A Great Third Way

[Blackadder mk 2]

"History loves shooting stars like Bottomley. It's all the better when they burn out." Winston Churchill 1917

_______________________
Exert from a Lecture by Prof. Daniel Greening, University of Glasgow, Feb. 1975

"The Asquith Ministry suffered a great blow after the Easter Rising. Evidence shows that the Prime Minister was going through great personal tragedy due to the death of his son, Raymond Asquith, during a visit to his battalion while he had already been requesting to be allowed to be returned to active duty and the news of an uprising in Dublin only compounded stress onto the Prime Minister[1]. As well as this, he also needed to contend with powerful forces who saw him as tired and unable to run the war.

Lloyd George was now calling for a smaller War Cabinet to be established, Lord Northcliffe was using his presses to damage Asquith's government and the Conservatives, along with military figures, were rapidly losing faith that the Prime Minister was focusing on the war effort as a whole and not just thinking about political effects. One of the final straws was Asquith's back-pedalling on Lloyd George's request after an editorial from The Times suggested he lost control, the Secretary of State for War then resigned.

Without the support of the press, the Conservatives and even the public, Henry Asquith resigned as Prime Minister and would see Lloyd George take his place in a matter of days. He refused, along with other leading Liberals, to serve in the new Cabinet due to what he saw as a perceived betrayal by an over-ambitious traitor which allowed for the Conservatives to gain more positions in the War Cabinet while it also allowed another figure to enter the Cabinet. One who had been making a name for himself as a maverick, a great orator and a bit of a conman.

Horatio Bottomley had humble origins, as I'm sure most of you know, going from an orphan to the founder of the Financial Times, John Bull and the man who would shape the very fabric of British politics itself. He had already been going on many 'patriotic war lectures' where he would call upon young men to join the army and fight against the Germans in Europe with considerable success and to his joy as more and more people began to see him as a great man and soon his reputation as a conman who was thrown out of Parliament for bankruptcy amongst the public was soon vanishing in favour of the image of a noble patriot who loved his country immensely[2].

So when Henry Asquith resigned and the government was going to be reshuffled, it was no surprise that a movement to put him into the new War Cabinet was started. Bottomley, never one to allow opportunity to pass while in good health[3], was soon at the head of this campaign as sources said that "his speeches now had a sense of upcoming glory and rewarding which comforted his audience as they thought he was talking about them, rather then himself". Lloyd George, already a good friend of Bottomley, was receptive towards this campaign and soon began to try and find a place to put Bottomley so that he could be in the Cabinet.

Horatio Bottomley was soon made into Lord Bottomley and was soon invited into the War Cabinet into the new post of Minister of Information, designed to increase morale and support in Britain with the use of the media, make sure that something like the Easter Rising did not occur again and use propaganda in neutral countries to increase support for the Allied Powers. Horatio Bottomley was delighted that his hard work seemed to be paying off and was also happy about how he was right that "this war is my opportunity" and resolved to try and improve his reputation even further.

The first thing he did as Minster of Information was get the support of Lord Northcliffe and other press barons, such as Lord Beaverbrook, recently knighted as a way to avoid giving him a Cabinet position as originally promised, by speeding up the process of allowing Beaverbrook to purchase The Daily Express by June 1916[4]. The next thing he did was use said press barons to unleash a barrage of propaganda to try and encourage soldiers into joining the army and getting their relatives to support the war effort.

The other thing he did was target those who had wronged him or had been firm opponents of the war, Ramsay MacDonald suffered a media campaign that could be described as brutal at best for a few weeks until pressure from the Labour benches had forced Lloyd George to convince Bottomley to call off the media assassination. Instead, Bottomley went around the country once more but with many newspapers showing exerts of his speeches in their articles, using his skills with words to convince thousands to sign up and end a war which was supposed to have ended a few years ago.

Bottomley's charisma allowed for more support to be given to the Ministry as explicit instruction were given to make sure that the Minister didn't get up to old tricks and in reward for the Herculean task, they were granted more and more powers. War films, war photographs and art were designed to paint a heroic image and the idea of noble sacrifices being made for the greater good of the nation allowed for more support for the war to appear, war bond sales to heavily increase[5] and for Lloyd George and Horatio Bottomley to become beloved names in certain households. Intelligence records would soon be granted to the Ministry of Information, only for the entire staff to resign and be re-hired by the Foreign Office, requiring replacements[6].

Press barons such as Northcliffe, Beaverbrook were happy with the arrangement as their Minister did not look upon them with suspicion and, if anything, allowed them more freedom in what they did as long as they pushed forward the agenda needed. Where normal politicians would frown and insult[7], Bottomley would support and push forward. This would be beneficial for Bottomley as the presses would sing his praises and some of his fellow MPs could only watch aghast as his profile was raised further and further.

Another act of the Ministry of Information was to order that those who "strongly opposed the war effort and tried to negatively interfere" would face a panel to see whether they were foreign agents or were working for outside interests, a tone which only became louder as the Russian Revolution began. Lloyd George, while unsure, maintained support throughout the remaining two years of the war as he would soon face pressure over withholding troops from the front after the Battle of the Somme and Bottomley's media profile allowed him to survive the open split in the Liberal Party that emerged later on.

