plausibility check: Central Powers support Irish Rebels in Easter Rebellion

Is is possible for the Central Powers to support the Irish Rebels in the Easter Rebellion in such a way that it becomes another front in WWI?

If so, how will it affect WWI, with Great Britain finding that it has another front it needs to fight on?
 
Is is possible for the Central Powers to support the Irish Rebels in the Easter Rebellion in such a way that it becomes another front in WWI?

If so, how will it affect WWI, with Great Britain finding that it has another front it needs to fight on?

Seems unlikely that any power can provide support through the Royal Navy.
The rebels will swiftly run out of weapons and munitions, and get ground down.

The British Army in France might be weakened somewhat by troops and munitions being diverted to Ireland to crush the Rising; however, they're likely to still be able to mount a Somme offensive later that year, even if it is less ambitious.
 
See Tom B's "Operation Unicorn" for an excellent timeline involving Imperial German invasion of Ireland

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Is is possible for the Central Powers to support the Irish Rebels in the Easter Rebellion in such a way that it becomes another front in WWI?

If so, how will it affect WWI, with Great Britain finding that it has another front it needs to fight on?

Even if they had received more support, I doubt the rising would have worked. The rising wasn't really popular, and it wasn't planned particularly well. In a lot of ways it was more of a political statement than a military operation. If anything, more German support might have negative implications for the Republican cause, as it shows them to be openly 'in league' with the Germans.
 
Hmm

The Rising was basically a military disaster; but it was never intended to be anything but by its leaders. It was meant to be a "blood sacrifice" for the Irish nation that would expose the brutality of the British. And Gen. "Moron" Maxwell was only too happy to oblige. :rolleyes:

Only the IRB controlled faction of the Volunteers rose up (literally only half the Dublin brigade) and some of the Citizens Army. If there had been a serious rising they'd still lose but it would have bad knock on effects accross the boards for Ireland and the Entente. German support wouldn't have helped a great deal (the Royal Navy basically is in the way) but it could disrupt Entente forces having to spend time taking down the entire Volunteer forces, your looking a months long battle in this scenario rather than a few days OTL.
Theres also the issue of the Nationalist Divisions near Messines - when word reaches them of a general rising there'll be issues.
 
Realistically, no. The Rising had practically no popular support, and as others pointed out was never really intended to succeed militarily. It has to be remembered that the vast majority of the Irish public at minimum acquiesced in, and often supported, the British war effort up to the Rising. For Ireland to become another front for the British, you would need one of two things:

1. A full-scale German invasion of the island. This is an impossibility without ASB changes - even if the German fleet had wiped out the Royal Navy, the Germans would hardly have had the capacity to land & keep supplied a major expeditionary force in Ireland. Moreover, if they ever did have the capacity in such a situation, why not just invade Britain directly?

2. Make the Irish Catholic population much more hostile to British rule. The only somewhat-plausible way this could happen is if the Home Rule crisis had exploded into open fighting in 1914, in which the British army sided with Ulster and fought the Irish Volunteers. Absent something like that, there is simply insufficient popular support for the Irish population to rise en masse against the British.

Oh, and I'm totally stealing 'Moron' Maxwell the next time I lecture on the Easter Rising! ;) :D
 
Fighting in Ireland may actually help the Entente if it reduces their Western Front offensive operations in 1916.

The Rising was basically a military disaster; but it was never intended to be anything but by its leaders. It was meant to be a "blood sacrifice" for the Irish nation that would expose the brutality of the British. And Gen. "Moron" Maxwell was only too happy to oblige. :rolleyes:

Only the IRB controlled faction of the Volunteers rose up (literally only half the Dublin brigade) and some of the Citizens Army. If there had been a serious rising they'd still lose but it would have bad knock on effects accross the boards for Ireland and the Entente. German support wouldn't have helped a great deal (the Royal Navy basically is in the way) but it could disrupt Entente forces having to spend time taking down the entire Volunteer forces, your looking a months long battle in this scenario rather than a few days OTL.
Theres also the issue of the Nationalist Divisions near Messines - when word reaches them of a general rising there'll be issues.
 
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