When the germans defeated and occupied
France in June 1940, Britain and its empire
stood alone against Hitler
The British needed all the help they could get, especially
as the USA was still. Eire could provide much needed air
and naval bases for the British to use in THE BATTLE OF
THE ATLANTIC and to defend Britain from invasion
Attempt Number 1 (June 1940)
In June 1940 (after Germany
defeated France and British
troops withdrew from Dunkirk),
the British tried to persuade
Eire to join them in a defensive
agreement.
The British proposed that if Eire allowed British ships
access to ports in Eire, and British troops and planes to
be stationed at certain places in Eire, they would
provide equipment for the Irish army and agree to a
united Ireland "at an early date"
De Valera rejected the offer for two reasons - 1. At
this stage it looked like Germany was going to win
the war anyway. If they did, they would grant a
United Ireland even Eire stayed neutral
He felt that if Eire did enter the war, it
would lose its independence.
Attempt Number 2 (December
1941)
When the Japanese attacked the Americans
at pearl harbour on the 7th of December
1941, Germany also declared war on the
USA
Churchill tried again to persuade de Valera to join the
war now that Britain and the USA were fighting
together. He said in a telegram - "NOW OR NEVER,A
NATION ONCE AGAIN"
This meant that churchill was again offering
a united Ireland if Eire joined joined Britain
in the war against Germany, again De Valera declined
Attempt number 3(1942)
In mid - 1942 the battle of the atlantic
and German u-boats were sinking a lot
of Allied merchant ships is the atlantic
Churchill asked De Valera for the treaty ports to be
returned to Britain so that the royal Navy could use them
as bases for their convoy escort ships. Again de Valera
refused
HOW DE VALERA OPERATED A POLICY OF STRICT NEUTRALITY
The IRA was a bug threat to de Valera after the attacks on Briatin de
Valera interned the attackers, to try and orevent any more attacks so
Britain didnt have an exuse to invade
Upon the news of Hitlers death de Valer went to offer condolences
in the German embassy in Eire, the Allies argued that this was
wrong because of his tyranny, he defended himself by saying he did
the same for America when Roosevelt passed
De valera prevented Britain from using the treaty ports and
airfields, he also wouldnt allow British troops to be on Eire soil
De Valera refused to close the Japanese and German
embassy offices, even though the Allies argured that they
were bases for spies
De Valera operated a strict censorhip of press as he didnt want Eires media to be
associated with convincing people who to support
HOW NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE ALLIES
RESPONDED TO EIRE'S NEUTRALITY
Sir Basil Brooke and the unionists were disgusted with Eire for not joining the
effort, the fact that de Valera sent fire fighters to help warmed relations, they
were still not happy as they thought de Valera was harboring soies as he
refused to close the offices of Germany and Japan
britain tried their hardest to persuade Eire to join the war effort but failed on every
attempt, this angered Churchill and army commander but he government felt his biased
neutrality was useful
Despite USA joining the war effort Eire did nit budge even
though president roosevelt and US ambassador were very
critical
BENEVOLENT NEUTRALITY
Although Eire was officially neutral, its
neutrality was in fact biased to the Allies
The Donegal air corridor - In a secret deal with the British in
January 1941,de Valera allowed the RAF and later the US airforce
to fly over part of county Donegal to save fuel and therfore they
could protect their convoys foran extra 100 miles
De Valera sent 13 fire engines to help
with the outrageous fires in Belfast
after the Belfast Blitz,he expressed his
concern about the heavy loss of life he
saw the people of Belfast as Irish
As Eire was neutral they were meant to intern any soldiers from
nations at war but they let allied servicemen cross the border to the
nirth to escaoe back to Britain even though they interned Germans
When it was clear that Germany was about to lose the war de Valera giive
Britain permission to build secret radar bases
Despite its neutrality 43000 people from Eire joined the
British army and de Valera made no effort to intervene