As the war ended and negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles began, Horatio Bottomley soon realised that he had the chance to make a new image for himself. His popularity now was only beaten by Lloyd George's[8] and he knew that he needed to take advantage of this. What occurred was something that led to the creation of one of the most important parts of the first half of the 20th century and the beginning of a reshape in British politics, he would join the Coalition Liberals in the House of Lords while also accepting work in writing editorials for Northcliffe and Beaverbrook's newspapers so that he would begin creating a new party from a bi-partisan group to allow for a strong network before launching his new party.

He founded the Independent Parliamentary Group[9], a group of MPs and Lords from both sides of the benches, though mostly it was discontent Conservatives and Liberals, to push forward an agenda of a new Britain. Bottomley would later say that the group's founding, "Opened a great third way for our nation," while others would say it only caused chaos in the political system."

_________________________________________________

[1] This is a POD. Raymond Asquith died during the Battle of the Somme IOTL after his request to fight alongside them was finally granted, while ITTL he is killed earlier during around March, which means that Asquith gets personal tragedy to go with Easter Rising. This makes him less willing to fight and gives off a weaker image during the Easter Rising which means the media is even more against him then IOTL while making Lloyd George more bold. This will be mentioned later.

[2]Bottomley really did go around the country in music halls in order to recruit young men into the army and his profile was raised more, he was a bit more critical of the government IOTL but always supported the war effort.

[3] Butterfly here, at the time of Lloyd George's ascension, there was a movement to get Bottomley into the Cabinet but he had a fever and so couldn't strike when the iron was hot. ITTL, due to an earlier resignation, he can campaign on this all he likes.

[4]Beaverbrook bought The Daily Express in November 1916, sped up by a friendly Minister and by someone who doesn't want the negative media attention that Asquith got and also wants to maintain popularity

[5] The films, photographs and art were all done IOTL, the third is not exactly the same but it carries a similar message and war bond sales did increase when Beaverbrook implemented this, though it was later due to the Ministry of Information (also OTL) being founded later then ITTL.

[6] This funny story happened IOTL too, Balfour was either a really good boss or Beaverbrook was a very bad one.

[7] OTL too. Beaverbrook and Northcliffe were not looked upon with positive eyes by the political elite due to earlier behaviour and the fact that they were seen as 'press lords' who were just there to keep coverage positive. Here, Bottomley wants everyone to know how fantastic his existence is and how lame his enemies are.

[8] Basically, Lloyd George said to be so popular that some Conservatives said "He can be dictator for life if he wishes" and the public saw him as someone who cleaned Asquith's mess up and had 'won the war' by getting rid of the man so Bottomley ITTL could be seen as very loved, much to some people's dismay.

[9] He did this IOTL but he has something much bigger planned here and is trying to build the foundations of something big and new rather then have a momentary career boost.

[pipisme]

Your TL promises to be interesting and I will be reading it.

Just to mention that it was Herbert Henry Asquith.

[Blackadder mk 2]

Originally Posted by pipisme

Your TL promises to be interesting and I will be reading it.

Just to mention that it was Herbert Henry Asquith.

Thank you and I hope your interest is maintained.

Professor Greening shortened it for his audience, who were not students, in order to provide something easier, he should use Herbert but there was a problem with the power and he didn't have time to explain.

This will be a thing for my TL, I remember reading how Thande mentioned that secondary sources can sometimes be biased and I decided that this was a direction I was going to take.

All of the 'sources' ITTL are biased or not entirely accurate for the sake of either political points, trying to convince the reader otherwise or just simplifying it for the audience.

Sorry about rushing The Great War but what comes after it is the more interesting matter.

[Blackadder mk 2]

They might as well call it the Ministry of Misinformation" John Maynard Keynes 1919

___________________________
Taken from "British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949" by F.W.S. Craig (1969)

"One new aspect of this election was that many parties which would later become part of the People's League had managed to make their name known, some would win seats while others would not be so lucky. Another aspect was that, with the rise of Bottomley's media profile, anti-Socialism and anti-German feeling increased in sectors of the middle class and in 'patriotic working class' areas which allowed the National Party and some Independent candidates to do better in their elections then they might have done without the presence of Bottomley in the media, something that Labour MPs would make very clear as time went by.

The coalition had received a strong landslide victory, although the Conservatives dominated the coalition with the amount of seats that they gained, while the opposition was mostly headless due to Asquith's Liberals being seen as the dividers instead of national hero, Lloyd George, while the Labour Party was not going to reach its position as the second party for a long time which left the Conservatives in the good position of being the only, relatively, united party with a somewhat clear idealogical goal although the next five years would challenge that greatly.

Conservative: 366 seats (+95 seats)
Coalition Liberal: 127 seats (+127 seats)
Coalition National Democratic Party: 9 seats
Coalition Labour: 4 seats

Labour: 56 seats (+14 seats)
Sinn Fein: 46 seats (+40 seats)[1]
Liberal: 36 seats (-236 seats)
Irish Parliamentary Party: 20 seats (-37 seats)
Irish Labour Party: 15 seats (+15 seats)[2]
National Party: 10 seats (+10 seats)[3]
National Socialist Party: 1 seat (+1 seat)
Women's Party: 1 seat (+1 seat)[4]
Independents: 10 seats (+10 seats)[5]
---------------------
Total: 707 seats (+37 seats)

An exert of the Noel Coward play "Graduating the University of Life" during a New York showing (Written in 1937, particular showing in 1957)[6]


"Dear Mr Keynes,

While we appreciate the effort that has been taken with your book, we at the Ministry of Information feel that your....rather worrying fascination with defending the Germans and attacking the British position in the negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles along with the fantastic Mr Bottomley and so, it is with a heavy heart after all of your work for the Treasury in the past, that we cannot allow this book to be sold in Britain under the Prevention of Espionage Act that we must forbid your book in its current form to be published in Britain or any of her colonies, though her Dominions retain the right to still publish this work....we think. We'll get back to you on that one.

