Comments by "John Brereton" (@johnbrereton5229) on "Why was Ireland Neutral in WW2?" video.

But the true answer is that many Irish men did fight for Britain, despite the official neutrality.
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@yourlocalramen1660 No, despite the Irish government claiming they were neutral, even the British estimated around 42,000 had joined. However, more recent studies have shown it was more like 70,000 and that's from a population of less than 3million. Also many crossed the border and signed up in Northern Ireland so their could be even more. Here is a 2015 study by Steven O'Connor : https://journals.openedition.org/etudesirlandaises/4451?lang=en
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@marlkarx1757 If Britains only motive in fighting was to save their Empire they could have accepted any of the many peace offering from Hitler, but they didn't they fought on alone when all around them fell. So if fact, they sacrificed their Empire to defeat fascism, and ended WW2 weak and in massive debt after fighting for 6 years, not only in Europe but around the globe.
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@Liam Farrell No, Liam wrong on both counts, the majority were patriots who wanted to fight a racist dictatorship, and so joined their kith and kin in the only country fighting them, Great Britain.
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@Liam Farrell Great Britain and its Empire was the only country that fought WW2 from 1939 to 1945, the USA didn't joined them untill 1942. Also GB was never racist or a dictatorship, I'm English but have deep roots in Ireland as do many others, just as many Irish people have deep roots in mainland Britain. In fact the Scots came from Ireland and took over Alba and have run it for far longer than 800yrs. Also GB is a strange sort of 'dictatorship' where everyone has an equal Vote, including the Irish who have freedom of movement and can live in GB if they chose, with full voting rights. This was long before the EU freedom of movement, yet people praise the EU for it and condemn GB ?
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@Liam Farrell How was the Act of Union or indeed penal laws racist ? Every country has penal laws !!!!! And the potatoe famine raged all across Europe including Britain and many people died because of it. However, in such god fearing times all such catastrophes were considered an 'act of god'. My own family members left Ireland for America because of it. Nevertheless, racism exists all over the world, but Britain is one of the least racist countries you could go to. That's why so many Irish people live and work in Britain and many have risen to very high office, including my own.
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@johnwoodley2034 If anyone hasn't a clue it's you! Try to learn real history and not your bigoted myths. The Irish used to raid the west coast of England and Wales for slaves and take them by ship to your slave market in Dublin,where they were sold. You probably dont know about this, because unlike low brows like yourself, the Brits haven't bleated on about it for centuries.
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@johnwoodley2034 Yes of course the Northern Irish fought for the crown, but so did the southern Irish from the republic. The study I posted in one of my comments above this, shows around 70,000 from the Irish republic also fought for the crown, some even deserting the Irish Army to sign up for Britain. In fact the Irish have fought for the British crown for centuries, my great great great Irish grandfather was a Colonel in the British army, as was his brothers, father and uncles, for generations. You can find racism in all countries against any people, but England is the least racist country on the planet. You could also make a sound claim that the Irish are racist against the English, it's just the English had more influence. However, it's better to talk about the far more things we have in common, rather than the few negatives.
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@johnwoodley2034 It's rather disrespectful to call my ancestors 'so called Irish' they were very irish, probably far more than yours were. But they never fought for England, they fought for the British crown which included for Ireland. The only snakes are those who fight for a foreign power against their own people, we call them traitors.
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@johnwoodley2034 Ha, a man with the English name of John Woodley, calls me a fake paddy?????. What a hypocrite you are.
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@marlkarx1757 I sleep serenely and peacefully thanks, though it must be hard for someone called Karl Marx whose ideology is responsible for 100 of millions more deaths than the Nazi's or the Fascists combined.
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@marlkarx1757 Wrong again Karl Marx! And history has shown you have been wrong on most things. Though the ideologies of Nazism and Fascism are both socialist based, they have many differences. Nazism is based on racial purity, Fascism is not. In the pursuit of imposing Nazism millions were sacrificed. Again this is not the case with Facism. The Nazis also purged the arts and philosophy forcing intellectuals to flee abroad while burning books and art that didnt fit their ideology. The Fascist again did not. Nazis discriminated against people based on their religious beliefs, Again the Fascists did not. Therefore, though the two ideologies developed from a growing disinchantment in socialism after WW1, there were enough difference between them to make them distinct and seperate.
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@Liam Farrell Well this was 200 years ago Liam, when we were at war with much of catholic Europe and had just fought of a combined French and Spanish invasion fleet at Trafalgar, but how was religious discrimination racist ? I experienced racism myself in Australia, but I don't hold it against the Aussies. Ireland has been self governing for 100years, plenty of time to promote the Irish language, so ask them why they haven't done it. It's more useful to speak English, it's now a world language arent you lucky to speak it . Do you speak Gaelic? If not, why not, if it's important to you ?
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@johnwoodley2034 You seem to be confusing England with Britain, John Woodley, which is strange seeing as you are obviously an Englishman yourself. The name Woodley is Anglo Saxon and comes from Berkshire, you can't get more English than that. Did your ancestors arrive to colonise Ireland ? Perhaps that's why you know how bad they were, it was you doing it all along !
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@johnwoodley2034 I think what you are trying to say is I am very well educated, and of course you are right, I am. That's why I know your ancestors were Anglo Saxons, not Irish at all, just like many English people are descended from the Irish. We are just all one big happy family on these islands, it's just some people are too ignorant to realise it.
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@johnwoodley2034 Of course it's all made up, just like your so called history, it's all just fake.
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@johnwoodley2034 Yet another fake comment by the fake John Woodley. However, I prefer facts, so it's pointless talking to a fake.
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Officially Ireland was neutral, but in fact many Irishman fought for Britain. Signing up both in the Irish Republic itself but many also crossed the border into Northern Ireland and signing up there.
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@elseggs6504 The US couldn't stop Britain having nuclear weapons, as their nuclear research was very advanced. In fact they helped the US to develop theirs. After WW2 the British were the first country in the world to build nuclear power stations.
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@elseggs6504 That's actually not true. The British were very advanced and developed nuclear fusion in 1940 at the university of Birmingham and were developing their own bomb before the US entered the war in 1942. At this time British atomic bomb making was well advanced and superior to the US effort. However, after the US joined the war effort, the British shelved their development and were instrumental in developing the US atomic bomb from start to finish.
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