The Experience of the Two Irelands During Wwii

The rift on the Irish Island had been cemented by the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921. Twenty-six counties claimed their place in the Irish Free State, while six more remained loyal to the crown of the United Kingdom. Slightly less than 18 years later, the first actions were played out in what would prove to be a war that touched far reaching corners of the planet. With all major superpowers entering, or at least considering a war of unthinkable proportions, the two partitions of the Irish island took their stands. As quickly as Craigavon, Northern Ireland’s prime minister, could declare their support of the British Empire, DeValera, the Free State’s Taoiseach, made it clear that the southern counties would remain neutral in the war. This has been said to be a truly divisive event in the history of the two Irelands, and on the surface that very well may be. However, the only real division was who each side claimed loyalty to, as their war time experiences added up to about the same.

The assertion of neutrality in the Free State has been said to have solidified the division with the United Kingdom, while also hardening the border between them and the Northern counties (Grob-Fitzgibbon, 91). As DeValera put it, “Small nations like Ireland do not and cannot assume the role of defenders of just causes except their own” (Keogh, 110). There was a sense of moral superiority among the Irish who believed they were somehow more just than either of the belligerents by staying out of the war. The preconception that Britain acted as an oppressor still hung in the back of the minds of those who had lived through their colonialism, and the Axis powers seemed to be just as evil as the Allies. However, these opposing forces were only one factor that made Ireland’s neutrality an “easy choice” (Lee, 242). With Britain so actively involved in the conflict and located so close geographically, Ireland really only had to choose between neutrality and siding with the Brits. The...