1.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
2.
Edward Carson
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Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson, PC, PC, KC, from 1900 to 1921 known as Sir Edward Carson, was an Irish unionist politician, barrister and judge. He was leader of the Irish Unionist Alliance and Ulster Unionist Party between 1910 and 1921, held positions in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. He was one of the few people not a monarch to receive a British state funeral, Edward Carson was born at 4 Harcourt Street, in Dublin, into a wealthy Anglican family, His father was an architect. The Carsons were of Scottish origin, Edwards grandfather having originally moved to Dublin from Dumfries in 1815, Carsons mother was Isabella Lambert, the daughter of Captain Peter Lambert, part of an old Anglo-Irish family, the Lamberts of Castle Ellen, County Galway. Carson spent holidays at Castle Ellen, which was owned by his uncle and he was one of six children. Edward was educated at Portarlington School, Wesley College, Dublin and Trinity College, Dublin and he also played with the college hurling team. He later received a doctorate from the University of Dublin in June 1901. In 1877 Carson was called to the Irish Bar at Kings Inns and he gained a reputation for fearsome advocacy and supreme legal ability and became regarded as a brilliant barrister, one of the leading ones in Ireland at the time. He was also a master of the appeal to the jury by his legal wit. He was appointed Queens Counsel in 1889, in 1895, he was engaged by the Marquess of Queensberry to lead his defence against Oscar Wildes action for criminal libel. Wilde retaliated with an action, as homosexuality was, at the time. Kevin Myers states that Carsons initial response was to refuse to take the case, later, he discovered that Queensberry had been telling the truth about Wildes activity and was therefore not guilty of the libel of which Wilde accused him. He impugned Wildes works as morally repugnant and designed to corrupt the upbringing of the youth, Queensberry spent a considerable amount of money on private detectives who investigated Wildes activity in the London underworld of homosexual clubs and procurers. Wilde was bankrupted when he was ordered to pay the considerable legal. Based on the evidence of Queensberrys detectives and Carsons cross-examinations of Wilde at the trial and he was eventually found guilty and sentenced to two years hard labour, after which he moved to France, where he died penniless. In 1908 Carson appeared for the London Evening Standard in an action brought by George Cadbury. The Standard was controlled by Unionist interests which supported Joseph Chamberlains Imperial Preference views, the Cadbury family were Liberal supporters of free trade and had, in 1901, purchased The Daily News. The Standard articles alleged that Cadbury Bros Ltd, the Standard alleged that the Cadbury family knew that the reason cocoa from São Tomé was cheaper was because it was grown by slave labour
3.
Ulster Volunteer Force
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The Ulster Volunteer Force is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It emerged in 1966 and is named after the original UVF of the early 20th century and its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British soldier. The group undertook a campaign of almost thirty years during the Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence, the group is classified as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and United States. The UVFs declared goals were to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Irish Republican Army – and it was responsible for more than 500 deaths. The vast majority of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were killed at random. During the conflict, its deadliest attack in Northern Ireland was the 1971 McGurks Bar bombing, the group also carried out attacks in the Republic of Ireland from 1969 onward. The biggest of these was the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the no-warning car bombings had been carried out by units from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades. Two UVF men were blown up in this poorly planned attack. The UVFs last major attack was the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, in which its members shot dead six Catholic civilians in a rural pub, until recent years, it was noted for secrecy and a policy of limited, selective membership. The other main loyalist paramilitary group during the conflict was the Ulster Defence Association, since the ceasefire, the UVF has been involved in rioting, organised crime, vigilantism and feuds with other loyalist groups. Some members have also found responsible for orchestrating a series of racist attacks. The UVFs stated goal was to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army –, the vast majority of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. Whenever it claimed responsibility for its attacks, the UVF usually claimed that those targeted were IRA members or were giving help to the IRA. Other times, attacks on Catholic civilians were claimed as retaliation for IRA actions, many retaliatory attacks on Catholics were claimed using the covername Protestant Action Force, which first appeared in autumn 1974. They always signed their statements with the fictitious name Captain William Johnston, like the Ulster Defence Association, the UVFs modus operandi involved assassinations, mass shootings, bombings and kidnappings. It used sub machine-guns, assault rifles, pistols, grenades, incendiary bombs, booby trap bombs, referring to its activity in the early and mid-1970s, journalist Ed Moloney described no-warning pub bombings as the UVFs forte. Members were trained in bomb-making and it developed home-made explosives, however, from 1977 bombs largely disappeared from the UVFs arsenal owing to a lack of explosives and bomb-makers, plus a conscious decision to abandon their use in favour of more contained methods
4.
