Challenge: Give the UK cause to Occupy Ireland.

With a POD after the independence of Ireland, give the United Kingdom good cause, with at least some international backing, to invade and occupy their neighbouring country. This isn't to suggest conquest; I'm not asking for the UK to reannex the Republic. It can be freed after a suitable amount of time once again.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
Combo clear assistance of the IRA and the IRA doing worse things, that should do it.


How is another matter.
 
Combo clear assistance of the IRA and the IRA doing worse things, that should do it.


How is another matter.

Is there a specific instance which could have been exploited in OTL that wasn't? Also, what would the occupation look like? I can imagine the Irish would fight tooth and nail, guerilla-style.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
Is there a specific instance which could have been exploited in OTL that wasn't? Also, what would the occupation look like? I can imagine the Irish would fight tooth and nail, guerilla-style.
If the Irish government was clearly supporting the IRA and kept doing so around when the IRA did something like... oh, blow up a member of the royal family...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Mountbatten,_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma#Assassination

...or that time they tried to kill the Cabinet...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downing_Street_mortar_attack

...then there'd be a fairly good case.
 
I doubt it, I'm fairly sure that the British Government was well aware of what level of support that the Irish Government gave to the IRA at the time, and even when you had events like the Embassy being burnt down or the murder of the Ambassador in Ireland, the relationship never got to that level.

Short of Exercise Armaggedon being launched and the UK deciding that they had to be a bit more aggressive in punishing Ireland I don't see it happening.
 
I seem to recall the Irish Government, early-independence (1920s-1930s) was basically run by the military.

You could have Axis leaning, Irish-Junta Government, blinded to the vast disparity of forces by the promises of German Support and the lust for the 32-County Republic.

Britain probably re-arms faster, especially land forces (given that the UK literally have a land border with a fascist, German-leaning state.) 1939 rolls around, Poor Poland gets shat on again, and the UK occupies Ireland before a Counter-Coup can depose the Fascist Government. (I mean, Dublin is Coastal. Hullo Royal Marines!)

UK occupies Ireland, Chamberlain hurriedly gives it back to the Irish before Churchill gets into power again and Annexes it. :D
 
I seem to recall the Irish Government, early-independence (1920s-1930s) was basically run by the military.

You could have Axis leaning, Irish-Junta Government, blinded to the vast disparity of forces by the promises of German Support and the lust for the 32-County Republic.

Britain probably re-arms faster, especially land forces (given that the UK literally have a land border with a fascist, German-leaning state.) 1939 rolls around, Poor Poland gets shat on again, and the UK occupies Ireland before a Counter-Coup can depose the Fascist Government. (I mean, Dublin is Coastal. Hullo Royal Marines!)

UK occupies Ireland, Chamberlain hurriedly gives it back to the Irish before Churchill gets into power again and Annexes it. :D

Not really, for example:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Mutiny
 
I don't see it happening.

Well, you failed the challenge then. :p The idea is to come up with some way for it to happen.

I think a serious enough bombing campaign by the IRA, followed by the perps fleeing to the south to escape British justice with Irish help, might give the British just cause to invade if diplomacy fails. When I say a serious enough bombing campaign, I mean a campaign of a 9/11 scale disaster. Although, I don't know if the IRA would or could pull off something like that.
 
Well, you failed the challenge then. :p The idea is to come up with some way for it to happen.

I think a serious enough bombing campaign by the IRA, followed by the perps fleeing to the south to escape British justice with Irish help, might give the British just cause to invade if diplomacy fails. When I say a serious enough bombing campaign, I mean a campaign of a 9/11 scale disaster. Although, I don't know if the IRA would or could pull off something like that.

A) doubt that the IRA would be able to gather the resources to do that (for example the heavy mortar's were all improvised weapons), b) the Irish Government would never have pulled such actions. Remember during the Troubles the PIRA still held that they were the legitamate government and that the Dail was illegitamate. The aid (whatever level there was ) was given to the IRA before the British Army was deployed when you had Catholics coming over the border. If the PIRA carried out such level of attacks and fled to the Republic, any OTL Irish Government would hand them over as soon as the Special Criminal Court extradited them. Hell there was one high profile PIRA member arrested after a shotout not far from me, his extradition trail lasted a couple of hours after he was arrested and then he was dropped off to the RUC...

Now you could change that, but frankly you'd have to handwave Irish development across a broad section in order to get such unusual results

WW2 for example: even if you had a Facist party in control, the simple reality of the UK would mean that it would remain neutral, and I find it highly doubtful that the UK would waste the resources to move in and occupy Ireland (remember even if you had say a post Great Depression facist movement, the Irish military is so non-existant as to be unimportant)
 
Could you cook up some scenario giving the UK incentive to occupy Ireland? Easily. Just have Ireland ally to Germany during the 1930's and then start exploding bombs laced with Mustard Gas or whatever sourced from their allies in British cities come Sept 1939 or something.

Would it be likely to happen? Not in a million years.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Ireland is ravaged by a sudden outbreak of Smallpox. Heavily depopulated, NATO set up 'occupation zones' to help treat the outbreak and stop is spreading.
 
I seem to recall the Irish Government, early-independence (1920s-1930s) was basically run by the military.

You could have Axis leaning, Irish-Junta Government, blinded to the vast disparity of forces by the promises of German Support and the lust for the 32-County Republic.

Britain probably re-arms faster, especially land forces (given that the UK literally have a land border with a fascist, German-leaning state.) 1939 rolls around, Poor Poland gets shat on again, and the UK occupies Ireland before a Counter-Coup can depose the Fascist Government. (I mean, Dublin is Coastal. Hullo Royal Marines!)

UK occupies Ireland, Chamberlain hurriedly gives it back to the Irish before Churchill gets into power again and Annexes it. :D


That sounds like a good idea for a TL
 
The Gordon Banks TL is well worth reading. One of those that got me to take the whole idea of modern AH seriously as a way of exploring contemporary issue, not just to tell a story.
 
The Gordon Banks TL is well worth reading. One of those that got me to take the whole idea of modern AH seriously as a way of exploring contemporary issue, not just to tell a story.

I read that right through last night, didn't get to sleep till about seven (hence still wide awake). Blimey it's dark - it's difficult to believe that things could ever have got that bad.

Rather worryingly, it even made me feel that Powell, Thatcher, Neave and Clark were being portrayed as more evil than they really would have been. Sympathy for right-wing Tories? This has only ever happened before with Thatcher in the Azureverse. Once or twice. Briefly. A little bit.
 
The Irish Free State, technically remains neutral in WWII but it is a very pro Germany neutral, even going so far as to allow the recruitment of Irish Volunteers for the German armed forces after the fall of France. Post Battle of Britain a number of division are moved to Ulster and in the spring of 1941 invade the Free State.
 
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