However, if certain lines were to be changed into "while reparations are not an economic good but is a really good punishment for those evil Jerrys", and the word 'German' must be replaced by "evil, soulless Huns", then the chapters on economic incompetence would be absolutely fine and dandy. Other suggested changes is that calling the Ministry of Information "fantastic and should be given even more powers" and calling our beloved Minister "the greatest person who ever lived and was never bankrupt".

With these changes, we are sure that your book will more then meet our guidelines. Until then, however, your book will not see the light of a lovely British day. Unless the Ministry completely loses its powers and is disbanded in a matter of years but what are the odds of that?

Yours sincerely, Lord Horai-I mean-Investigator #312

P.S The Intelligence story has never happened. Nor is it, if it existed, a funny story."

"This is outrageous! And the Intelligence story was hilarious!"

Taken from "History of the First Ministry of Information" by Jacob White (1973)

As the Treaty of Versailles was being negotiated, camps were emerging in the government as some wanted Germany to be let off with a relative slap on the wrist and hope that the German public, feeling betrayed after years of nationalist brainwashing turned out to be wrong, would not vote in a government who would rebuild the German army, those who wanted Germany cut into little pieces so that they would be 'neutralised' in terms of economic and military threats and those who were in favour of a compromise, or at least a compromise in that context.

Not only was this split present in the domestic front but also in the larger three powers with France wanting extremely harsh measures, based on earlier nationalism and another chapter in rejecting a possible partner in the Germans, the Americans wanted Germany intact to allow for another trading partner to be set up but were unwilling to become involved enough with the outside world. This had resulted in a conflict of interests. Lloyd George represented the moderate side of Allied leaders and was able to make sure that Germany could survive but barely.

The Ministry of Information was given the task of communicating the news of the treaty went towards Horatio Bottomley, one of the members of the more hard-line faction when it came to deciding the British position and his protests were made vocal at the treaty as he had claimed that it would "be a betrayal of all of those who have given their lives to stop the Hun menace" and pointed out that many sea workers would be not be happy about Germany "receiving a mere stern warning" which shows how low Bottomley thought of Germans.

The treaty was presented and some of the reaction from the public had been disappointment as after two years of their own brainwashing from the Northcliffe and Beaverbrook press had made them wishful for the economic destruction of Germany, the National Party, which had done well in siphoning right wing Tory votes, was very vocal about its opposition to this and how it had betrayed many such as the "noble Reginald Dyer" who had been shot by a German sniper during 1917[7] as an example and pointed out at the many deaths of British soldiers possibly being for nothing[8].

Another issue was that more and more people were asking questions about whether a Ministry of Information was still needed in a post-war world and some were even saying that it was just a way for Bottomley, Northcliffe and Beaverbrook to collect information and plot their future control using blackmail and other dirty tricks[9]. Lloyd George stood by his close friend and political ally and the Ministry would survive until the eventual fall of the coalition.

One such abuse of the Ministry of Information's power was the censoring of John Maynard Keynes' book criticising the handling of Versailles, the rampant Germanophobia in British society and the British government's position, something that Bottomley could not allow due it being his only way of maintaining his power for as long as possible. With that, the book was banned from publishing in Britain or her colonies, although the Dominions were still allowed to accept publishings, until 1922 where the coalition had collapsed and Bottomley and the Ministry of Information lost their power and Keynes book could be published to much success.[10]

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[1] Relax, the reason for this will be covered in the next few updates as Ireland gets a bit of coverage and we see why Sinn Fein did not do as well as OTL.

[2] The Irish Labour Party didn't stand for elections IOTL due to the sense of letting the Irish people decide between a Republic and Home Rule but they are a bit more ambitious and ready ITTL due to things that will be explained in the next update.

[3] The National Party have done better, at the Tories expense, due to Bottomley pushing many people to the right and the National Party's anti-German, protectionist and 'patriotic Labour; stance attracts more votes then OTL.

[4] Christabel Pankhurst manages to gain more votes due to the mentioned above effect, she would have been highly praised by Bottomley due to her and sister's ceasing of campaigning in favour for fighting the 'German enemy' and her lack of sympathy for pro-German opinions, her party's manifesto included anti-German and anti-Bolshevik opinions.

[5] Once again, the 'Bottomley effect' has caused more right wing Independents to win their elections such as Henry Beamish and H.S Spencer who were far-rightists and later Fascists.

[6] Apparently, and I am not making this up, Noel Coward was considering making a play about Bottomley's more then interesting life IOTL, with the latter attending one of Coward's shows while he was in the area, though Bottomley's death put an end to that. IOTL, his life is a lot more interesting and would be more accepted though Coward is taking a tragedy route with this.

