The Cause of the North Island's Problems In this essay I will try to decide whether the cause of the North Island's problems was long term or short term. Some people believe that the problems in Northern Ireland began hundreds of years ago, that the current conflict was sparked by religious differences and has continued to the present day. The other view is that today's unrest only began when tensions began to rise during the civil rights movements/marches in the 1960s. This view holds that previous events had no relation to today's struggles, they were simply used to establish who between the nationalists and the unionists was right. View one Many people believe that the conflict really began in the 1530s, when Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and founded his own Protestant church in England. Although Protestantism was now the main religion in England, most Irish remained Catholic, so Henry declared himself King of Ireland. He tried to anglicize the Irish so that they would no longer appear against the English. This could be a major religious cause as it created two separate groups of people in the first place, making it a major factor in determining hardship. Catholics might have felt alienated from the start - and the fact that King Henry has just declared himself King of Ireland might strengthen some nationalist argument... middle of paper... I think if there hadn't been If there had been a little hatred between them, these stories would not have arisen. I think the most important causes of the problems in Northern Ireland were early, such as when Henry VIII created Protestantism. When he tried to impose this on the Irish. When King James I took the land from the Irish Catholics and gave it to the British Protestants. Factors like these have triggered a separation that has lasted for centuries. I believe that the separation this caused ultimately led to the partition of Ireland, which in turn led to discrimination and violence in 1969. In conclusion, although the violence in 1969 was apparently caused by the tensions of the 1960s and the marches for civil rights, the tensions would not It would not have existed if it had not been for everything that preceded it.