Militia
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For instance, the members of some U. S. Army National Guard units are considered professional soldiers, as they are trained to maintain the same standards as their full-time counterparts. Militias thus can be military or paramilitary, depending on the instance, some of the contexts in which the term militia is used include, Forces engaged in defense activity or service, to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws. The entire able-bodied population of a community, town, county, or state, a subset of these who may be legally penalized for failing to respond to a call-up. A subset of these who actually respond to a call-up, regardless of legal obligation, a private, non-government force, not necessarily directly supported or sanctioned by its government. An irregular armed force enabling its leader to exercise military, economic, an official reserve army, composed of citizen soldiers. Called by various names in different countries, such as the Army Reserve, National Guard, the national police forces in several former communist states such as the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries, but also in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia. The term was inherited in Russia and other former CIS countries, in France the equivalent term Milice has become tainted due to its use by notorious collaborators with Nazi Germany. A select militia is composed of a small, non-representative portion of the population, as regular military forces were insufficient to counter the British attackers, Santiago de Liniers drafted all males in the city capable of bearing arms into the military. These recruits included the peoples, who ranked low down in the social hierarchy. With these reinforcements, the British armies were twice defeated, the militias became a strong factor in the politics of the city afterwards, as a springboard from which the criollos could manifest their political ambitions. They were a key element in the success of the May Revolution, a decree by Mariano Moreno derogated the system of promotions involving criollos, allowing instead their promotion on military merit. The Argentine Civil War was waged by militias again, as both federalists and unitarians drafted common people into their ranks as part of ongoing conflicts and these irregular armies were organized at a provincial level, and assembled as leagues depending on political pacts. This system had declined by the 1870s, mainly due to the establishment of the modern Argentine Army, provincial militias were outlawed and decimated by the new army throughout the presidential terms of Mitre, Sarmiento, Avellaneda and Roca. Armenian militia also played a role in the Georgia-Abkhazia War of 1992–1993, in the Colony of New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie proposed a colonial militia but the idea was rejected. Governor Ralph Darling felt a mounted force was more efficient than a militia. A military volunteer movement attracted wide interest during the Crimean War, following Federation, the various military reserve forces of the Commonwealth of Australia became the Citizen Military Force. In the beginning, members didnt have uniforms and often paraded in business attire and they were given instruction on guerrilla warfare, and later the private organization was taken over by the Australian Government and became part of the Australian Military Forces. After World War I, multiple militias formed as soldiers returned home to their villages, only to many of them occupied by Slovene
5.
