Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 546 The Collapse of the Irish Situation

If the successful American occupation of Cuba and the Bahamas was a major blow to Britain, then Britain's crushing defeat in the Irish War of Independence was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

As mentioned before, the border between the Republic of Ireland and British Ireland had been pushed back to the vicinity of Ulster, which is the area surrounding what would later become British Northern Ireland.

With most of Ireland under the control of the Republic of Ireland, it is clear how Ireland and Great Britain fared in the Irish War of Independence.

However, the British government was not giving up. On the one hand, the Irish War of Independence could be described as a one-sided contest between Britain and Ireland.

In reality, not many Spanish and French troops were involved in the war; Britain was mainly fighting against the Irish Republican Army, organized by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and these people were all Irish.

The near defeat of the British army by the Irish independence forces was a huge humiliation for the British government, and the reason why the British government never wanted the Irish War of Independence to end.

The British government had hoped that by deploying more and more elite troops to Ireland, it would be able to effectively change the course of the Irish War of Independence, or at least prevent the loss of existing territory.

To the British government's surprise, sending more troops to Ireland not only failed to change the course of the Irish War of Independence, but also accelerated the collapse of the British army in Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland today is no longer the fledgling regime it once was, but a legitimate government with the support of the vast majority of Irish people and the recognition of the Allied Powers.

With the help of Spain and France, the army of the Republic of Ireland has maintained a strength of over 20 men, all of whom are well-equipped regular troops armed with Spanish or French rifles and equipped with a large number of machine guns and artillery.

Although the British army was no less well-equipped, the Irish army was bolstered by the morale of defending their homeland, and the Irish people generally harbored hatred towards the British, so they fought very hard.

But the British army is different. Britain's conscription system is relatively backward compared to other European countries, and its current domestic mobilization strategy is a combination of coercion and enticement.

On the one hand, appropriately increasing soldiers' salaries and subsidies will attract more people to actively and proactively enlist in the army.

On the other hand, it requires governments at all levels to urge people to join the army, and even to force people to join the army if necessary.

While this did mobilize a considerable number of troops, the cost was that the fighting spirit and morale of these troops were not very stable.

The Irish and British armies clashed fiercely in the Caven and Monaghan regions of northern Ireland. Although both sides had their share of victories and defeats, the Irish army held the upper hand for most of the time.

The Irish were eager to unify the country, and even the fierce resistance from the British army could not change the enormous disadvantage on the front lines.

In an effort to salvage the situation in Ireland, the British government, after deliberation, ultimately decided to forcibly land in Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland.

Dublin is located in Leinster, Ireland. It is a major city in eastern Ireland and the administrative center of Ireland.

After the Irish Republican Brotherhood occupied Dublin, the organization led by Patrick Henry Pearce moved the capital of Ireland there and, with the help of Spain and France, improved the various departments of the Republic of Ireland and established a formal administrative system.

From the British government's perspective, even if Ireland had the strength to maintain more than 20 troops on the front lines, it would be impossible to have many troops in the rear to continue defending the capital.

If the British army can force a landing and capture Dublin under the cover of the navy, even if they cannot capture the top government officials of the Republic of Ireland, they can force the Republic of Ireland to relocate its capital, thereby damaging the morale and fighting spirit of the Irish army.

More importantly, Dublin was located to the south of the front lines. Once the British army captured Dublin, they could easily continue north to outflank the Irish army from the rear.

Once the British army completes its encirclement and attacks the 20 Irish troops from both sides, it could very well end the Irish War of Independence.

The British government had a good plan, and they did indeed launch a landing in Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland, just as they had anticipated.

To the British government's surprise, the Republic of Ireland deployed nearly 10 troops in its capital.

Where did these troops come from? The answer is support from Spain and France.

Although Spain never sent troops to support Ireland, Carlo was still quite concerned about the Irish War of Independence.

Upon learning that the United States had declared war on Britain, Carlo immediately realized that the time for a decisive battle with Britain had arrived.

In any case, Ireland would have to secede from Britain after the war ended.

This also means that the Irish War of Independence must be won, and won decisively.

To ensure that the Republic of Ireland would not encounter any problems, Carlos specifically instructed the Spanish government to contact the French side, and both sides dispatched tens of thousands of troops to Ireland to assist Ireland in the war.

Because these troops arrived along with the weapons and equipment being transported to Ireland, the British did not notice that Ireland was receiving support from Spanish and French troops.

This also led to the British army being met with a crushing blow from Spanish and French forces when they landed in Dublin, the capital of Ireland.

Although the British army launched a fierce attack on Dublin, and even the British fleet supported the landing British troops, the Spanish and French were not to be underestimated either, and they also deployed their navies to provide support.

The end result was that Britain had to abandon the landing plan and leave tens of thousands of British soldiers dead on the coast of Dublin.

After successfully repelling the British raid on Ireland, the Spanish and French armies continued their northward advance, determined to drive the British army back to Britain and out of Ireland in one fell swoop.

Because the main Irish and British forces were all along the line from Cavan to Monaghan, the Spanish and French armies did not choose to go to the front lines. Instead, they moved north along the coast, passed through Meath and entered County Louth, launching a surprise attack on Antrim, a city in northern Ireland.

Of the several Irish counties under British control, Antrim was a crucial rear base and a central hub for British supplies. If the Spanish army captured Antrim, it would not only mean that the rear of hundreds of thousands of British troops on the front lines would be outflanked, but it would also signify that Britain had lost its core territory in Ireland.

