To suggest that there has been a consistent and contentious relationship between Ireland and England for centuries would certainly be a tautology. One of the most interesting and politically challenging periods occurred between the end of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries.
In the west, the French and American Revolutions, unrest in some British colonies, crises in European nations and problematic international politics made for interesting times. The British paid little attention to Ireland at this time; the British had control of the island, but not the heart of the inhabitants. Irish lands, George Trevelyan writes, were “… given to a garrison of (British) landlords”.