Wind that Shakes the Barley

Photograph depicting the Sinn Fien party headquarters in Dublin Ireland.  Image online, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Twas hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said, "The mountain glen
I'll seek at morning early
And join the bold united men
While soft winds shake the barley"

Robert Dwyer Joyce

 It is 1922. For centuries Britain has ruled Ireland in some fashion. Now there is clamoring for Ireland to be free.

But not everyone agrees.

People in six northern counties - largely Protestants - want their province of Ulster (once a British plantation) to be part of the United Kingdom. People in twenty-six southern counties - largely Catholics - want an independent Ireland, free of United Kingdom rule.

A treaty with Britain, signed on 6 December 1921, is now before the Irish Parliament. If passed, Ireland will split in two. Twenty-six counties in the south would be an independent country; six counties in the north would be part of the United Kingdom.

After heated debates, the Anglo-Irish Treaty passes by a narrow vote.

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Original Release Date:  June, 2006
Updated Quarterly, or as Needed