The Partition of Ireland

SteveW

As we all know, sometimes the least likely outcome in history is the one that happens. One of the oddest decisions ever was the way that Ireland was partitioned over Home Rule. Various nationalist areas, such as southern Derry/Londonderry, South Armagh and Fermanagh were included in Northern Ireland to most people's surprise. Allegedly, South Armagh was included on the basis that it had a useful river in it, for example.

ITTL, the POD is simply that the Boundary Commission did a more thorough job.

James Craig was happy with the results of his handiwork. He and his fellow Unionist leaders had secured a Protestant Ulster which would run itself separately from the rest of the Ireland for now.

Well, Ulster is a bit far-fetched a description. Of the nine historical counties, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan had been shorn off in their entirety. Of the remaining six counties, most of Armagh south of Newry had been assigned to the South as part of County Louth, as had a sizeable piece of Fermanagh and parts of Tyrone, including the heavily Catholic town of Strabane.

As partition approached on 3rd May 1921, there were huge upheavals. Border Protestants who were not landowners began to stream out of Armagh and Fermanagh and into (notably) Londonderry and Newry. Many Catholics went a similar way, with a particular exodus of disappointed Nationalists leaving for the new regime in the South.
 

stevep

SteveW said:
No thoughts on the idea?
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SteveW

It would probably be a more stable situation that what occurred, especially if there was a transfer of minority populations. You would probably still have a civil war in Ireland over the issue and later attacks by the hard liners against the north. However that would be far more difficult without a core of Catholics in the territory to hide behind.

Steve
 

Deleted member 5719

I heard a radio 4 sho on this topic in the early 90's, a provisional ra man and a British Conservative both agreed that the partition would last, leaving 2 states in Ireland co-existing more or less peacefully. :eek:

For my money, leftist protestant republicanism would have been a powerful force in the North, especially given population transfers reducing sectarian strife. Even OTL, there was a protestant IRA company in Belfast until the 60's.
 

Spike Torch

I met a catholic woman who worked for the DUP once. Nutter. Don't get me wrong, I can understand a catholic unionist, but a DUP one?!

I'm not sure that mass transfers of populations would have ended any more happily than what happened OTL, they don't have a particularly good history, if we look at Greece - Turkey, India - Pakistan etc.

Some Unionists have proposed a smaller more protestant north, based around Belfast and Bangor, that would have been more integrated into the UK.

It's also interesting to look at Liverpool, where working class people historically voted Tory if protestant and Labour if catholic, and where Ulster Unionists actually stood in some elections, could some sort of cross sea state have been formed based around a Liverpool - Belfast axis?

I think that if independence had been granted to a united Irish Free State in 1921, then contrary to belief the North East would have remained under tight priviliged protestant control, that would if anything have been worse than OTL, with the Free State government buying peace with the unionists, and probably agreeing to a powerful devolved administration, that would have been even freer to discriminate against catholics than OTL.

The civil war would then probably have been worse, with a much greater sense of betrayal towards the Free Staters, and them probably using northern protestant units.
 
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