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History of St. Patrick's Day - History of Ireland Quiz

Let History.com steer you through 15 centuries of Emerald Isle history. Good luck!

1) In the fifth century, St. Patrick arrived in Ireland in an effort to convert the Irish to Christianity. Although little is known for sure about Patrick's experiences in Ireland, it is believed that in 444 or 445 he established his first church in this town:

2) During the 10th century, Ireland was invaded by Vikings. The raiders pillaged monasteries, but also founded settlements that eventually grew into some of Ireland's biggest cities, including Dublin. In 1014, this man was able to unite Ireland's warring tribes long enough to defeat the Vikings at Clontarf, near Dublin, and free Ireland from Viking rule:

3) In the 12th Century, Pope Adrian IV granted overlordship of Ireland to this man, igniting an Anglo-Irish conflict that has lasted for more than 800 years:

4) In 1607, the English government confiscated six of the nine northern counties of Ireland and imported Protestant settlers from England and Scotland to live there, laying the foundation for much of the island's bitter history. These six counties are referred to as:

5) The English general and fanatical Protestant Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland in August 1649, fresh from fighting in England's civil war, to put down Irish rebellions that had been flaring-up since 1641. He was responsible for destroying the towns of Drogheda, Clonmel and Wexford, killing thousands of Irish in a mere nine-month stay with just 3,000 battle-hardened soldiers. These soldiers, hated by the Irish, were nicknamed:

6) One of the most notorious dates in Irish history is 1690, when the English king, William, Prince of Orange, defeated former English King James II, a Catholic, at this battle four miles west of Drogheda:

7) In 1720, the English monarchy granted the English parliament the right to pass laws for Ireland. The Irish House of Commons, which at this time was made up almost completely of wealthy Protestant landowners, was left with only one major power:

8) In 1800, the passage of this law united England and Ireland as one country, abolishing the Irish parliament:

9) From 1845 to 1849, the Great Famine struck Ireland, a result of a fungus disease which caused the nation's potato crop - a staple of the Irish diet - to rot in the ground. Nearly a million Irish died of starvation and disease as a result of the famine. Many chose to flee Ireland, resulting in the emigration of this many Irish to the United States between 1847 and 1854:

10) Even after 800 years of Anglo-Irish conflict and a famine that wiped out a quarter of Ireland's population, the desire for self governance among the Irish refused to die out. By the early 20th Century, the Irish began to form citizen militia groups including the Irish Citizen Army, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and the Irish Volunteers. On Easter Sunday, 1916, Irish rebels, under the leadership of Patrick Pearse, seized several government buildings and announced the establishment of an Irish republic. After declaring martial law, the government crushed the rebellion quickly, and within three weeks fifteen of the Irish rebels were executed. Although the Easter Rising, as it is now known, was an unqualified failure, it may have had greater success if promised supplies from this country had arrived in time:

11) In 1920, this act partitioned Ireland into two states: one consisting of six northern, mainly Protestant counties and one comprised of the island's remaining twenty-six southern counties. Two years later, a treaty gave southern Ireland dominion status within the British Empire as the Irish Free State:

12) The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 set off many decades of violence in Ireland between pro-treaty and anti-treaty forces, who refused to recognize the validity of the partition. Finally, by the 1960s, people on both sideswere tiring of the fighting and the stage seemed set for peace. In 1965, Northern Ireland's prime minister Terence O'Neill even made an unprecedented visit to this man, the Irish Free State's prime minister:

13) Sadly, by the late 1960s, the frustration of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland with economic and political discrimination by the Protestant government led to widespread violence, mainly between the Irish Republican Army and:

14) After twenty-two months of negotiating, a 67 page peace accord was finally agreed to by leaders of eight of Northern Ireland's ten political parties and the governments of Great Britain and Ireland in:

15) In August 1998, a bomb exploded in this Northern Ireland town, killing 28 people and injuring 200 more in the deadliest episode in Northern Ireland's bloody history. In which town did the bomb explode?

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