Londonderry is a gorgeous and beautiful town in Northern Ireland but you probably wouldn't know that from just hearing about the town. This is because the city of Londonderry, also called Derry, has had some of the most striking and brutal events in history occurring within its beautiful city limits. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody familiar with the history of Northern Ireland but it is still jarring to walk around such a pristine burg and imagine all the exciting and bloody combat that has permeated nearly every corner of the city at some point.
What is even more interesting about Londonderry, though, is the fact that it had and still has one of the strongest and most impermeable walls ever built by human hands. This wall surrounds the city to this day and it is the only completely intact wall that still exists in Ireland. Most experts consider it to be the finest example of wall construction ever fully realized and most of these same experts will also agree that it is one of the most impressive and beautiful. These walls were never breached by invaders throughout the history of this storied town and that makes it all the more fascinating when one thinks about Londonderry's history of strife and warfare. Put simply, much of the bloodshed in Londonderry was not inflicted by other countries but in fact by neighbors and kinsmen.
In the 1640s Londonderry found itself entangled in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. During this time Gaelic rebels stormed the town but were fought off valiantly. It wasn't over, though; Scottish Presbyterians began to start flooding in trying to take over the city and many more lives were lost in the process. Fortunately, Londonderry remained intact and untarnished but it lost many of its men in the process.
In the 1800s many Irish people were starving to death in the gruesome and world-famous Potato Famine. A good portion of these folks found their way into Londonderry and the infighting among the original residents and these displaced beggars ensured that many struggles would occur between the two with varying levels of violence but a consistent amount of animosity. It wouldn't be long, though, for these two groups to forget about their problems because the Irish War of Independence was just around the corner. This struggle caused even more bloodshed than anything that had preceded it as the I.R.A. fought Britain in horrific ways. The entire city fell apart in a riot and many lives were lost at the hands of fellow citizens. The Troubles of course followed these sparks and Londonderry was no exception to the car bombings and shootings that ripped Northern Ireland apart for decades. This was one of the darkest times in human history and, wouldn't you know it, Londonderry was one of the major sites for these horrific battles. Fortunately, such sectarian fights are far behind Ireland and Londonderry is now a beautiful and fascinating town not in spite of its history but because of it.
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