Ireland Neutral in WW2

 fought alongside the United Kingdom

during World War two

it's even harder though to imagine how

it managed to stay that way under the

pressure of both sides to choose an

enemy in this sense in answering why

Ireland chose to remain neutral

we will first answer what joining the

war would have meant for the country at

the start of the war relations between

the United Kingdom and the young Irish

states governments were diplomatic at

best

although Ireland had a long history of

conflict with the British crown the

decades between the two world wars were

especially tense

it's the 1940s and Ireland is not seeing

the United Kingdom as an ally but also

it fears a German invasion but in August

1940 the first German bombs are being

dropped on the Irish soil because you

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while having merged with the United

Kingdom in 1801 Ireland underwent like

many other countries in the second half

of the 19th century the exponential

growth of nationalism among its

population the rising national identity

didn't take long to become a

self-government movement and by 1914

those in favour of an independent

Ireland carried out to the British

Parliament the known as Home Rule Act

which gave Ireland self-government

sovereignty although within the United

Kingdom World War one nonetheless

postponed until after its end the

promulgation of this act yet it was

never promulgated in 1919 the Irish

Republican Army the IRA who three years

before had unsuccessfully declared

Ireland independence started a guerrilla

war against the British fought mostly in

Dublin and Belfast cities the Irish War

of Independence accentuated the identity

tendency of Catholics and Protestants

supporting independence and loyalism

respectively which resulted in the

partition of the country between Ireland

and Northern Ireland in 1921 Ireland was

then a self-governing state shortly

after as is frequent in recently

independent countries a civil war arose

between those in favour of remaining

part of the British Empire and those

against it backed up by the crown Pro

British forces won and founded the Irish

Free State a constitutional state part

of the British Commonwealth and as such

subject to royal authority the struggle

was not settled though and in 1937 near

the start of the war a second Irish

Constitution supplanted the Free Irish

state with what we know today as Ireland

behind this new constitution which

removed the king as an authority figure

was head of state Eamon de Valera a key

figure in Ireland politics by the time

this new constitution was adopted

de Valera had a long history in the

country's political conflicts he took

part of IRAs Republican insurrection and

independence declaration

and was also one of the political

leaders during the war of independence

he was in favor of the defeated anti

Commonwealth forces during the Civil War

and him founding the fionna fall party

as a new approach toward total

independence was key in Ireland reaching

such objective the transition no did not

lack friction between Ireland and its

former overlord Britain economic

disagreements led to nations applying

important fees to one another the so

called treaty ports a set of three Irish

ports one north and to South under

British control since 1921 settled the

trade war by returning to Irish hands in

1938 Churchill objected this movement

due to the strategic position the ports

could have in an imminent war intuiting

at the same time that de Valera would

not let the British use them in this way

when de Valera addressed to the Irish

people the state position of non

belligerency concerning the already in

process European war he did so in the

faith of expressing the sovereignty of

the country that is to say to show that

they were not associated with the

British which asked Ireland to come to

their aid as soon as they request it

more than to any other country but once

the war started Ireland was forced to

make the decision of remaining neutral

over and over again on the one part

Britain interest in Ireland and during

the war did not diminish the next year

after the start of the war the British

were as far as secretly offering de

Valera what he wanted more than anything

a potential unification between Ireland

and Northern Ireland as a single Irish

state in exchange the Irish were to

allow their land ports and airspace to

be used freely by the Allies under these

terms the Irish government was also

obligated to deport every citizen from

the Axis countries from its land still

the deal did not imply that Ireland was

obligated to make a formal war

declaration

although at first it may have looked

like a tempting offer de valera did not

accept it why firstly only after de

Valera accepted the deal a proposition

for unification would be proposed to his

northern pair Prime Minister James Craig

de Valera did not trust him and reaching

an agreement would be complicated at

least this trust aside it can also be

interpreted that the Irish did not see a

clear winner on the conflict as in 1940

the war was still open yet at the same

time

shortly after rejecting the unification

offer de Valera let no the British that

he was rooting for them and that if

Ireland was to enter the war as Allied

the Germans could invade Ireland that is

to ignore nonetheless that the British

Royal Navy defended Ireland C and that

British troops up north were positioned

to intervene if the Germans were to

attack Ireland by the time of the war

the Irish Navy only had around fifty

ships and an equally short aircraft

force its army was of limited size as

well restricted to less than 30,000

soldiers and the country did not

increase its military exponential that

much after the war arose but despite its

neutrality Ireland did not remain alien

to the war as early as it started Dahl

arene Irish Maine legislative chamber

declared the state of emergency for the

Irish government conceived to remain

active until the end of the conflict in

political terms the emergency granted

the government a set of extraordinary

powers such as media control and acute

intervention in the economy as such

their lack of military strength did not

limit Irish propagandas efforts on using

its limited army assets to ensure the

population that the country could not

actually defend itself of any enemy on

the other hand the Allies were not the

only band looking for Ireland to join

the war

Churchill's 1940 speech against

Ireland's refusal to declare war on

access was at the same time joined by a

German military offer which Valera

refused by treating with arrest two

German emissaries if they were to land

on Irish soil

shortly after Ireland was bombarded

resulting in three casualties in 24

wounded and again the next year when

allegedly mistaking Ireland's coast for

England's Germans bombarded many times

the country resulting in more than 30

civil casualties there are even

documents that support a German plan on

invading Ireland the so called Operation

green a complementary part of Operation

Sea Lion which targeted the UK in this

sense neutrality during the conflict was

kept even after actual hostilities Irish

ship MV Kerr Lok for example despite

suffering damage by the Allies and the

axis weaponry keep neutral politics and

even intervened in rescuing soldiers

from both sides as the u.s. entered the

war

Ireland's importance in changing the war

tides diminished yet Ireland indeed

chose aside and secretly supported the

Allies for the one part Irish citizens

were still then British subjects we're

free to join the British lines Allied

aircraft were also granted entrance to

the Donegal corridor allowing them safe

access to and from the Atlantic on the

other hand the Irish air corpse as well

as its naval service assisted allies by

sharing them aircraft identification

over their territory similarly and

planning the Normandy landings hourly

Irish meteorological reports aided the

Allies and choosing when to attack we

can say that Ireland's apparent

neutrality was a sovereignty exercised

both regarding their brand-new

relationship with the UK and with the

political world scenario Churchill who

had long loathed Ireland's leader took

advantage of de Valera's mistake and

declared him to be uncooperative during

the war if not an enemy whom the United

Kingdom should have undertake

him Valera's response came only three

days later in the form of a pondered

statement of principles and a synthesis

of the motive that made Irish neutrality

the only viable choice for defending and

shaping its sovereignty de Valera

addressed the fact that if Ireland would

have entered the war Britain's necessity

would become a moral code while in

responding to Churchill Menace of

invading Ireland he responded that it

would have meant another horrid chapter