Wednesday, December 06, 2006

This Day In History... 84 Years Ago...


1922-In a step toward independence from its neighbor and longtime colonial master, the majority of Ireland declares itself the Irish Free State, part of the Commonwealth of Great Britain. English colonization in Ireland dates to the 12th Century, but under Elizabeth I and Oliver Cromwell violent suppression of Irish rebels and large-scale English settlement at the expense of the Irish became official policy. Centuries of resistance culminated in the struggle for Home Rule, punctuated by the Easter Rising of 1916 and the proclamation of the Irish Free State in 1922. In 1937, the Free State was renamed Eire and declared sovereign and independent; it is now commonly known as the Republic of Ireland.

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