factions, resisting English authority and the Protestant Reformation.

The prolonged Tudor conquest (1536–1603) began with the rebellion of Silken Thomas in 1534. Henry VIII declared himself King of Ireland in 1541. A mix of warfare and colonisation followed, including rebellions (Desmond Rebellions, Nine Years’ War) and the plantation system, where English and Scottish Protestants were settled on confiscated land. Gaelic Ireland's final defeat came at the Battle of Kinsale (1601), marking the collapse of the traditional order and the start of English colonial rule.

In the 17th century, Protestant settlers dominated landholding, while Catholics faced dispossession. Religious wars—the Confederate Wars (1641–52) and the Williamite War (1689–91)—cemented Protestant Ascendancy. Penal laws followed, oppressing Catholics and non-Anglican Protestants alike.

Following the failed United Irishmen rebellion, Ireland was incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801 via the Acts of Union. Catholic emancipation came in 1829 through Daniel O’Connell. The Great Famine (1845–49) caused over a million deaths and mass emigration. The late 19th-century Home Rule movement, led by Charles Stewart Parnell, made significant parliamentary gains. Though the Home Rule Act passed in 1914, WWI delayed its implementation.

The 1916 Easter Rising shifted public opinion. After the War of Independence (1919–21), the Anglo-Irish Treaty created the Irish Free State in 1922, while six counties in the northeast remained in the UK as Northern Ireland. Disagreements over the Treaty led to civil war; pro-Treaty forces prevailed.

Northern Ireland's history has since been shaped by sectarian division between mainly Catholic Irish nationalists and Protestant unionists. The Troubles erupted in the late 1960s after civil rights protests were met with force. The conflict lasted nearly 30 years, ending with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which established a fragile but enduring peace.