First World War waged by a conservative Government

What if the Conservative government had taken power during the home rule crisis and subsequently been the government which led Britain into the First World War? In this scenario, the Irish volunteers still gets founded.
 

Nocrazy

Banned
Well, sorta depends on who's in charge.

Now, the Easter Rising is an example of how bad some Irish wanted home rule. If they get denied......
 
Best bet would be to change the result of the December 1910 general election, giving a slim majority to the Conservatives. Though that might require an earlier POD, perhaps Balfour realising he did not have popular support after the lukewarm result in January 1910. Bonar Law was, by most accounts, a very competent and highly regarded politician. There is a small chance he could produce enough of a swing in the December election to award the Conservatives government.
 
In my opinion, it would be the death knell for the United Kingdom. If the Conservatives come to power as a result of the Home Rule Crisis when the volunteer armies of Ireland have already been formed and home rule in Ireland hasn't been granted, it will be a very vicious war of Independence there with not just Sinn Fein but the Redmondites also waging war against Tory Britain. Imagine that, open warfare in Ireland between the Irish Volunteers and the British Armed Forces during the First World War.
Liberal Non-conformist Wales would be much less enthusiastic about fighting the war as it wouldn't be their government doing it. And if the Conservatives are agressive enough to enter the war before the invasion of Belgium, Liberal England might be much less enthusiastic. Conscription would be met by a hostile reaction among both liberals and the working classes and worst case scenario, if exacerbated by the war in Ireland, spark a nationalist war in Wales.
So you have England fighting a war that is not about small nations and at the same time there is civil war in its' back yard.
In my opinion, Britain would be defeated and Ireland, if not Wales would also become independent.
The Tory Party would be a gonner and the Liberals will become rUK's centre-right party.
 
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