"If They Want It They Can Have It": Ulster's Tragedy.

nezza

"Did Harold Wilson actually say that"
"He always denied it in public but yes, yes he did say that. I heard him say it"

(Gerry Fitt 1984")

Whereas in the course of human affairs history has shown that it may become necessary for a people to resolve the political affiliations which have connected them with another people and to assume amongst other nations the separate and equal status to which they are entitled:

And Whereas in such event a respect for the opinions of mankind requires them to declare to other nations the causes which impel them to assume full responsibility for their own affairs:

Now Therefore, We, The People of Ulster, Do Hereby Declare:

That it is an indisputable and accepted historic fact that since 1921 the Government of Ulster have exercised the powers of self-government and have been responsible for the progress, development and welfare of their people;

That the people of Ulster having demonstrated their loyalty to the Crown and to their kith and kin in the United Kingdom and elsewhere through two world wars, and having been prepared to shed their blood and give of their substance in what they believed to be the mutual interests of freedom-loving people, now see all that they have cherished about to be shattered on the rocks of expediency;

That the people of Ulster have witnessed a process which is destructive of those very precepts upon which civilization in a primitive country has been built, they have seen the principles of Western democracy, responsible government and moral standards crumble elsewhere, nevertheless they have remained steadfast;

That the people of Ulster fully support the requests of their government for sovereign independence but have witnessed the consistent refusal of the Government of the United Kingdom to accede to their entreaties;

That the Government of the United Kingdom have thus demonstrated that they are not prepared to grant sovereign independence to Ulster on terms acceptable to the people of Ulster, thereby persisting in maintaining an unwarrantable jurisdiction over Ulster, obstructing laws and treaties with other states and the conduct of affairs with other nations and refusing assent to laws necessary for the public good, all this to the detriment of the future peace, prosperity and good government of Ulster;

That the Government of Ulster have for a long period patiently and in good faith negotiated with the Government of the United Kingdom for the removal of the remaining limitations placed upon them and for the grant of sovereign independence;

That in the belief that procrastination and delay strike at and injure the very life of the nation, the Government of Ulster consider it essential that Ulster should attain, without delay, sovereign independence, the justice of which is beyond question;

Now Therefore, We The Government of Ulster, in humble submission to Almighty God who controls the destinies of nations, conscious that the people of Ulster have always shown unswerving loyalty and devotion to Her Majesty the Queen and earnestly praying that we and the people of Ulster will not be hindered in our determination to continue exercising our undoubted right to demonstrate the same loyalty and devotion, and seeking to promote the common good so that the dignity and freedom of all men may be assured, Do, By This Proclamation, adopt, enact and give to the people of Ulster the Constitution annexed hereto;

God Save The Queen
Given under Our Hand at Stormont, this thirty-first day of March in the Year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventy-two.
 

iani

An exasperated Heath dumps Ulster's independence on them using the same paperwork he'd used for the Arab states. He is later assasinated by a 'loyalist' bomb in December 1974.
 

iani

After losing the general election called soon after UDI in Ulster, rubberstamped by a lame and increasingly isolated Heath loses to a Labour and Liberal landslide in late 1972 snap elections. The election was caused by the non-attendance of the Irish parties who had declared UDI.
After consulting the EEC and USA interests the United Nations are called in as a peacekeeping force, and UN sanctions are gleefully non-vetoed by USSR and China, laughing at the NATO and UK's embarrassment.
Not wanting to be dragged into another 'Vietnam on our doorstep' the rest of the UK is fully behind the newly elected prime minister, even the new Conservative opposition, aghast at the Ulster stab in the back of their former leader.
Both Eire and the UK enter the EEC in January 1973 as planned, leaving Ulster a pariah state.
 
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iani

Sensing the current mood Whitelaw & Howe, LOTO and shadow home secretary hear rumours of a rightist coup, including some of their own backbenchers. After consultin the PM and interrogation by MI5 and 6 the coup plotters are arrested. They had planned to overthrow the current government and install Mountbatten as a leader. After interview he declared he had nothing to do wit the fascist plot.
Airey Neave, Archie Hamilton, Enoch Powell, and several rogue MI5 operatives were arrested and charged with treason. Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit were also arrested, but release without charge. Their careers never recovered however as they were forever tainted by sedition.
Several right wing organisations were outlawed under rushed legislation, including Orange Lodges, the national front, the Monday club, and Rangers Football club supporters groups in Scotland.
 

iani

Xenophonte said:
same Heath that according to Historians...
Click to expand...
Pretty much, once they had declared UDI an embattled Heath had very few choices, his polling percentages were dropping on a daily basis as he dithered with the Irish issues and strikes causing a 3 day week. He was seen as a dead man walking and did the best he could under the circumstances. He also tried to do his best for Catholics under the circumstances, but too little too late...
 

