The Wolfe Tones

Nonsense. If Russia hadn’t gotten involved, we’d live in a very different world now. The Allies would judge been routed in WW2

So you admit the British Army were welcomed by the Catholic community.

The notion the Provos weren't defeated reminds me of that Monty Python "let's call it a draw" sketch.

The Provos failed and failed utterly. Their aim was a united Ireland by force. They never advanced that aim one iota.

The notion they weren't defeated is laughable.

The bizarre thing about the Troubles is the outcome at the end of it all - the Good Friday Agreement - was a comprehensive victory for Unionism, yet the Unionists like to delude themselves into thinking they lost, whereas it's the opposite on the Provo side - they lost and lost big but delude themselves into thinking they won.

Delusion is a terrible thing.

The Western Allies would won anyway, it just would have taken a bit longer. America's firepower was so overwhelming it would have crushed the Nazis. Stalin himself admitted that without American aid the Soviets (you seem determined to erase the role of the other Soviet republics besides Russia) would have lost.

In 1940 alone - when the UK and commonwealth were up to their neck fighting Nazism - The Soviet Union rapidly became Germany’s main source of imported animal feed ( Germany, contrary to popular belief, relied heavily on horses etc for transportation). In 1940 the Soviet Union also supplied Germany with 74 per cent of its phosphates needs, 67 per cent of its asbestos imports, 65 per cent of its chromium supplies, 55 per cent of its manganese, 40 per cent of its nickel imports and 34 per cent of its imported oil.

Of course, a few years later, convoys were going from the UK to Russia, with aid to fight the Nazis. In the period from 1st October, 1941, to 31st March, 1946, the UK supplied to the Soviet Union 5,218 tanks, of which 1,388 were from Canada. The UK supplied 7,411 aircraft, including 3,129 aircraft sent from the United States of America. As previously explained on the 10th May, 1944, the aircraft from the United States of America were sent on United States Lend Lease to the Soviet Union as part of the British commitment to the U.S.S.R. in exchange for the supply of British aircraft to United States Forces in the European Theatre. The UK also sent about £120 million ( a fortune in them days) of raw materials, foodstuffs, machinery, industrial plant, medical supplies and hospital equipment

You're going to have a bit of wait for that demographic to reach 0%.

Not sure where you get your history, possibly from youth Fine Gael.

The IRA were finished. They barely had any numbers. It was over. Then the UVF decided to start a bombing campaign and killed innocent Nationalists from 1966. Many Unionists were unhappy with Nationalists receiving equal rights and wanted to quash any campaign for it. We know of the police force violently opposing peaceful demonstrations, loyalist mobs started burning Nationalists out of their homes. Northern Nationalists were isolated and received no support from the South. They also received very little support from the Southern IRA. You may be aware of the I Ran Away graffiti.

Into the breach emerged the PIRA and we should be all grateful that they did. They defended their communities. Many died or spent years in prison for doing so. We all know that some did some horrible things but we have to remember that they had the local police force beating and murdering Nationalists, loyalist mobs saying any Catholic will do in their murder campaign, the British armed forces which were meant to restore peace started shooting innocents dead on our streets. Under this sort of sustained attack and with very little outside support, the PIRA fought bravely and stuck with targeting active participants for the huge majority of their operations.

The opposite was true for the British side. Why the PIRA are being criticised for fighting against tyranny while the British side are receiving praise is down to a media campaign lasting decades and partitionists trying to rewrite history. Gladly more people are seeing through this. Many of the young people going to the Wolf Tones also see through the revisionism. The PIRA are heroes to many and rightfully so.

I'm in my late 50's so lived through the section 31 era in the South. I'm not entirely sure what your point is here. Are you saying that if Section 31 hadn't existed, there would have been much more, open, active support for the Provo's campaign in the South? If so, it's a fallacy. Section 31 as I recall it was more of a token gesture than anything else - you could still hear Gerry Adams and co. being interviewed on TV but with the ludicrous charade of having an actor dubbing his words. Anyone seriously interested in what was going on could easily find out by reading a good enough spread of media coverage from multiple sources, both "official" and unoffical independent coverage, interviews and of course following the dally litany of atrocities on both sides. The existence of Section 31 didn't turn me against "the armed struggle". It was the endless atrocities and the feeble apologies of "oh sorry we made another mistake but it's really the Brit's fault because if they weren't here there'd be no armed struggle etc. etc. ad nauseum."

Absolute gibberish, just like everything else you've posted in this thread.

Lend Lease accounted for just 15% of all the items the Russians used (that's a generous assessment) and it's main impact was only felt in 1944 during Bagration. By that stage there was only going to be one outcome in WWII.

However, the Russians won all their major battles against the Germans in previous years using their own equipment primarily. The Russians stopped the Germans at Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk using Russian made material, first and foremost.

80% of the Wehrmacht was destroyed on the Eastern Front.

Lend Lease may have helped shorten the war, but it absolutely did not win it.