The Spanish army took this flanking maneuver very seriously. To better conceal their intentions, the French army would launch an attack on Monaghan in Meuse, with a small contingent of Spanish troops also cooperating with the French, creating the illusion that both French and Spanish forces were present in Meuse.

Subsequently, the combined force, consisting mostly of Spanish troops and a small number of French troops, will continue northward in a highly secretive manner, aiming to cut off the British army's retreat in one fell swoop.

To avoid arousing the suspicion of the British army, the attack plan was unknown not only to the high command of the Spanish army and a small number of high-ranking French officers, but also to the Irish.

While the British army's attention was drawn to the Irish troops at the front and the emerging French forces, the Spanish army had quietly arrived in County Louth and successfully crossed County Armagh in the north, with its advance aimed directly at Antrim in northern Ireland.

By the time the British troops at the front received the news, the Spanish army had already launched a fierce attack on Antrim.

Although tens of thousands of wounded British troops are resting here, most of these troops are riddled with injuries and it will be difficult for them to form an effective fighting force in a short period of time.

On the other hand, although the Spanish army had marched a long way to get here, the distance was not too far, and the soldiers were not too tired.

Furthermore, being a surprise attack, the British army was completely unprepared and hastily captured Antrim, a city in northern Ireland, by the Spanish army.

The fall of County Antrim was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for the British government. If the fall of Antrim was not handled properly, Britain would completely lose its last foothold in Ireland, and the British army would become prey for the Spanish army, either becoming prisoners of war or dying on the battlefield.

Such a tragic outcome was absolutely unacceptable to the British government. In order to save hundreds of thousands of troops at the front, the British government ordered the troops on the Irish front to abandon the front and immediately advance towards County Donegal.

County Donegal is located in the far north of Ireland, separated from County Antrim by County Derry and County Tyron. It has not yet been targeted by the Spanish army.

If the British army had retreated quickly enough, it would have been entirely possible to withdraw from the Irish battlefield before the Irish and French forces in the south and the Spanish forces in the north could have formed an encirclement.

Saving the hundreds of thousands of British troops on the Irish battlefield is the British government's top priority. As for what to do about the Irish War of Independence after these troops withdraw, the British government no longer has time to consider that.

To win the Irish War of Independence, the British sent troops to Ireland mostly elite troops mobilized from their homeland.

In other words, these soldiers were all British. The trouble caused by the capture of hundreds of thousands of British soldiers was something the British government couldn't even imagine, which is why the British government was willing to give up Ireland to save these troops.

After receiving the evacuation order from the British government, the British army disregarded the front lines and hastily began its withdrawal.

However, because a small number of high-ranking French troops had already learned of Spain's plan to outflank them, the French army immediately launched an attack when they learned that the British troops at the front were hastily withdrawing, and relentlessly pursued and attacked the retreating British troops.

In addition to pursuing these British troops, the French army also contacted the Irish army, hoping to obtain their cooperation.

Ireland, of course, had no objection and joined forces with the French army to pursue the retreating British troops relentlessly.

The British troops' withdrawal was originally quite orderly, with no chaos or abandonment of comrades between units.

However, with the French and Irish armies launching a pursuit, even the few commanders who wanted to control the situation on the battlefield were completely helpless.

With pursuers closing in, the soldiers' retreat became increasingly chaotic. What was initially a well-organized evacuation turned into a rout, with large numbers of British troops unable to escape and surrounded by Irish and French forces.

This situation was something the British government had never anticipated, but at this point, the British government couldn't afford to worry about that anymore.

The good news is that nearly 100,000 British troops have successfully evacuated to Donegalshire. The British government's biggest priority now is to secure the safety of these 100,000 troops who have already been evacuated.

As for the majority of British troops who have not yet completed their withdrawal, given the current situation on the battlefield, we can only wish them good luck.

If they are lucky enough to successfully evacuate to Donegalshire, the British army will be able to provide support.

But if they were besieged by Irish and French troops in County Cavan and County Furmana, then the British government and the British troops who had already withdrawn would have no reason to blame, because at that point no one could save them.

There is a question here: after learning that the Spanish had occupied Antrim, why didn't the British army turn back to counterattack the Spanish army, recapture Antrim, and destroy the Spanish army?

The British army had tried to do this before, but they were quickly routed by the Spanish army's formidable fighting power.

The Spanish army sent to Ireland numbered only tens of thousands, roughly equivalent to a corps. However, these Spanish troops were elite soldiers handpicked from the Western Front, and having been tempered by the World Wars, they were undoubtedly a battle-hardened force.

Although the British troops sent to Ireland were also native troops, these troops were hastily mobilized and, apart from the Irish War of Independence, had not experienced any large-scale, regular battles.

This led to the British troops having no reasonable assessment of the Spanish army's fighting strength. They originally thought that the Spanish army's fighting strength was at most the same as the Irish army, but they did not expect to suffer heavy losses against the Spanish army so soon.

The Spanish army not only easily defeated the British troops who came to reinforce County Antrim, but also, with the help of the local Irish, essentially occupied the entire County Antrim.

Seeing that they could not retake County Antrim, the British army contacted the government and devised a withdrawal plan to County Donegal.

The British government hadn't anticipated that a single evacuation order would cause the frontline troops to collapse. Ultimately, the British army was a hastily mobilized and trained force, and in this critical moment when they could be completely surrounded by French and Irish forces at any moment, these recruits truly lacked experience.

(End of this chapter)