Origins of the Fighting Irish

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Throughout its history Ireland was a country plagued by struggle. Pain and suffering was a part of the Irish culture for hundreds of years, which built the Irish’s reputation for being hard working, tough, and strong willed. However, in 1968, a new form of struggle reared its ugly head to affect all those who lived not only in the emerald island itself, but also across the Irish Sea in England. The Troubles, as they are world renowned, began in the town of Derry, Northern Ireland on October 5th, 1968 after peaceful Irish Catholic protesters were attacked and beaten by the local police. These events sparked a domino effect of riots, beatings, bombings and violence centered in Northern Ireland, which occurred over the next thirty years and claimed the lives of more than three thousand civilians and military personnel. But in 1968, violence was occurring all over the globe! In Mexico, student protests were violently put down by the government, resulting in the death of many innocent people . In Prague, Czechoslovakia, a new wave of free thought amongst students led Soviet officials to send troops and tanks into the city streets that put down what they considered “anti-Communist” behavior. Whether it was in these countries or China, France, Argentina, or Germany, people stood up for their rights and were brutally put down by authoritative figures. The events that took place in Ireland in 1968 escalated much more then elsewhere around the world due to the over six hundred years of violence between Catholics and Protestants. Ireland’s long history of violence prevented the ideas of international influences such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi from gaining traction as legitimate ideologies amongst the Irish people. After more than six hundred years of oppression by the British and the Protestant Lords of England who forced them off of their land and treated

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