Leaving Cert History

1. World War II in Northern Ireland

2. Title: World War II in Northern Ireland
Keywords:
• Lord Craigavon
• Dawson Bates
• Belfast Blitz
• Linen
• Shipbuilding
• Production Trebled
• American Troops
• Welfare State

3. Start of the War
• Lord Craigavon (leader of Northern Ireland)
announced that the North would join the war effort
• He wanted to impose conscription but Nationalist
opposition made this impossible (Churchill backed
not imposing conscription)
• The NI govt imprisoned over 700 IRA men in order to
keep the peace
• The NI Government believed it was too far from
Germany to be bombed
• Few anti-aircraft guns and bomb shelters meant that
Belfast was woefully under prepared for Nazi attack

4. • Northern Ireland was very important for the British
war effort
• Harland & Wolfe shipyard produced 140 warships
• Short’s aircraft factory built 1200 Stirling bombers
• The linen industry boomed making parachutes and
other military items
• Agriculture boomed supplying Food for the war
effort
• Many thousands USA troops and air force
stationed in NI during the war
• It was a prime target for the Nazis
Industry

5. Belfast Blitz
• City extensively bombed in April and May 1941
• Many Nazi bombs missed the industrial targets
(ship yards & factories) and hit residential areas
• Over 900 people died
• Fire ripped through Belfast and water and
communications were cut off (DeValera sent fire engines)
• Many nationalists fled to the south from Belfast
• After this many thousands would leave Belfast each
night and go into the countryside
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmHmCC60y90

6. Northern Irish economy during WWII
• The war saw agricultural & industrial production
boom in contrast to the South
• Agricultural production trebled as NI provided
war-time Britain with food
• The numbers working in industry rose as did
wages
• 38,000 joined the British army (Thus sending back wages)
• The arrival of USA soldiers also improved the NI
economy as these soldiers spent their wages in
Northern pubs and dance halls

7. Results of the war on Northern Ireland
• Closer bond (due to being allies) forged between
Northern Ireland and Britain (This would ensure British support
for Northern Irish policies for the next 20 years)
• Over the next few decades, the North prospered, the
South grew poor
• The British set up the welfare state that gave social
welfare and health benefits (the south did not have
this)
• The British passed the ‘1949 Ireland act’ that
guaranteed Northern Ireland would could not be
reunited with the south without the approval of the
London Parliament
• Gap between North and South was widened (especially
after the declaration of the Republic of Ireland in 1949)