nezza

"RTE 6-One News"
1st April 1972

"Good Evening. Over the last 24 hours more than 2000 people have crossed the border between the Republic and the United Kingdom since the unofficial announcement of the secession of 'the North'. The Taioseach has condemned the move as 'a blatant act of inhumanity' and has ordered the army to assist the refugees. In London the British Prime Minister Edward Heath has been in discussion with his cabinet for most of the day and has yet to make a statement...."
 

sparky42

It would likely be far higher than 2k people coming over the border, from memory there was close to that from just the start of the Troubles alone, I’d expect a lot more movement from nationalists if unionists took this course. Of course the reality is in relatively short order NI is going to collapse without the subvention funding from London.
 

nezza

sparky42 said:
It would likely be far higher than 2k people coming over the border, from memory there was close to that from just the start of the Troubles alone, I’d expect a lot more movement from nationalists if unionists took this course. Of course the reality is in relatively short order NI is going to collapse without the subvention funding from London.
Click to expand...
We're only on Day one...
 

sparky42

iani said:
Fairly quickly too, once the paramilitaries get started...Maybe not Biafra or Bangladesh bad but bad enough to topple an already unstable government with enough crises on the home front.
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Lynch didn’t have an unstable government (well compared to others), having won a FF majority in the late 60s for example, and even the events like the Arms Crisis are going to be seen in a different light once NI goes UDI and even more chaos is unleashed. be interesting to see how the Republic deals with it, I’d imagine the DF are going to see increases even more than OTL at this point.
 

CalBear

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iani said:
Fairly quickly too, once the paramilitaries get started...Maybe not Biafra or Bangladesh bad but bad enough to topple an already unstable government with enough crises on the home front.
Click to expand...
"So, you have chosen... death."

If the situation came within 500 kilometers of Biafra , there would be either a NATO or UNSC sanctioned intervention, Get the ICC cafeteria staff hiring, gonna be a LOT of business in Geneva. Accused will be delivered on aircraft with USAF stenciled on the Fuselage. UDL and/or Provos wants to play games they will REALLY quickly discover that the "brutality" of the British Army during the Troubles was a Prom Date. Once you get American and Australian veterans who cut their teeth fighting the VC and NVA kicking in doors looking for people running starvation/death camps, (with the sort of RoE that folks running death camps tend to generate) the British Army with their water cannon and rubber bullets will be recalled as "the Good Old Days".

It is clearly not right, since the Werstern Democracies let Biafra happen for pushing three years, but the simple fact is if you had what amounted to Third Reich Light setting up along the Irish Sea the virtual Wrath of God would fall on the perpetrators. Simply the Irish-American electorate's political firepower makes that a mortal lock.
 

nezza

2nd April 1972
House Of Commons

Edward Heath: "Mr Speaker, with permission I will make a statement regarding the situation in Northern Ireland. The events of the last few days have been truly saddening and aggravating. The wholly unofficial Declaration of Independence is a potentially very damaging step and is of course totally unconstitutional.

HOC: Hear, Hear

EH: I have yet to speak to Taioseach Lynch about the situation but will do so later today. The government's first priority is to protect both our armed forces and those who express loyalty to the United Kingdom. Loyalty, Mr Speaker not dis-loyalty

HOC: Hear Hear

EH: This morning I received a message from the province regarding the situation. Belfast city centre is occupied by masked gangs who are acting as a paramilitary force with checkpoints and armed patrols. The offices of the BBC and Ulster Television have been taken over and both stations have been closed down.

HOC: Gasps

Selwyn Lloyd (Speaker): Order Order

EH:We are hoping for a peaceful solution to this situation but our first priority is to ensure a de-escalation of the tension. To that end the government last night issued an order for all non-essential personnel including families of troops to leave Northern Ireland forthwith. Currently 300 people have arrived at Speke Airport in Liverpool and are being cared for. The remaining British personnel have been ordered to remain in their barracks until the situation becomes clearer. Mr Speaker, let this House be under no illusions that this outrage will not go on. We are determined to restore the rule of law in Northern Ireland. I commend this statement to the House.

