During the war of independence, the IRA used guerrilla warfare tactics involving hit and run technics against the British forces in Ireland, this was a successful tactic use by the IRA. Due to the British government having no knowledge of who was in the IRA, including the leader of the war Michael Collins, Collins was so successful in concealing his identity the British officials did not even know what he looked like until his appearance in the negotiations. In order to subdue to rebellion, the British government introduced the black and tans who mainly contained disbanded British soldiers. The Black and Tans in November 1920 marched into a Gaelic football match in Dublin and opened fired killing 14 and injuring 60, this event became known as Bloody Sunday.  

Approximately 1,300 people died during the war of independence.

The conflict kick started with the assassination of Henry Wilson who was a figure in the British military by the anti-treaty subgroup resulting in a military response from the Provisional government.  

Britain continued to help finance the pro-treat provisional government in their military response against the anti-treaty IRA, as the IRA began with the use of guerrilla warfare as well as the high profile killing of Michael Collins in an ambush by the ant-treaty forces. Approximately 1,500 people died in the Irish civil war.  

The war came to an end as the anti-treaty forces realised they could not win the war with the pro-treaty forces being backed by the British government. Anti-treaty leader Aiken ordered for the dumping of arms in May as the pro-treaty forces took control over the country. 

During the march the protesters were met with violence from the RIC who continued to beat the protesters with batons. This event was seen as the marking of the troubles as there was a newsman at the march who happened to catch the response of the RIC on camera. The footage went international as people around the world became outraged at the event.  

With the international outrage the British government was under immense pressure as the British government was accused of neglecting Northern Ireland. 

The face of the hunger strikes was bobby sands who was a leader in the IRA who was followed by nine other members. While ten prisoners starved themselves, the Prime Minister of the British government at this time Margrett Thatcher seemed content to letting them starve and would not compromise. Bobby sands died on the 5th May, approximately 100,000 people attended his funeral demonstrating the public support for the prisoners. As friends and family pleaded with the British government to come to some comprise so that their loved ones could live the British government relented leading to an increased anti-British sentiment in Northern Ireland. while Bobby sands was classified as a martyr Margaret Thatcher was classified as a murderer.  

The passing of the policy is significant as it allows Irish nationalists Northern Ireland to have a stronger cultural identity, as many nationalists in Northern Ireland feel as though they struggle to identify as Irish than that of those who live in the Republic of Ireland. Since the Irish language plays a big role in the Republic of Ireland.  

The reaction of the unionist and the loyalists show the British influence that is still strong within Northern Ireland. As the British government views on the Irish language were strongly negative, we can trace this back to British colonisation of Ireland on where the British government bans the use of the Irish language in 1367, in which those who were caught speaking the language would ave been killed.

The Good Friday Agreement allowed for cooperation between the two communities in Northern Ireland, nationalists mainly Catholics and the unionists/ loyalists mainly protestants, through the creation of a Northern Ireland government representing all within the country. The Agreement also states that people rights are to be respected regardless of the community they come from, as well as paramilitary groups (IRA and the UVF) agreeing to dispose of their weapons as a gesture of a truce. One of the main aspects of the Agreement was self determination, meaning that the general public of Northern Ireland can decide whether or not to be a part of the UK or have a united Ireland. 

In 1972 a peaceful protest occurred in response to internment in which many people, mainly Catholics, were wrongfully accused of being in the IRA and were placed in jail without trail. The protesters were met by a battalion of the British Army, who open fired on the protesters resulting in 13 deaths many who died were teenage boys no older than 17. One being Kevin McElhinney who was shot while crawling away from the British Soldier who killed him. The soldiers later went onto claim supported by the British government that the protesters fired the first shots meaning that their actions were justified however, only years later did the truth come out. The soldiers planted weapons and bullets on the bodies of the protesters, their identities are still being protected by the British government to this day. 

The Free State later became a republic in 1949 officially ending the countries links to the British Monarchy.

Catholics also faced discrimination in social aspects in terms of jobs as businessmen refused to hire Catholics viewing them as untrustworthy and a potential danger to the business. Some businessmen refused Catholics claiming them to be overqualified.  

This demonstrates the British influence that is still ripe in Northern Ireland to this day, with the fear of a potential united Ireland the DUP refused to take part in parliament halting all possible advancements to the country while they were absent.  

There was a fear in the air in Northern Ireland of a potential second troubles, as Northern Ireland is close to the Republic of Ireland who still remains in the European union. The fear was whether or not there was to be a physical border in Northern Ireland again, which may have led to the reemergence of the IRA in Northern Ireland should this have happened.  

The Windsor framework was introduced as a way to solve this problem of where the border should be placed, the framework stated that there would not be a physical border in Norther Ireland again by allowing Northern Ireland to stay in the customs union.  

This essentially puts the Republic of Ireland in a unique position that no other country has in the European Union, which is a back door into UK market. 

In 2024 Kneecap, an Irish language rap group from Belfast Northern Ireland made a movie inspired by events which lead to them created their music group. The movie as meet with a wave of admiration. Not only was the movie successful in Northern Ireland it was a success internationally, which is also a great success for the Irish language as a majority of the movie is spoken in Irish allowing for greater recognition of the language on an international scale.  

Kneecap can be seen as the face of the movement, they are vocal on their political standpoint as they previously sued the British government as they blocked an arts grant to the band claiming them to be anti-British the band claimed that the case was "never about the money" but for freedom of expression, granted by the Good Friday Agreement for equality for all of those in Northern Ireland. They won the case receiving £14,250; after winning the case and receiving the money they donated a percentage of the money won to both Catholic and Protestant youth services in Belfast.