[7] Reginald Dyer IOTL survived, was responsible for the Amritsar Massacre in India and is seen as one of the people who was responsible for the strong growth of Indian nationalism.

[8] Doing research, I am amazed by the strength of anti-German opinion in the British public and political sphere, considering later attitudes and wonder how Versailles wasn't harsher with the way that both Britain and France had people demanding Germany pay in blood. I guess Keynes' book was really convincing.

[9] Some people thought this ITTL at the time but not at the scale that this guy is suggesting. Beaverbrook was accused of something like this later IOTL by Michael Foot but nothing concrete seemed to come out of it due to a lack of evidence.

[10] Not as much as OTL but still enough to make someone's eyes widen, without the earlier presence of the book, the opposition to Versailles doesn't strengthen yet in the mainstream British public yet but it will eventually. Keynes still has foreign figures and the more travelling of the British will have heard of it but not enough to spread the word far and near, though he is still welcomed back to the Bloomsbury Club.

[stevep]

Blackadder mk 2

Fascinating and frightening. Things could go very bad for Britain, and possibly a lot of the rest of the world, with Bottomley and his ministry doing so much damage.

Is the OTL treaty changed at all? Given the TL I would presume there is probably going to be some hardening of terms but whether territorial, economic or whatever.

Since the coalition falls apart in 1922, which is when it collapsed OTL, does that mean the same basic events occur or are there any changes? For instance from the mention of Bottomley's propaganda related to Ireland and the weaker presence of SF there might be differences there, whether better or worse.

Steve

[Blackadder mk 2]

Originally Posted by stevep

Blackadder mk 2

Fascinating and frightening. Things could go very bad for Britain, and possibly a lot of the rest of the world, with Bottomley and his ministry doing so much damage.

Is the OTL treaty changed at all? Given the TL I would presume there is probably going to be some hardening of terms but whether territorial, economic or whatever.

Since the coalition falls apart in 1922, which is when it collapsed OTL, does that mean the same basic events occur or are there any changes? For instance from the mention of Bottomley's propaganda related to Ireland and the weaker presence of SF there might be differences there, whether better or worse.

Steve

Bottomley is mostly either rehashing old grudges i.e. Ramsay MacDonald or making sure that there isn't the slightest chance that anyone thinks Versailles was unfair on the Germans. Some people in the Cabinet aren't too happy with him but know that the Ministry's existence is tied to the coalition mostly, apart from some right wing Tories.

Nope. Some more pressure is put on Lloyd George but the treaty is mostly the same, a larger apology for attacks on British merchant ships is made but nothing too big or nothing that would change the mood of any public from OTL.

The Irish Civil War and Sales for Honours will be going differently, the next few updates will be on Ireland during this time and then sales of honours. Followed by the coalition collapse and other consequences.

[Blackadder mk 2]

"It appears that I have yet to be freed of my burden in Ireland." Henry Duke 1919

_______________________________
From "The Consequences of Easter" by Charles Adams (1967)

"The Easter Rising had failed. It failed to take over Dublin Castle, it failed to take over Dublin Castle and it even failed to cause a nation-wide revolution as the plotters had hoped. All that occurred was that those who had risen up either had silent support or were openly insulted by the very people that they were fighting for, they managed to topple a Prime Minister, but only because of mainland media pressure and a sense of weakness from the Prime Minister.[1]

Even if they wished to become martyrs, that small victory would be denied to them as they were soon painted as cruel and heartless murderers with the dead body of James Connolly being found suspiciously near the shot down body of a woman who's husband had been in France[2]. The Ministry of Information, the propaganda tool of Horatio Bottomley, would later paint this as the tale of a dirty and shameless socialist who used any excuse to attack the innocent, Michael Collins, future President of the Executive Council for Ireland, would call it "an untrue and dirty slander against a patriot".

The replacement of H.H Asquith with Lloyd George meant that the trials had to be delayed somewhat and when the participants finally faced trial, it was against a 'Security Panel' with a few 'trusted' journalists to record how each trial went. They were forbidden to speak unless prompted, which happened rarely, and the trial mostly consisted of being poured with scorn for their acts of rebellion during wartime. The journalists span the event as justice being handed down to a group of insane monsters rather then rebels, although the intended effect only appeared to show in Ulster and Dublin[3] while other areas in Cork, soon to be a Valerian[4] stronghold, were more sympathetic towards the rebels.

Around eighty-five execution orders were given but only ten were able to be sentenced[5] before John Dillon intervened with a fierce attack on the government over the execution orders and the fact that the Ministry of Information was given rights to the trial. Bottomley reacted violently to what he saw as sympathisers using their influence to aid treason against the country and many on the right supported his view on this.

The executions managed to boost sympathies for the rebels in some areas of Ireland as Sinn Fein soon swelled with hard-line nationalist support, due to the media blaming it for the Easter Rising when barely any of the plotters were members[6], but not to the planned extent that some of the plotters may have been hoping for. It did still give the independence movement more strength as time went on and the Irish Convention started.

Months later, with Sinn Fein winning some of the by-elections[7] worrying both the British and Irish governments, they chose to set up the Irish Convention as a way to find a solution to the Irish Question which had plagued British politics since the time of Gladstone. The hope was that a compromise could be found between the extreme nationalists, the Home Rulers and the Unionists and that peace could still be reached.

