DBWI: What if Ireland never unified?

Jonjo

Banned
It was touch and go for a moment, but the Ulster-Scots decided they were best off with their fellow Irishmen than being directly ruled from another island... BUT what if had that not happened? what if north and south tensions boiled or or one "side" tried to keep the other under their boot? I suspect Britain might get involved having a civil war in its back door or maybe it might just let things in Ireland sort out themselves.
 
It was touch and go for a moment, but the Ulster-Scots decided they were best off with their fellow Irishmen than being directly ruled from another island... BUT what if had that not happened? what if north and south tensions boiled or or one "side" tried to keep the other under their boot? I suspect Britain might get involved having a civil war in its back door or maybe it might just let things in Ireland sort out themselves.

One of the reasons that the Scots-Irish were some of the first Irish Republicans had largely to do with economic and social conditions during the 18th century. Most Scots-Irish were members of the Scottish Presbysterian Church which was not looked on favorably by the English, ANglican establishment.

Following the end of the Napoleonic conflicts, the British government chose to deemphisise the differences between Protestant groups, be they Anglican or not, which largely smoothed over the differences between themselves the Scots-Irish who the became economically domiant in Ulster.

Around the same time, there were several Proto-Nationalist organizations forming in Ireland, such as the Crusaders, and their opposite 'Orange' numbers. These groups simmered for a long time, and were the genesis of the ethnic conflict we saw in Northern Ireland during the 20th century.

I think, in order to get Ulster to stay out of the Republic, you would need a few things. First of all, you would need a leader to arise who spoke more to the Catholic-Nationalist strains of Irish Republicanism, and not the non-denominationa quasi-Socialist ones. Perhaps we could see Eamon DeVelera become the dominant figure? He grew to prominence during the Anglo-Irish War in OTL before being killed after being ambushed by British soldiers after returning from America.

Secondly, I think, you need to get rid of James Connoly early. What ever else you want to say about the man (Mr. "The British will never shell Dublin, because they won't risk destroying Capitalist property"), he did a lot to reach out to Ulster Unionists. I believe he even had Scots background in him, although I could be wrong. Maybe he can become one of the Martyrs of '16? Certainly not difficult to arrange.

Thirdly, you are going to need a stronger Unionist backlash about the IRB. Not sure how or why this occures. Maybe the Ulster divisions in the Great War aren't used to badly, and callously, by the British military on the Western front? I know that actually created quite the backlash against Britain at the time.

Finally, and this is the big one, I think you are going to need to find a way for Germany to lose the Great War. Although they didn't get Ireland its independence during the Treaty of Venice, since Britain was still in a position to negotiate, we all know they helped support the rebels during the late teens and early 20s. Without German money, the IRA might not have been able to spread its message in the North as well (and the recession in Birtain following the war didn't hurt either; Belfast and Ulster was hit pretty hard), and certainly wouldn't have been able to win the war.
 
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