How did Ireland become involved in World War 2?

Answer 1

Ireland had been under centuries of British occupation and had no weapons or resources to fight a war. Had the British and Germans used Ireland as a battlefields, tens of thousands of Irish people could have been killed. Also, Ireland could have been used by Germany to launch an attack on Britain.

Ireland decided to remain neutral, meaning the it was at war with neither Britain nor Germany. Nonethelss, many Irish people joined the allies during the war and allowed Britain to unofficially use Ireland's airspace as a shortcut. Hundreds of Jews also unofficially came to Ireland before moving on to the US.

AnswerHello there, to give a more specific account of the situation I feel is necessary. The political situation in Ireland did not allow itself for Ireland to enter World War Two. It is after all a separate State to Great Britain and many Irish men were killed for this right of free choice. At the time of WW2 Ireland was in economic termoil. It had a stand off with Britain over cattle and coal. This led to Ireland being crippled and hence bad tensions between the two states. The leader of Ireland was Eamon De Valera who was fiercly anti British and hence would not support them in their war. Ireland kept an ambassador to Germany and had good relations. Even Hitlers brother worked in a Dublin hotel but this is merely a smoke screen. In reality Ireland was tired of war. It had fought 4 wars in the previous 25 years. It was also a biased neutrality. Ireland provided food, equipment, supplies and infrastructure to the allied cause. It did not help the Axis. Also thousands of Irish men voluntered for service in the british army. In fact more men from the republic of Ireland died in the british army during ww2 than men from northern Ireland. Also while Ireland was short of equipment it was not short of men. 500,000 men were in the armed forces (all branches) during "the emergency" as it was called! This is a very large number of men who were all willing to die for their countries freedom. As regards German plans to invade Ireland as a platform to England. An operation was drawn up called operation green. The plan was to take the beaches on the south and south east coast i.e. tramore, clonea etc as far as youghal and move in land. They expected little resistence but they never won the battle of Britain so they could not go ahead with this plan.

I hope this gives a clearer picture of why Ireland "was not" in the war. In reality it was but politically it was not.

Simple. They wouldn't attack unless in defense. As long as Germany were bombing Britain, a lot of Irish, especially in rural areas, were loving World War Two.

Answer

In addition to the excellent reasons above, it's important to note that it was less than 20 years earlier that Britain sent the notorious Black and Tans to Ireland, to attempt to keep the country under British control. This force conducted terror operations that included massacres, assassinations, arson, and looting, and was instrumental in building support for Irish independence. If that recent memory hadn't been burned into the memories of the Irish, it might have been easier to consider becoming an ally of Britain in 1939.

Ironically, the man whose implacable resistance kept Britain from surrendering to the Nazis was the same man who sent the Black and Tans to Ireland: Winston Churchill.