House of Lords
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The House of Lords of the United Kingdom, referred to ceremonially as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. Unlike the elected House of Commons, all members of the House of Lords are appointed, the membership of the House of Lords is drawn from the peerage and is made up of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual are 26 bishops in the established Church of England, of the Lords Temporal, the majority are life peers who are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, or on the advice of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. However, they include some hereditary peers including four dukes. Very few of these are female since most hereditary peerages can only be inherited by men, while the House of Commons has a defined 650-seat membership, the number of members in the House of Lords is not fixed. There are currently 805 sitting Lords, the House of Lords is the only upper house of any bicameral parliament to be larger than its respective lower house. The House of Lords scrutinises bills that have approved by the House of Commons. It regularly reviews and amends Bills from the Commons, while it is unable to prevent Bills passing into law, except in certain limited circumstances, it can delay Bills and force the Commons to reconsider their decisions. In this capacity, the House of Lords acts as a check on the House of Commons that is independent from the electoral process, Bills can be introduced into either the House of Lords or the House of Commons. Members of the Lords may also take on roles as government ministers, the House of Lords has its own support services, separate from the Commons, including the House of Lords Library. The Queens Speech is delivered in the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, the House also has a Church of England role, in that Church Measures must be tabled within the House by the Lords Spiritual. This new parliament was, in effect, the continuation of the Parliament of England with the addition of 45 MPs and 16 Peers to represent Scotland, the Parliament of England developed from the Magnum Concilium, the Great Council that advised the King during medieval times. This royal council came to be composed of ecclesiastics, noblemen, the first English Parliament is often considered to be the Model Parliament, which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and representatives of the shires and boroughs of it. The power of Parliament grew slowly, fluctuating as the strength of the monarchy grew or declined, for example, during much of the reign of Edward II, the nobility was supreme, the Crown weak, and the shire and borough representatives entirely powerless. In 1569, the authority of Parliament was for the first time recognised not simply by custom or royal charter, further developments occurred during the reign of Edward IIs successor, Edward III. It was during this Kings reign that Parliament clearly separated into two chambers, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The authority of Parliament continued to grow, and, during the fifteenth century
6.
John Redmond
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John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and MP in the British House of Commons. He was best known as leader of the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 until his death in 1918 and he was also leader of the paramilitary organisation the Irish National Volunteers. He was born to an old prominent Catholic family in rural Ireland and he took over control of the minority IPP faction loyal to Charles Stewart Parnell when that leader died in 1891. Redmond was a politician who achieved the two main objectives of his political life, party unity and, in September 1914, the passing of the Irish Home Rule Act. The Act granted limited self-government to Ireland, within the United Kingdom, however, implementation of Home Rule was suspended by the outbreak of the First World War. However, after the Easter Rising of 1916, Irish public opinion shifted in favour of militant republicanism and full Irish independence, in sharp contrast to Parnell, Redmond lacked charisma. He worked well in small committees, but had success in arousing large audiences. Parnell always chose the nominees to Parliament, now they were selected by the local party organisations, giving Redmond numerous weak MPs over whom he had little control. He never tried to understand the unionist forces emerging in Ulster, Redmond was further weakened in 1914 by the formation by Sinn Féin members of the Irish Volunteers. His enthusiastic support for the British war effort alienated many Irish nationalists and his party had been increasingly hollowed out, and a major crisis—notably the Easter Rising—was enough to destroy it. John Edward Redmond was born at Ballytrent House, Kilrane, County Wexford and he was the eldest son of William Archer Redmond, MP by Mary, daughter of General Hoey, the brother of Francis Hoey, heir of the Hoey seat, Dunganstown Castle, County Wicklow. For over seven hundred years the Redmonds had been a prominent Catholic gentry family in County Wexford and Wexford town. They were one of the oldest Hiberno-Norman families, and had for a time been known as the Redmonds of The Hall. His more immediate family were a political dynasty themselves. After his death in 1866, his nephew, William Archer Redmond, John Redmond was the brother of Willie Redmond, MP for Wexford and East Clare, and the father of William Redmond, whose wife was Bridget Redmond. Redmonds family heritage was more complex than that of most of his nationalist political colleagues and his mother came from a Protestant and unionist family, although she had converted to Catholicism on marriage, she never converted to nationalism. As a student, young John exhibited the seriousness that many would come to associate with him. After finishing at Clongowes, Redmond attended Trinity College, Dublin to study law, in 1876 he left to live with his father in London, acting as his assistant in Westminster, where he developed more fascination for politics than for law
