2007-03-12 18:12:01 · 2 answers · asked by james B 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The Republic of Ireland was officially neutral in World War II, but about 50,000 Irish nationals volunteered for the war effort as soldiers in the British Army. Since then Ireland has maintained a small army for home defense, but because of its isolated geography and the relative internal peace in Western Europe since World War II, it has never required the services of its army.
Northern Ireland, still being part of the UK, has of course participated in every military action in which the UK has participated.
2007-03-12 18:32:53 · answer #1 · answered by nbsandiego 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not that I can think of, no. They were on the side of the British during WWI but that was because they didn't have an independent foreign policy at that time, not being a separate dominion yet. When WWII rolled around, they maintained neutrality though thousands of Irish men volunteered, Allied fliers who crashed over Ireland were not interned, and the Irish weather services cooperated with the British (very helpful when finding a window of good weather for the Normandy invasions).
2007-03-13 01:19:59 · answer #2 · answered by bdunn91 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