Unfortunately, the Convention failed due to two outside factors. The first was that some of the Unionists wished to include a statement that said "This Convention regrets that the unlawful Easter Rising in Dublin, one that has only caused pain for all parties, and wishes to apologise to the families and victims of the anarchy that ensued"[8] which gained strong protests from the Sinn Fein delegation and a walk-out was threatened until it was agreed that the statement would be withdrawn. The damage was already done, however, as Sinn Fein was now less co-operative while many on the more nationalist-leaning Home Ruler side began to suspect that someone encouraged the Unionists to put forward the statement.

The second factor was a rumour that the British government was going to introduce conscription in Ireland to fight off the 1918 Spring Offensive from the Germans, which had amazing success at that point, with the Cabinet somewhat split on the issue between Henry Duke, Chief Secretary for Ireland, who opposed the move and Horatio Bottomley who favoured the move. Sources contradict one another in whether the government planned to introduce the highly unpopular move but it should be noted that many newspapers were publishing statements from Catholic leaders that suggested that joining the Allied Forces would be the right thing to do.[9]

This rumour caused Sinn Fein to finally walk out of the Convention and caused splits in the Home Rulers as some believed the rumours and wanted to strongly protest while others were opposed to committing to action without hard evidence. The split in opinion caused the Unionists to build up a bunker mentality as they thought that the extreme nationalists would begin to attack them as a way to force support for their cause, Ireland was becoming a boiling pot which may have convinced the government to drop the proposed conscription plans as it seemed that it would not have the intended effects.[10]

As the 1918 election came closer, the Irish Labour Party chose to contest elections instead of earlier plans to not do so in the belief that the election would be a plebiscite due to the weakness shown in the IPP and the belief that Sinn Fein would only have contained victories and that the ILP could take advantage of their position. The election gave Sinn Fein considerable success in most areas but Ulster and Dublin but they still saw this as an endorsement of their policies due to the high vote share they had with the Irish public[11]. With this, they began to take their seats, but in a new area of parliament called the Dail and a declaration of war was then made.

Exert taken from "The Anglo-Irish War" by Gareth O'Donovan (1956)

The starting points of the war consisted of many republicans being invited to sit at the Dail, with many Unionists, IPP and some ILP MPs refusing to support the Dail or the declaration of independence, though the latter of three took a path of neutrality. Some of the invitations were to republicans already in jail or had been sentenced to 'prolonged incarceration' by the Ministry of Information. The second starting point was when two members of the Irish Volunteers murdered two RIC soldiers and the Volunteers soon became the Irish Republican Army[12].

One problem with the IRA was that there was division in how to conduct warfare against the British. Eamon De Valera, always the romanticist of Irish culture, thought that open warfare would make them a more legitimate state in the eyes of the world while Michael Collins and the broader IRA leadership knew that open warfare against the British would always end in defeat and favoured guerilla warfare[13]. The latter approach was taken as it was decided that a defeated legitimate traitor was worse then a successful illegitimate independent state.

Another problem was that the IRA men would sometimes be found out by "G" Men who worked under the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Information, Michael Collins managed to gain information from sympathetic insiders but not enough to make a large impact on them[14]. This was not enough, however, to totally defeat the Irish rebels as a strong segment of the population supported the group which allowed them to avoid detection by British soldiers and made attacks easier to commit.

The British found themselves frustrated with how nothing seemed to be working against the rebels, they could find the men's location with the "G" Men but it was often difficult to defeat them in confrontation or even find them as if RIC numbers were too small then the confrontation would have mixed results but if the numbers were too large then the IRA would be warned and move out before they could be caught and the whole process would start over again, leaving them in a state of ouroboros where they would constantly repeat their action with limited results, something new was needed.

A plan was devised, by Horatio Bottomley and Winston Churchill, to use veterans of the Great War as a reinforcement to the RIC as a way to crack down on the IRA, the veterans knew about war, they could be paid well and it was cheaper then using the army itself. The Ministry of Information had already been interrogating groups of suspects and found many IRA activists[15] so the Black and Tans, the name given due to the uniform, could simply be an extension of that, bringing in suspects to the Security Panels and then quickly moving when the panels found something.

Unfortunately, the plan was once again vetoed by Henry Duke who claimed that the veterans had seen enough war and that they may be unstable, causing the war of words to go into Sinn Fein's favour. This, added with the man's protesting of the MoI's use of questioning large groups for days on end, finally caused Bottomley to snap as he went on a rage and accused his counterpart of "working with the traitors for years!" and that he was secretly working with "Huns, Feiners and Bolsheviks" in an attempt to bring down Britain. Many in the National Party and Conservative ranks agreed, frustrated about Lane Fox's work in India[16], and appealed for Law to do something. A compromise was made in that the Black and Tans would be introduced at a later time if the situation could no longer be controlled by the RIC and MoI.

The idea would never be introduced as opposition to continued fighting became stronger with H.H Asquith, Edward Wood, Jan Smuts, the King, Oswald Mosley and the TUC becoming opposed to the continued fighting as the months went by and the war already entered the year 1921 and frustrations with the lack of success in finishing off the IRA finally got to the Cabinet and a negotiations to end the fighting in Ireland reached IRA hands in July but only after a furious assault was made on IRA resistance to make sure that they knew what would happen if they refused to accept the truce[17].

