Chapter 554: Public Opinion Diplomacy (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!) )

How can we quickly reverse the disadvantage of the British during the Irish War? It is important to hold on to the assassinations and attacks of the British by the Irish, as well as the number of casualties in various events.

In addition, it whitewashes the various bad deeds of Britain in Irish rule, publicizes the good side of Britain in Ireland, and strives to brainwash some neutral Irish people and divide the entire Irish class.

At present, the IRA is still relatively scattered, and as long as it can be divided, it is relatively simple to deal with.

Of course, the corresponding public opinion work was still left to the professionals, and Arthur only set a goal and at the same time expressed his support for the British.

While this may offend some Irish immigrants in Australasia, the number of Irish immigrants is not large compared to the total number of Irish immigrants in Australasia, and it will not affect the stability of Australasia.

What's more, this can be exchanged for more British favor, which is much more important than the Irish's favor.

Even if Ireland were to become independent from Britain at this time, it would be far less powerful than the second-strongest countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium.

It is not cost-effective to offend Britain for such a country, let alone the era of the empire on which the sun never sets.

At the end of March 1921, with two wars of independence attracting the world's attention, Arthur made a speech in support of the actions of the British Empire in the Irish War of Independence, and stated that national unity was more important than anything else.

Arthur's support caused an uproar in European society and caused the IRA to publicly express its displeasure.

But the problem is that the IRA has no effect on Australasia, and it is impossible for them to cross the ocean to come to Australasia to make trouble.

Not to mention the strictness of Australasian border and customs inspections on weapons, the importance that Australasia attaches to national stability alone determines that the current IRA is destined to be impossible to affect Australasia.

Arthur's prestige and status in Australasia are not fake, once a foreign force makes trouble in Australasia, he faces a comprehensive encirclement and suppression of the Australasian army.

Unless the IRA can send hundreds of thousands of troops across thousands of miles to fight an all-out war with Australasia, they won't just attack Britain behind their backs.

Arthur and Australasia's public support was a relief to the British government and a great source of gratitude to George V.

But not to completely change the whole diplomatic situation, but at least the British Empire is no longer so weak, and there are already a large number of small countries that have decided to support Britain.

There is no way, the comprehensive strength of Australasia and the British Empire has far surpassed the current France and Russia.

With the support of Australasia, this actually means that most of the world alliance supports the United Kingdom.

When it comes to the two great powers of the world alliance, do the other small countries in the alliance dare not take a stand?

The position and stance of small countries are also a science, and at present, Australasia and the British Empire have the upper hand, and if they do not express their support for Britain, they will inevitably be settled by the British.

The accountability of a top power, which ordinary countries simply cannot afford. If nothing else, even simple economic sanctions and blockades are enough to collapse the economies of these small and medium-sized countries.

Not all countries can be self-sufficient, and if a country wants to achieve comprehensive development, it must be in line with the international community and obtain all kinds of materials that it lacks.

In addition to public support on the diplomatic front, public opinion in Australasia mobilised to publish a great deal of news about Britain and Ireland around the world.

These news are true and false, seven true and three false, and they can also stand up to scrutiny.

If you are not a person who really understands the situation and history of Britain and Ireland, even if you look for information, you will not be able to verify the authenticity of these news.

This is also the most clever part of the influence of public opinion, the news must not be false, it must be half-truth, preferably seven points true and three points false, so that it can also stand scrutiny.

When ordinary people see the seven points of truth, they will naturally subtly believe in those three points of falsehood. Because the public is easily influenced, they are more likely to believe their subtle guesses about things they don't know.

While it is true that the brutal policies of the British in Ireland are true, this cannot stand under the joint whitewashing of the British and Australasian public opinion institutions, in which the responsibility of the British has become less and less.

Of course, in addition to these public opinion actions, the assassination of the main leaders of the IRA was also indispensable.

In particular, the very famous Michael Collins, who was nominally the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Ireland and the intelligence director of the Irish Republican Army, was in fact the leader of the Irish Assassination Group, orchestrating numerous assassinations of the British police and army.

For such a figure, the British government naturally hates it to the core.

