theirishdreamer
Banned
On 22 June 1922 the IRA assassinated (its iffy which faction, research goes both ways) Henry Hughes Wilson in London. On the night of the 23/24 a faction of the British Cabinet (led by Churchill) convinced enough of the cabinet to draw up a plan to raid the Four Courts in Dublin in retaliation, they had General Macready draw up a plan as follows;
1) Bombardment of the Four Courts using aircraft (120lb bombs) and artillery from the remaining British forces currently withdrawing North of Dublin using 60 pdr and 80 pdr guns.
2) an attack into the city using 4 tanks and 8 armored cars (4 peerless & 4 Rolls Royce)
3) Naval support from Lord Beatty (Destroyers for bombardment & prison collection)
4) Mobilization of a minimum of 2 Divisions plus withdrawing troops (estimated 100,000 required) for restarting of war. (oddly no Invasion plans are drawn up)
Macready advised heavily against action. On the 24th the Cabinet (or Churchill to be more precise) ordered Macready to move against the Four Courts on the 25th in the evening or the morning of the 26th.
Macready immediately and rapidly delayed as much as humanly possible, and sent his subordinate off to the Earl of Cavan and the Prime Minister and convinced them to call off the assault stating
"Panic and a desire to do something, no matter what, by those ignorant of the Irish situation blinded them to the possible results, was at the root of this scheme"
OTL on the 27th General JJ O'Connell (a Free State Dublin commander) was kidnapped by the Republicans in the Four Courts and the British put pressure on the Free State government, and also offered artillery & aircraft.
On the 28th the Irish Civil War starts.
Now lets say on the 25th either Macready follows orders or waits till early the 26th then and attacks the Four Courts, the Republicans will resist but so will the Free State National Army (as Macready warned) and there are significant civilian causalities as projected. Macready is then supposed to withdraw back from Dublin to Dun Laoighre and evacuate with prisoners.
My question is this?
Were only 2/3 days after the sale of honours scandal and only 2 months from the Chandak Crisis. This raid will be end of the Treaty (reunites the brewing Civil War Irish factions) and resumption of the Anglo-Irish war. By June 1922 the IRA & National army are restocked due to the Upnor raid and various weapons purchases (Free State), Collins also had a mainland Britain plan of assassinations and attacks planned if hostilities restarted.
Theres also some concerns on the part of the British command of resending units back to Ireland owing to radicalization and morale.
What are the consequences of restarting the Anglo-Irish war on British politics?
Will it acerbate the labor problems that start in 1922 and lead to the General Strike and the fear of The Labor Party?
1) Bombardment of the Four Courts using aircraft (120lb bombs) and artillery from the remaining British forces currently withdrawing North of Dublin using 60 pdr and 80 pdr guns.
2) an attack into the city using 4 tanks and 8 armored cars (4 peerless & 4 Rolls Royce)
3) Naval support from Lord Beatty (Destroyers for bombardment & prison collection)
4) Mobilization of a minimum of 2 Divisions plus withdrawing troops (estimated 100,000 required) for restarting of war. (oddly no Invasion plans are drawn up)
Macready advised heavily against action. On the 24th the Cabinet (or Churchill to be more precise) ordered Macready to move against the Four Courts on the 25th in the evening or the morning of the 26th.
Macready immediately and rapidly delayed as much as humanly possible, and sent his subordinate off to the Earl of Cavan and the Prime Minister and convinced them to call off the assault stating
"Panic and a desire to do something, no matter what, by those ignorant of the Irish situation blinded them to the possible results, was at the root of this scheme"
OTL on the 27th General JJ O'Connell (a Free State Dublin commander) was kidnapped by the Republicans in the Four Courts and the British put pressure on the Free State government, and also offered artillery & aircraft.
On the 28th the Irish Civil War starts.
Now lets say on the 25th either Macready follows orders or waits till early the 26th then and attacks the Four Courts, the Republicans will resist but so will the Free State National Army (as Macready warned) and there are significant civilian causalities as projected. Macready is then supposed to withdraw back from Dublin to Dun Laoighre and evacuate with prisoners.
My question is this?
Were only 2/3 days after the sale of honours scandal and only 2 months from the Chandak Crisis. This raid will be end of the Treaty (reunites the brewing Civil War Irish factions) and resumption of the Anglo-Irish war. By June 1922 the IRA & National army are restocked due to the Upnor raid and various weapons purchases (Free State), Collins also had a mainland Britain plan of assassinations and attacks planned if hostilities restarted.
Theres also some concerns on the part of the British command of resending units back to Ireland owing to radicalization and morale.
What are the consequences of restarting the Anglo-Irish war on British politics?
Will it acerbate the labor problems that start in 1922 and lead to the General Strike and the fear of The Labor Party?
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