Recent content by Tanc49

Well that was the thinking IOTL. It caused a major scandal as they basically did an ENRON to try and keep raising money. One of the big issues was that Lesseps was obsessed with a single level canal like he'd done in Suez, when he should have gone with locks to go up (as was done eventually)...

The enclosures started under Henry VIII, and just in the same vein, the dissolution of monasteries benefitted the richest. I'm wondering, did it start because Henry had a fairly weak claim? He didn't come from a long lasting line and needed to shore up.supports. Making potential enemies richer...

Strongbow is 900 years ago... From Cromwell and co, it's also a different proposition as it's a civil war. The Irish (who? The old English nobility, the peasants, the remnants of gaelic nobility...?) were not fighting for their country but for a pretender. That is vastly different. You weren't...

Several points, an insurgency is not the same as an army. There was no glorious actions, the waving of flags and the beating of drums, the stuff which makes glorious paintings. Singing "my dad's a provo" in a smoky pub is not the same as erecting massive statues at every corner of your city...

And the centralisation of Louis XIV was by no means non-violent, there were a lot of rebellion, violent revolts, which we just swept under the rug afterwards. It was an increase tax burden, and taking away decision power from local elites, who did not appreciate it Forcing the priests to swear...

If I may venture a thought, that reaction is also due to the fact that the last time you had an army dedicated to defending Ireland from foreign invaders was 1172. That's unique in Europe, that you don't have any military tradition at all in a thousand years. Even the Irish Civil War wasn't...

But without the mountains all around, without a good chunk of rich folks' money, and with all its major cities on the coast yes. Another thought, if this invasion is after 1972, that'd mean a war between two members of the EC. I wonder if there's any policy in place for such a scenario

It's a bit strange to be stuck in the middle. If you forgive me the digression, and see no ill intent in what I'm trying to say, I'll expand: Ireland, as a mostly historically agrarian country/colony at the far western end of Europe is fundamentally weak. You have no historical resource like...

Ah thanks! My knowledge of recent Irish history is quite patchy, as I came to it quite late (I did go to a museum about O'Connell last year though). Did they have any kind of decent artillery, in decent numbers? Say anyone gets barricaded behind a wall, would they have anything to dislodge them...

One thing I wonder: I imagine the Irish would get most of their weapons from UK stocks and suppliers right? It'd make sense. How much ammo did that peacekeeping neutral force like the Irish army keep in the 70's? How long until they'd have to ask nicely to the UK to give them some more bullets...

Dublin can't say anything because the UK is/was the main trade partner by an enormous margin. Dublin can't say anything because it has to protect its citizens living in the UK who might be targeted in any diplomatic escalation. Dublin can't say anything because it needs to be a somewhat neutral...

The first important bit is that even today, the Republic is very ambivalent on peaceful reunification. It's a West/East Germany scenario, where Northern Ireland is mostly maintained afloat thanks to the UK public sectors and subventions. The Republic is rich enough for now, but doesn't feel rich...

Apologies!

Let's start with the fact that de Gaulle was a democratic leader who left power peacefully and seems to have mostly respected elections, at least in continental France. He could have been a dictator, but turned it down twice. That said, he definitely came to power in a military coup in 1958. To...

There was also a big market to absorb the extra volume. In the Roman empire, existing modes of production are sufficient to satisfy demand, so there's no incentive to improve output that dramatically.