Shock was present among the leadership of the IRA. At this time, the IRA were wondering whether they would be able to continue fighting against the British as multiple agents were arrested, they no longer could afford or had any weapons to last them and Michael Collins even admitted to close friends that he had lied to the IRA council, saying that "I said we can no longer actually fight since yesterday, it was actually last week."[18] and said that planned "Dynamite Attacks" was only damaging the fragile upper hand that Sinn Fein had in the war of words. With that, negotiations began and the Anglo-Irish War soon reached its end.

______________________________________

[1] Well what do you expect from a man who just lost his son to a war and now has to deal with an Irish Uprising?

[2] Coincidence, actual event or just bad luck? No one actually knows but what is important is that an injured man IOTL is now dead before the executions ITTL.

[3] Dublin was apparently a strong base for Unionist leanings which means they are more likely to believe news from Britain then their counterparts in rural Ireland.

[4] Some TL jargon that will be explained in the next update.

[5] True IOTL as well. Not many of the actual Easter Rising plotters such as Michael Collins were actually members of Sinn Fein but quickly joined when the media offered them the oxygen of publicity and took advantage of it, making Sinn Fein match its media image.

[6] More dead plotters in the actual battle means less are in the trial and the longer time means less are executed before John Dillon can save them with his speech as he did IOTL.

[7] Without the OTL image of an injured man being propped up for being shot, Sinn Fein has less support and moderate nationalism still has some elements of supports but executions still happened so Sinn Fein gets some support but nothing like OTL.

[8] Unionists being cocky or did someone put them up to it? Once again, no one ITTL actually knows as evidence from some points to the latter and other points to the former.

[9] This is essentially a more successful Hays Plan then OTL as this was doubled with the massively unpopular conscription while ITTL it's been going on for a while and the need for more soldiers is less urgent due to an effective advertising campaign meaning that there are more bodies up for throwing at the onslaught. Henry Duke opposed conscription IOTL as well.

[10] It really backfired IOTL, it didn't get the soldiers needed, it only pushed Home Rulers towards Sinn Fein and it never even got launched off the ground because of this.

[11] The vote share for Sinn Fein is lower then OTL while the IPP's seat share matches their vote share far more then OTL did while the ILP siphoned votes from both sides, leading to the results in the last update.

[12] OTL.

[13] OTL again, as I research this topic, I think it is a miracle that Eamon survived this long, let alone gained what he did in the past considering what he was willing to sacrifice for the sake of looking good.

[14] Less support for the IRA in the moderate Irish public means Collins has less to go on, raids still go but not on the success rate that OTL gave him which means the IRA has even more trouble to deal with.

[15] Many is subjective. You can have a hundred IRA suspects in your custody and say you have many in custody but how many are innocent, how many actually know anything and how many are invaluable. The MoI is doing well but not as well as they say they are doing.

[16] Someone needed to take Reginald's place and I'll explain more about Fox in a few updates.

[17] OTL as well. The British were really gearing up to end this and the truce was done to make sure the IRA got the blame if things went south, anyone who even thought "IRA" in Northern Ireland had been interned and the British had the resources to go all the way while the IRA.....did not.

[18] What Collins said, the situation in June IOTL was the situation in April ITTL. It was a miracle that they have fought this long when this came in, Collins even said to the Secretary of Ireland at the time "You had us dead beat. We could not have lasted another three weeks. When we were told of the offer of a truce we were astounded. We thought you must have gone mad".

[Peelitebkearns]

Interesting TL here-keep it up!

[Blackadder mk 2]

Originally Posted by Peelitebkearns

Interesting TL here-keep it up!

Thanks, I will.

[Thande]

I remember EdT having Horatio Bottomley as PM in Fight and Be Right, but there it was just a background thing to help justify why people had begun to view not only the Unionist Party but the whole political establishment as intrinsically corrupt and irredeemable...

[Blackadder mk 2]

Originally Posted by Thande

I remember EdT having Horatio Bottomley as PM in Fight and Be Right, but there it was just a background thing to help justify why people had begun to view not only the Unionist Party but the whole political establishment as intrinsically corrupt and irredeemable...

Yeah.....

In my opinion, Bottomley is one of those people who could excel in any field but politics because while he's addicted to using fraud to cover up other frauds, his eloquence could have gotten him out of more trouble then politics allowed while I view Lloyd George as someone similar to Bottomley but chose to rise up in the political ranks instead of the public perception with his politics and he could control himself better until 'Sales for Honours' as well. I think that if Bottomley had enough of a shock then his mind could over-ride the instinct to commit fraud as an easy way to make money and he did have positive personal qualities to go with the fraud and xenophobia and slight tinfoil hat.

Another thing I'm doing with this TL that I've seen before is make some of my sources biased which will increase in their bias as time goes by so you may see a very right-wing biased source on something to show that not all information is reliable, hopefully it will go well.

[Thande]

Originally Posted by Blackadder mk 2

Another thing I'm doing with this TL that I've seen before is make some of my sources biased which will increase in their bias as time goes by so you may see a very right-wing biased source on something to show that not all information is reliable, hopefully it will go well.

It's a fun thing to use (as well as realistic), I use it in my TL a lot myself. I also like using the gimmick "snotty historian states something which obviously did happen and then claims it didn't to score points", just because that shows up so much in actual modern history books. But that applies more for stuff set earlier on than this.

