I seem to be slightly masochistic when it comes to my own country don't I? I blame Pearse, he made self-sacrifice look cool.
The popular belief is that during the negotiations between the Second Dáil and the British government Lloyd George threatened the Irish delegation with
"immediate and terrible war" unless the Treaty was signed. He may have said it, or it may have been attributed to him, but either way the fact was that of 1921 the British military was preparing to seriously "up their game" with regards the campaign in Ireland.
I doubt this was a bluff either, I think the British army in Ireland were well past the bluffing stage and had moved onto the
"Do you think we should stop burning peoples houses down?" stage with regards their tactics.
So, can be done to make the negotiations breakdown? I hear tell that the IRA were planning to start
a new "Dynamite Campaign" in Britain, much like the Fenians in the 1860's and the paramilitaries during the Troubles. The campaign was abandoned when the Truce was called, despite some serious attacks on the Liverpool docks already. Maybe these are bad enough that the British public are more willing to accept an extension of the Irish campaign when OTLs public opinion was firmly behind the peace? There were also IRA plans to attempt to assassinate the entire British cabinet (which I cannot find online to save me, but they were proposed by Cathal Brugha), whcih frankly would have been one of the worst possible moves they could ever make as it would have in actuality meant killing the minority of people in the British government who did not want to beat Ireland into submission. If even an attempt at that wouldn't have the British public baying for blood then I have literally no idea.
Any takers? Oh and before anyone says "Ireland screw", my own personal belief is that this would not be the begining of the end for the Anglo-Irish war, but the end of the begining.