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The struggle for peace in Northern Ireland is one that has raged for many decades. The desire for peace on the “Emerald Isle,” is a notion that consumes both Britain and Ireland, but it is not one to be easily obtained. This essay will examine the last eleven months of the peace process between the two countries. To understand the extreme intensity of this conflict, it is necessary to look back at the history of the Irish nation. The first British involvement in Ireland began in 1169, when Anglo-Norman troops arrived at Bannow Bay in County Wexford. During the next half of the millennium, successive English rulers attempted to colonize the island, waging battles to increase their holdings- moves that sparked periodic rebellions by the Irish. As the English gradually expanded their reach over the island by the 16th century, religious persecution of the Catholic Irish grew- particularly after the accession of Elizabeth I, a Protestant, to the throne in 1558. Oliver Cromwell’s subsequent siege of Ireland in 1649 ended with the massacres of Catholics at Drogheda and Wexford and forced the resettlement of thousands that had lost their homes during the struggle. By 1691, with victory of Protestant English King William