SL:Mr Harold Wilson

HW: Mr Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister for his statement. May I start by saying that on this occasion the Labour Party stands four square with the Government. The actions taken by a small, unrepresentative group are truly sickening and are not in line with the British way of thinking. Having said that however this does raise the issue of the future of Northern Ireland both as an entity and as part of the United Kingdom. When the last Labour government sent troops to the province it was as a peacekeeping measure. But as we have seen the issue has become a political one and it is time to ask if the solution is a political one...
 

sparky42

In a situation like this, I imagine Derry is going to be “on fire” to put it mildly, interesting to see the Ulster units reaction (or their awareness of this action), will they obey the PM or Stormont...? I wonder if the Catholic/Nationalist border areas might try joining the Republic in a UDI situation? Without question Dublin and London will have to ramp up work between them given the OTL level of relationship up until joining the EEC.
 

stodge

A while back, I wrote a timeline called "The Road from Armageddon" which was about an Irish "incursion" into Northern Ireland in August 1969.

The Road From Armageddon

As the cab crawled along the Las Vegas Strip in the heat of a September afternoon, I wondered exactly what I was doing in Sin City. My Editor had been keen for me to get the viewpoint of Haruka Kirayoshi, the leading, what was she called, psychopolitical analyst. I had imagined meeting a...
www.alternatehistory.com

The aim was not conquest but, from the Irish perspective, humanitatian - creating corridors at Strabane, Newry and in Fermanagh, to allow those Catholics who wished to cross into the Republic.

Naturally, the overwhelming force applied by the British destroyed the Irish Armed Forces in a four-day conflict.

After the conflict, hardline Protestants came to the fore - Chichester Clark was toppled by Brian Faulkner but the real power lay with Harry West and William Craig. I could conceive of those two leading moves to UDI in 1972 - in my timeline, they were halted by another British military intervention, "Operation Motorman" but without that could they have gone as far as UDI? Conceivable but it would have led to a mass migration of Catholics from Ulster to the Republic.

Facing a potentially hostile power on its northern and north-eastern border, what would Ireland have done ? Consider joining NATO? Could extreme Protestant groups like Vanguard have received secret Soviet financial backing?

I just can't see a Westminster Government, still smarting from events in Rhodesia, sanctioning UDI in Ulster.
 

nezza

3rd April 1972
Leinster House

Jack Lynch: "How bad is it"
Gerry Fitt: "Awful just awful. Hundreds are crossing the border. Cars and Vans full of people. Confused, scared and very angry. The army and the Red Cross are trying their best but....God Almighty Jack its like something from World War 2.

JL: That's what I've heard but the reports are their usual clinical selves. Gerry we're close to cracking on the border. The Dail is in uproar and the country is demanding action. We're not able to deal with the influx.
GF: You've got to, they're human beings, loyal to the republic. You can't just close the border, that's inhuman.

JL: I know but I have an idea and I need your help....
 

sparky42

stodge said:
A while back, I wrote a timeline called "The Road from Armageddon" which was about an Irish "incursion" into Northern Ireland in August 1969.

The Road From Armageddon

As the cab crawled along the Las Vegas Strip in the heat of a September afternoon, I wondered exactly what I was doing in Sin City. My Editor had been keen for me to get the viewpoint of Haruka Kirayoshi, the leading, what was she called, psychopolitical analyst. I had imagined meeting a...
www.alternatehistory.com

The aim was not conquest but, from the Irish perspective, humanitatian - creating corridors at Strabane, Newry and in Fermanagh, to allow those Catholics who wished to cross into the Republic.

Naturally, the overwhelming force applied by the British destroyed the Irish Armed Forces in a four-day conflict.

After the conflict, hardline Protestants came to the fore - Chichester Clark was toppled by Brian Faulkner but the real power lay with Harry West and William Craig. I could conceive of those two leading moves to UDI in 1972 - in my timeline, they were halted by another British military intervention, "Operation Motorman" but without that could they have gone as far as UDI? Conceivable but it would have led to a mass migration of Catholics from Ulster to the Republic.

Facing a potentially hostile power on its northern and north-eastern border, what would Ireland have done ? Consider joining NATO? Could extreme Protestant groups like Vanguard have received secret Soviet financial backing?

I just can't see a Westminster Government, still smarting from events in Rhodesia, sanctioning UDI in Ulster.
Click to expand...
The NATO question was relatively alive around this period as there was some resistance from the other members of the EEC about allowing a none NATO neutral nation to join, it might depend on how the U.K. deals with the UDI?
 

nezza

"Lynch's plan was know as Operation Lifeline and entailed sending small clandestine squads into the North who would effectively set up no-go zones by rigging mines on roads leading into major catholic nationalist areas while transferring those needing medical attention to major hospitals in the South . These squads were dressed in civilian clothing and were recruited for their specialities. By day they acted as ordinary people while by night they engaged in guerilla tactics. The plan was that while the squads carried out their mission Lynch would in public be appealing for help from the UK government whilst secretly aiding not just those who had fled for the Republic but also aiding those in the North who were against the coup. RTE can now officially reveal that they had some help from some of the loyalist majority..."

(Lynch's Gamble, 2007)
 
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