Elizabethan Wars

• The Elizabethan Irish War, also known as the Desmond Rebellions, started around 1562 as a result of the English seeking to replace Irish lords with English Protestants. The rebellions resulted in the defeat of the Desmond clan and the reallocation of their estates to the English.
  
  

Nine Years War

• The Nine Years War (1594-1603) in Ireland started as a continuation of Irish disdain for English Protestants and their growing power in Ireland. After many defeats on both sides, including the English defeat at the battle of Yellow Ford in 1598, the Irish surrendered to the new English monarch in 1603 after the death of Queen Elizabeth I.
  
  

The Jacobite War

• The Jacobite War in Ireland, also known as the Williamite War, lasted from 1689 to 1691 and was a direct result of a dispute over the English throne between King James II and William of Orange. While the dispute seems English in nature, most of the battles took place on Irish soil; further, the war resulted in additional English control over Irish soil when King James was defeated.
  
  

War of Independence

• The Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) between Ireland and England started shortly after the World War I as a result of Irish parties seeking an Irish Republic. After three years of guerrilla-style fighting, both sides signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty resulting in the Free Irish State, made up of 26 counties. Northern Ireland remained under British rule.
  
  

Civil War

• The Irish Civil War (1922-1923) resulted as a dispute between the pro-treaty Free State and anti-treaty Republican Party, and their disagreements over the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Though the fighting eventually ended in May 1923 after the death of the leader of the Free State, the dispute was never fully resolved. The present day opposing parties in Ireland, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, evolved from the anti-treaty and pro-treaty forces of 1922.