It was boots on the ground that also helped the Russians. The British sent 15,000,000 pairs of boots to the USSR. The Russians quite liked these, mainly because they kept their feet relatively warm. It was not just the airplanes etc the British sent the Russians which helped win the war. There were some Irishmen on those Artic convoys, brave men they were, more than a few perished.

The major thing Britain managed to do in 1940 and 41 was survive. But the simple fact is that the Germans were never going to be able to get across the Channel to actually invade. They had no way of doing this. The best the Germans could hope for was for Britain to withdraw from the the war, so they could get on with their real war aim which was to tackle Russia. Russia was the be all end all of Hitler's war.

Churchill knew that Sealion was a bluff and that Germany could never get across to make a landing. They just didn't have the maritime vehicles to do it. The Rhine river barges lined up on the French coast were for propaganda purposes and none of them were in any way sea worthy. If the Germans had even tried to use them to cross the Channel they would have floundered before they'd gotten a quarter of the way. And if by some miracle any of them actually made it to the south coast of England they would have been destroyed on the beaches.

Britain's contribution in the first years of the war helped Britain primarily. It's impact for the rest of Europe was pretty negligible.

Arguably the greatest impact British forces had was in North Africa and the Atlantic, where she tied up some Italian and German during the years 1940 to 41. But these were essentially side shows compared to what was going to happen on the continent.

Revisionist crap. The PIRA only came into existence because of loyalist attacks on innocent Nationalists and the assault on innocent protesters by the police force. Their numbers were still small until the British armed forces began their campaign of beating, harassing and murdering innocent Nationalists. You're spitting on the graves on all those who were murdered by the British side in the war with your lies and revisionism.

"I don't care". Sums you up, really.

And silly, ahistorical, nonsense sums you up. 😉

Will you leave the country when we vote in people like Maurice Quinlivan as minister for defence and Gerry Adams as president?

The likes of yourself, Joe Duffy, Fintan O'Toole and others are merely feeding into the SF momentum

Google “Kitson Kenya” -

that war criminal was sent by the British to “sort out” the Irish, yet we are expected to believe the British army were peacekeepers

Why are you asking me to leave the country? Seems a bit threatening? Old habits die hard I suppose given that people who stood up to the Provos were frequently "asked" to leave their communities - if they were lucky.

Gerry Adams protected paedophiles. Do you think it would be "hilarious" if people object to having a president who protected paedophiles?

Absolute scumbag of the highest order he was. But of course, he was highly decorated and lauded amongst the British establishment.

Unfortunately the fellas haven’t a note in their heads, the footage of them at EP confirms…lots of mistakes…and off key warbling….

so whatever about the appropriateness of them being there, the round about historical arguments about this that and the other.

whatever the Wolfe Tones ‘had’ …..they quite plainly haven’t got it now… so the eejits at EP should have been a bit more discerning as regards that choice of band.

I don’t think people realise how bad it was for the Irish in NI.

No vote if you didn’t own your house, no jobs if you were Catholic so no chance of buying one. I’m sure if FFG tried to bring that rule in now the same posters would cheer lead it.

or expect those without deeds to just push for peaceful means of representation.

Actually 2,500,000 ( two and a half million ) Indians fought in ww2 with the British, not against them, and would disagree with you. I suppose if you could get away with it, you would be telling people the British were killing hun dreds of thousands in Ireland during ww2 too. It was the other way round. Nearly 100,000 Irish people helped the British war effort. All of whom were fairly treated. DeValera and his Irish government executed a few IRA prisoners in cold blood, and there was no outcry.

The Irish played an extensive role in the occupation of India, You're obviously not very self aware so it's obviously not entered your mind that you yourself are comparing the Irish to the Nazis.

Of course the notion that British occupation of India was comparable to what the Nazis did is arrant nonsense and you provide no supporting information. Colonial occupation of any kind is bad enough without people resorting to bogus, bad faith comparisons to the most abominable regime in history - a regime which such Irish nationalist heroes as Sean Russell and Dan Breen were open supporters of, incidentally.

That's a disgusting post. You're using the fact that many Indians and Irish were living in poverty so joined the British army to try to excuse the mass murders committed by Britain in those countries. Millions were starved to death during the Bengal 'famine'. A tactic used by Britain for centuries as we know. In fact, the Nazis aped this tactic and it was proposed as a superior method than what they were using.

Rubbish. 2.5 million Indians and hundreds of thousands of Irish people volunteered to fight with the British last century, not against them. They were treated fairly. Certainly a lot fairer than the IRA man Sean Russell and the Nazis treated their victims. Incidentally, to halfway get back on topic, do you think the crowd seeing the W. Tones  at E.P. would even have known DeValera and his Irish government executed a few IRA prisoners in cold blood, and that there was no outcry?

Wolfe Tones attracts the same type of people as those across the water that goes on about WWII and Germany.

Same mentality, same nonsense, same idiots.

At least they take the piss out of it.