Signature
06-28-2008, 10:24 PM
Irish neutrality during WWII (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality_during_World_War_II)
The main reasons for Irish neutrality were:
1. To demonstrate independence from Britain.
2. Ireland was a small country and would not have the military might to take on larger armies.
3. War would lead to death and destruction.
As you will see in the above Wikipedia article, Churchill offered to end partition of Ireland if it joined the war. However, this word could not be trusted and the Unionist of Northern Ireland would not like it. Eamonn De Valera stuck to his guns throughout the war despite pressure from mainly Britain and later America. Northern Ireland was involved in the war.
In his speech celebrating the Allied victory in Europe (May 1945) Winston Churchill remarked that he had demonstrated restraint in not laying 'a heavy hand upon Ireland, though at times it would have been quite easy and quite natural.' In a response a few days later, de Valera acknowledged that Churchill did not add 'another horrid chapter to the already bloodstained record' of Anglo-Irish relations:
...could he not find in his heart the generosity to acknowledge that there is a small nation that stood alone, not for one year or two, but for several hundred years against aggression...a small nation that could never be got to accept defeat and has never surrendered her soul?
The speech of which this was in is considered as one of De Valera's best. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isNOQ3zQ2F0
The main reasons for Irish neutrality were:
1. To demonstrate independence from Britain.
2. Ireland was a small country and would not have the military might to take on larger armies.
3. War would lead to death and destruction.
As you will see in the above Wikipedia article, Churchill offered to end partition of Ireland if it joined the war. However, this word could not be trusted and the Unionist of Northern Ireland would not like it. Eamonn De Valera stuck to his guns throughout the war despite pressure from mainly Britain and later America. Northern Ireland was involved in the war.
In his speech celebrating the Allied victory in Europe (May 1945) Winston Churchill remarked that he had demonstrated restraint in not laying 'a heavy hand upon Ireland, though at times it would have been quite easy and quite natural.' In a response a few days later, de Valera acknowledged that Churchill did not add 'another horrid chapter to the already bloodstained record' of Anglo-Irish relations:
...could he not find in his heart the generosity to acknowledge that there is a small nation that stood alone, not for one year or two, but for several hundred years against aggression...a small nation that could never be got to accept defeat and has never surrendered her soul?
The speech of which this was in is considered as one of De Valera's best. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isNOQ3zQ2F0