[rcduggan]

Originally Posted by Thande

I remember EdT having Horatio Bottomley as PM in Fight and Be Right, but there it was just a background thing to help justify why people had begun to view not only the Unionist Party but the whole political establishment as intrinsically corrupt and irredeemable...

That's what I was just thinking too, but I have the feeling that Britain won't end up as a syndicalist state in TTL, but something far worse.

Looks interesting, blackadder! I wish you would continue Islands of Blood, though, that was an excellent attempt to write a [kinda] plausible Powell dystopia... but I'll be reading this with relish!

[Blackadder mk 2]

Originally Posted by Thande

It's a fun thing to use (as well as realistic), I use it in my TL a lot myself. I also like using the gimmick "snotty historian states something which obviously did happen and then claims it didn't to score points", just because that shows up so much in actual modern history books. But that applies more for stuff set earlier on than this.

I'm not really going to do that for the same reason as you mentioned above, but I will have people pushing their views into their work in both subtle ways and non-subtle ways as seen in the previous update.

Originally Posted by rcduggan

That's what I was just thinking too, but I have the feeling that Britain won't end up as a syndicalist state in TTL, but something far worse.

Looks interesting, blackadder! I wish you would continue Islands of Blood, though, that was an excellent attempt to write a [kinda] plausible Powell dystopia... but I'll be reading this with relish!

Thank you for the compliment, there will be a few surprises along the road.

[Blackadder mk 2]

"How can we call for a united Ireland when we ourselves are divided over our own treaty?" Michael Collins 1922

________________________
Exert from "The Second War of Irish Independence" by Marga O'Brien (1967)

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was born from compromising away the originals goals of the IRA. Michael Collins was convinced that no aid would come to them and that unless the IRA went to the table with the British government, they would all be killed like the noble martyrs of old and Collins was desperate to avoid such a fate. To the protests of many front-line IRA leaders, the Dail chose to negotiate with Lloyd George and Bottomley in order to try and achieve independence after a brutal campaign to gain rightful independence from the British.

Attitudes from the British were a mixture of arrogance and a lust for vengeance against those who dared challenge the might of their empire and win so they conspired to try and weaken the moral victory of the IRA in any way that they could be using an old British tactic. They divided the IRA by presenting them with a treaty that ensured that the Dail swore themselves to the King, stole the Ulster region away and that British ships could occupy ports for the sake of imperialistic adventures[1].

Segments of the IRA, led by Collins, wanted to sign the treaty as they had grown weary of fighting and took a defeatist view of the issue. They were content to have some form of self-government and were happy to continue being under the economic stranglehold of the British while others, led by Eamon de Valera, wanted to keep on fighting in order to achieve a free and just Ireland and knew that victory could still be achieved with the aid of the Americans sending in supplies and that they had simple reached the point where more morale was needed[2].

The treaty was signed and approved by the puppet Dail and British parliament, with three sides being found in the Irish 'Free' State which would soon form the political parties we have now. The first was the Valerians, they were opposed to the treaty and wanted to create a united Ireland that was independent of Britain and their base of support was in the South West, although sympathies were present in all of Ireland, and many of the women TDs supported this faction against more years of oppression[3].

The second faction were the Collinsmen, they were the defeatists of the IRA who believed that it was better for Ireland to avoid confronting the British, economic strategy to meet with military, and supported the treaty if it would avoid conflict and had a general spread of support but mostly in central. The third faction was a mixture of the Irish Unionists, some parts of the Irish Labour Party and the landed aristocracy, known as The Moderates who were probably happy with staying under British rule as long as their interests were met and would form an alliance with the Collinsmen during the Treaty, Civil War and political discourse afterwards with their base of support being found in Dublin, certain Ulster regions and County Wicklow.

The Civil War began when Anti-Treaty forces occupied the Four Courts in a show of defiance against the Treaty. Arthur Griffith, a Collinsman, wanted an immediate attack but Collins was fearful that any attack would unite Ireland against the Treaty and start a civil war[4] but after a failed assassination of Unionist MP, Henry Hughes Wilson, the British demanded that their puppet attack or they would do it themselves[5] and the garrison was attacked but only after a majority for Pro-Treaty in the election was secured.

What the Anti-Treaty forces lacked in numbers, as time went on,[6] they made up in spirit and training as they prepared for a long and harsh guerilla war against an army backed up and trained by the British army that they had only finished fighting. As time went by, the Pro-Treaty army was built up from soldiers that were already trained in fighting Britain's wars, using weapons from the British that were used to kill Irish soldiers and intimidate Irish civilians and were ready to fight against the very men they fought with a few months ago[7].

The Irish Civil War had begun.

Taken from "Bathed in Blood: Tale of an Emerald Isle" by John Hannigan (1972)

The Anti-Treaty forces, led by Valera, found that they had less support then they planned with the 1922 Irish general election with the Pro-Treaty Sinn Fein gaining fifty-nine seats, the Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein only gaining thirty-three, Labour managed eighteen and the Businessmen and Farmer's Party[8], later known as the Moderates, had gained nine seats while Independents gained the rest. The pact made over using the election as a referendum for the treaty, condemned by Secretary for Colonies Winston Churchill[9], was quickly torn up and the civil war began.

