Hey, look! E in 8th grade history had to chime in! Well, minimus, none of these things helped anyone else, so they don’t have anything to do with my post, but I’ll reply anyways.
“1. CE 550 onwards Irish monks re-Christianize Europe.”
This myth is also cherished by Muslims, oddly enough. Both claim to have saved pre-Dark Ages Western Civilization from itself, hiding the knowledge of the West until the barbarians could handle it again.
Europe in the Middle Ages was a lot more complicated than Thomas Cahill and other ancestor-strokers would have you believe. The portrayal of the former Western Roman Empire, a century after its official decline, as a land of “barbarian pagan savages” is pretty funny.
The ultimate in irony, however, is that young people and the younger generation in Ireland hardly go to church now.
“2. CE 999 Brian Boru defeated Vikings.”
Boru died at the site of the battle where this happened (Clontarf), and his victory lasted about, what, eight hours before his sons and the other idiot chieftains started killing each other over the scraps? This neither stopped the Northmen in Ireland or anywhere else, who continued merrily viking away.
“3. 1782 Legislative Independence won from Britain by Irish Parliament.”
To great effect, of course (see landlords, rights of Irish citizens, protection of Irish Catholics under the law, the Potato Famine, the real legislative power of the Irish Parliament, etc.)
“4. 1919-21 Irish War of Independence against Britain.”
Only in Irish or Serbian history would this be considered something to brag about. Someone in Britain finally realized – having stomped the Irish in the field since the time of the Normans – that having the families of their soldiers murdered in their beds (native Irish always lose when fighting armed men), was too high a cost to pay to maintain a mossy, medieval rock.
“5. 1993 Downing Street Declaration; British Government accepts the right
of the people of Irelalnd to self-determinination.”
1000+ years of domination at the hands of foreigners and a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ireland is officially recognized by the UK. OK, 3/4 of it…