Ireland

Before the World War 1 Britain had agreed to give Ireland self-government. But there were Irishmen who were against the idea. They demanded a full independence and formed a republican party in Ireland. In elections of 1918 to the British Parliament, they won everywhere except in Ulster. They refused to join the British Parliament and met together in Dublin and started their new parliament. Ireland was announced a republic. The uprising was put down, and the leaders were executed, but the brutal measures used by the British strengthened Irish resistance. Many Irishmen joined the republican army to fight against the British occupation. This resulted, in 1921, in independence of southern Ireland ( 26 counties ) which became the Republic of Eire. Ulster, however, was allowed to remain within the United Kingdom. The ruling politicians in the Ulster Parliament used their power to discriminate against the Catholic minority ( about 30% of the population ) as regards jobs, housing, the voting system, and the British government continued to ignore all complaints. In reaction to this, the Irish Republican Army began a terrorist campaign against British rule. Many British governments have tried to solve the “Irish Question” by variety of political initiatives. This has been impossible to achieve, however, as the great mass of Catholics in Ulster see no solution except re-unification with the Irish Republic, and the vast majority of Protestants violently oppose re-unification on any terms.

Monarchy

During the 20^th century the monarchy was still more popular than it was in the time of Queen Victoria. George 5, the grandson of Victoria, started a tradition to attend the annual football Cup Final match at Wembley Stadium. One more tradition came to practice: on Christmas Day he spoke to the people of Britain and the Commonwealth on the radio. Since those days the Christmas speech of the monarch has been heard by all the nation. During the war George 6 and his family won great admiration of the British people for refusing to leave Buckingham Palace even after it had been bombed.