In some ways very. In 1912 Irish Unionists formed the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) to oppose the Home Rule Bill passed by the British parliament, fearing that in an Ireland given self-government Irish Unionists would be persecuted by an Irish Nationalists as a minority in an independent Ireland. These fears were born out in the Easter Rising of 1916 and subsequent Anglo-Irish war of 1919-21 and the UVF would reform to stage revenge attacks against Irish Nationalists in response to IRA's (Irish Republican Army) murder of Unionists. In the aftermath of the partition of Ireland in 1922-23 the UVF lay dormant until the renewal of the IRA's campaign in the late 1960s whereupon they resumed killing Irish Nationalists in response to IRA atrocities.