Eamon de Valera was skilled in inspiring his men to fight for the dream of a united Ireland and was skilled in political debate but was found to be unable to be skilled with military matters as organisation plagued the Anti-Treaty forces[10] while the Pro-Treaty side had supplies handed to them by the British Army and a larger recruiting pool as support for the Anti-Treaty forces was mostly found in areas occupied by them or by people who had already joined the Anti-Treaty forces, an offensive was launched by Collins to take over the large town to prevent the Anti-Treaty forces from having large bases to hide their weapons in.

The war quickly turned to the Pro-Treaty group's favour as the Anti-Treaty forces found that their offensives were failing until a widespread attack was made which almost took the life of Collins himself, but he survived with only minor injuries[11]. However, the attempt only solidified the Free State leadership's bitterness as brutal reprisals were launched as Arthur Griffith died of a brain haemorrhage and was replaced by W.T Cosgrave, with casualties rising and attacks on Free State soldiers and attacks were launched on Anglo-Irish Senators in an attempt at intimidation[12] the Free State soon looked to be peril.

The winter soon changed that as republican attacks became more difficult to launch and most of the attacks on Senators were now being thwarted by the National Army, another offensive was planned over the winter against de Valera's false government although the remaining forces found authority in the hands of their military leaders instead of the republic government set up[13]. A bitterness was produced over the offensive as republican prisoners were executed in increasingly morbid ways as the republican tactics had also become more and more brutal with the support decreasing by the day and the Catholic Church siding with the Free State, although the executions caused discomfort, with the destruction of entire columns and the drop in morale caused the republican guerillas much discomfort as the war was now looking more and more pointless.[14]

De Valera called for a ceasefire on December but was refused by the remaining republican leaders who refused to see reality until a raid had caused the deaths of many leaders of the republican executive such as Liam Lynch, Dan Breen, Todd Andrews, Sean Gaynor and Frank Barrett, leading moderates like Frank Aitken to take charge and, with de Valera, call for a ceasefire or deal with a was without victory. The remaining 8,000 of the last 10,000 republican troops surrendered to the National Army on January 1923[15] as they were held prisoner in camps and an election was called for by W.T Cosgrave to allow for the people of Ireland to decide the post-Civil War government.

The election results were as follows:

Cumann na nGaedheal: 64 seats (+5 seats)[16]
Republican: 39 seats (+6 seats)[17]
Businessmen and Farmer's Party: 18 seats (+9 seats)[18]
Labour: 18 seats (+1 seat)[19]
Cork Progressive Association: 1 seat (+1 seat)
Independent: 13 seats (+4 seats)
___________
Total: 153 seats (+25 seats)

The Irish Civil War had ended, and now the newly independent and peaceful country needed to answer a question that hadn't been asked in centuries, "What do we do now?".

_______________________________________

[1] Same as OTL basically, with the British not knowing how badly the IRA were done for until Collins told them.

[2] I love writing catty, over-ambitious Valera fangirls, it's very fun.

[3] This was true in OTL as the female TDs were more likely to be against the treaty then for.

[4] That was the reason for a lack of attack IOTL as well, Collins wanted to wait for the election results before making his move for fear of losing support for the treaty, but not in the way that the author imagines it.

[5] This is all OTL except for the survival of Henry Hughes Wilson, he died due to the plot IOTL and some people even suspected that Collins ordered it because the man refused to attack Unionists during the crisis before WWI IOTL.

[6] Originally, ITTL and IOTL, the Anti-Treaty forces outnumbered Pro-Treaty by 2-1 until the Pro-Treaty side started to recruit, gain equipment, etc.

[7] How are they both in Flanders and Dublin and fighting for and against the British? Don't bring your common sense into this you English-sympathising traitor!

[8] The Farmer's Party found their support in rich rural farmers while the Businessmen Party found their support in the landed Anglo-Irish classes so ITTL they are one party due to a closer Anglo-Irish and Southern Unionist community.

[9] Henry Duke lost his job after Anglo-Irish Treaty and went on to become a judge as IOTL while Churchill is now running the show, it's too late for him to do anything, however.

[10] As it did IOTL.

[11] Obviously, he died IOTL but he survives here and manages to continue leading the National Army as a spiritual leader as he did in the past, meaning things will change in the future.

[12] They did this IOTL as well but with better results as they managed to chase off the Southern Unionist but they don't have the time and resources they did ITTL due to less sympathy.

[13] Once more, OTL, with Valera's 'alternative government' being ignored by everyone while the Anti-Treaty IRA listened the their commanders then they did to the political leadership.

[14] Say it with me, same IOTL as while researching this, I found lots of stories involving republican prisoners being shot by firing squad, and even a story of nine prisoners being tied to a landmine, killing eight and only leaving one to flee in reprisal for killing TDs and treaty negotiators.

[15] IOTL it was 12,000 of 15,000 but more casualties and less support have led to less people joining the republicans and less success so the war ends earlier then it did IOTL.

[16] More support for the treaty and a more moderately nationalist Irish public means that the treaty enjoys more support and so more seats are joined by the pro-treaty party.

[17] Due to less support for the anti-treaty movement and atrocities being loudly proclaimed, in seat terms, the republicans gain less support but few changes in vote terms.

[18] A larger Southern Unionist and Anglo-Irish class means that these guys also get more support.

[19] Labour is seen as a moderate vote for those who used to support the republicans but got turned away by the Civil War.