I have been reading about the Irish Civil War and The Troubles over the past few days and I am wondering how the movement changed from independence from Britain in general to what I consider to be a sectarian conflict.
From my (admittedly limited) reading, it seems that the independence movement started as a general feeling that Ireland should be its own state. I have read that there used to be groups supporting independence that were both Protestant and Catholic - I am thinking of the initial revolution in 1798 by the Society of United Irishmen which seems to me to be a Protestant organization supporting Catholic rights. This doesn't seem to be something that would cause a lot of anger from Catholics.
After that, the other organizations seeking independence seem to be exclusively Catholic. While this can be explained by them looking for their own freedom, when I move on to The Troubles I see a great deal of conflict between the IRA/PIRA and UVF/UVA. What changed that they were no longer looking for the same thing?
Does religion play the major part in the division between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, or is it simply historical? It seems as if Northern Ireland is mostly Protestant and the Republic of Ireland is mostly Catholic. Was it always this way or did it develop after the fighting started?
Firstly, The Troubles are an event distinct from the Irish War for Independence (1919-21). When the Irish free state was established as a result of the Anglo-Irish treaty, six counties of northern Ireland (Ulster) were retained by Great Britain as part of the terms, largely on account of their significant Protestant, Unionist population, who were themselves often descendants of the Plantation of Ulster and as such considered themselves and their portion of the isle to be Great Britain.
Sectarian conflict derives from the fact that though Britain retained the six counties, a significant population of the territory, being largely Catholic desired unity with the largely Catholic Irish free state, the radicals of this faction felt Eire was 32 counties and the political situation ought to reflect that (Republican PIRA). The largely Protestant unionists aimed to demonstrate their commitment to the union through increasingly militant means (Unionist UDF).
Hostilities flared, and radicals within both parties launched escalating actions against one another to the point the British military stepped in to perform the role of peacekeeper between the factions, which incensed the Provisional IRA and like parties even further, resulting in the decades long cycle of unrest and violence.