Ireland was colonized by the British in the same manner that Canada, the United States, India, and many other nations were put under British rule during the age of British domination. Britain provided social, political, and economic structure and believed they were a superior civilization. They treated the native citizens as inferior people to be subjugated and used to advance Britain’s interests. In their eyes, the Irish Republicans were unlawful traitors to the Crown to be squashed.

As in the American Revolution, the Irish freedom fighters who had lived under the thumb of harsh British rule, wanted to break free of this oppression, to drive the British out, and to govern themselves. They had centuries of abuse at the hands of the British to fuel their anger and resolve.

The Irish situation was complicated by the religious and economic disparity between the southern counties which were predominantly Catholic and the north-eastern counties which were predominantly Protestant, with Belfast as their economic center. This was caused, in part by a “plantation” of Protestant Scots by Britain during the 17th century.