The Demise of the Empire

Our sovereignty was once so important to us that we commiserated Germany on the death of hitler and refused to negotiate on the use of the treaty ports in WW2 in exchange for the six counties - just to make a point. Now we gave the IMF the right to dictate policy in order to bail out some of the most corrupt people in the country, or something. And we let the USA use us as a military base, and a stop-off for torture flights - or something - for a little bit of cash too. Anyhoo - I think we pissed away a lot on ourselves.

Some facts:

Britain was so concerned with occupying Ireland for so long primarily because Ireland was too dangerously positioned as a possible base to attack a country whose main military strength was its navy. They could not risk a hostile power coming at them from here.

Our utility as a base to attack Britain, and to a lesser extent France, is the only reason we were able to stay sovereign. For the exact same reason they were so intent on keeping us occupied, they could never risk us being occupied by a hostile expansionist force. During World War 2 plans were drawn up for a counter invasion if Germany did decide to invade us - and they did consider it.

The decline of the British Empire was due to a number of factors. The loss of Ireland from it would be pretty far down that list. They lost Ireland largely because their forces were mainly needed for involvement in World War 1. Their country suffered pretty badly from its involvement in World War 2. Also Churchill made a big deal of how Britain believed in every nation's right to self-determination in order to drum up support for the Allies in WW2, and reassure neutral countries that the Allies were the ones they ought to support. This was bo||ocks of course; he was a staunch imperialist and was probably pretty happy to have a war to prove himself with. But all the same if you keep saying that, a lot of your colonies are going to listen.
Having a strong navy and difficult seas around your country wasn't quite such a military advantage either as technological advances came along. I think America's development into a superpower was helped a great deal by Europe blowing itself to bits for several years too.

Irish soldiers weren't that highly rated by the British either. We weren't included in their list of martial races - foreign peoples considered to be the best soldiers. They mainly preferred various Asian tribes - especially the Gurkhas.

OP, you're painting it as though Ireland decided to be apart of the British Empire. The Irish didn't decide anything. Instead, they were forced to work almost like slaves or be apart of the British Army's front line cannon fodder.

I just don't know what to say. Might want to consult a history book or two OP.

Mahatma coat wrote: »

300 odd years we were at it, Building the Greatest empire the world has ever seen.

It Took em less than fifty Years to Piss it all away without us.

So

Should we start again, but this time leave the Brits at home???

Sure.

We'll call it "The Empire Strikes Back".

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

I just don't know what to say. Might want to consult a history book or two OP.

Wolfe Tone, you aren't reading this thread, it isn't real. It is all a dream, just ignore it. It'll disappear in the morning, like all those other bad dreams.

Mahatma coat wrote: »

Most of the British didnt Choose to form an empire either, they just woke up one mornin to find that the people in charge had just gone and made one, but they went along withl it for the Laugh, much like the Irish of the day.

We just happened to be a lot Better at the whole empire building lark than them, but far more modest so we let them call it after themselves

I think you might find that a lot of the British people had a stronger sense of patriotism in the British Empire than the citizens of their colony did.