Arthur ordered Australasian intelligence officers to assist the British in identifying some of the main leaders of the IRA as soon as possible and assassinating them to destabilize the IRA.

At the same time, the British government also launched a co-optation of the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.

For this part of the Irish Republican Army, which had never clashed with Britain in the War of Independence, it was naturally the most important link in dividing Ireland.

In fact, this part of the Irish still strongly identified with the rule of the British Empire, which is why Northern Ireland remained under British rule after Ireland's independence.

With Australasia's solidarity and support, Britain soon gained a moral advantage, and also received diplomatic support from the World League.

Although the resistance of the IRA was still fierce, it was difficult for a small Ireland to bother the British Empire without international knowledge, and it was a very different situation for Britain and the United States when faced with such a war of independence.

In April 1921, the IRA carried out a terrorist attack in Dublin, resulting in the deaths of 27 British soldiers, 16 British policemen and 33 Irish and British civilians.

The incident was reported by the British media and was relayed to the world.

It was also hailed as a turning point in support for both sides in the Irish War of Independence, with people from around the world witnessing the brutality of the IRA, but also expressing doubts about what the IRA had previously said.

But that wasn't the end of the story, as the fighting of the Irish War of Independence spread to British ports by the Republican Army.

Between the end of April and the beginning of May, the IRA attacked the streets of Glasgow and the docks in Liverpool, causing hundreds of British civilians to be killed or wounded.

Such a terrorist attack has aroused the revulsion of the whole of the United Kingdom, and the British people are urging the government to use force to resolve the crisis as soon as possible.

With unanimous support at home and abroad, the British government is no longer hesitant to do so.

King George V publicly ordered a general assault on the IRA to eliminate this "frightening" evil.

From mid-May, large numbers of British troops were stationed in Ireland, a change from the previous decision not to use military force during the War of Independence.

With a large number of British troops stationed in Ireland, the operations of the IRA in Ireland were also greatly hampered.

Although the total number of registered members of the IRA has long exceeded 100,000, according to the statistics and estimates within the IRA, only 15,000 soldiers have been active in the Irish War of Independence for a long time, and less than 3,000 of them belong to elite, fanatical soldiers, which is obviously difficult to compete with the elite British Empire army.

On May 17, the British government announced the imposition of military control over the whole of Ireland, and said that it would provide all Irish civilians with due food supplies to ensure the food supply of the Irish people under military control.

The Irish were skeptical of the British assurances, but when they actually got their hands on the British supplies, their attitude changed in an instant.

In addition to the Army's actions, the Royal Navy blockaded all of Ireland's ports, ensuring that the Republican Army would no longer launch raids on British ports.

In full force throughout Britain, British forces soon took control of the government of the so-called Republic of Ireland and eliminated several scattered Irish Republican forces.

This is also the biggest crisis of the IRA at the moment, and they are not a single unit, but a group of small armies.

Although in normal times it seems that the IRA is spread almost all over Ireland, the momentum is very huge.

But in such a time of crisis, it is also very difficult to bring together all the soldiers of the Republican Army, at least no one in the current Republican Army can do it.

In order to gain as much support as possible for the whole of Ireland and maintain the unity of the British Empire after the war, George V openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the Black and Brown Legion, which had previously ruled Ireland brutally, and expressed his willingness to give Ireland more power, but definitely not at the cost of dismantling the British Empire.

George V's speeches had a fairly good impact in both England and Ireland, and after receiving supplies from the British Empire, a partially neutral Irish populace was not opposed to British rule.

Coupled with the fact that the king condemned the previous rule of the Black and Brown Legion and promised greater autonomy to Ireland, there were already large numbers of Irish who were no longer hostile to the British government.

While many of the IRA leaders still want to fight, the Irish people who support them do not.

At present, the British Empire needs to deal with the remaining republican army, and the crisis in Ireland can be solved.

Of course, the handling of Ireland after the war was also a problem. It is no longer possible to squeeze the Irish as wildly as before, and Britain must also pay attention to the Irish nation, which is the foundation of British unity.

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(End of chapter)