Ireland

Ireland is an island west of Britain. It was ruled by the British (and the English before them) for many centuries, a situation the Irish constantly resisted.

Ireland in Ruled Britannia
When England was conquered by Spain in 1588, Ireland was liberated. The Irish had steadfastly remained Catholic despite the persecutions of that religion by the Protestant King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth. Because of this, the Irish fared well under the militantly Catholic Hapsburg empire.

The Irish were invited to send troops to help occupy England and enforce the rule of Queen Isabella and King Albert. Irish troops were known for their brutality in their enforcement of the Spanish order, no doubt as revenge for the oppressive rule of the English to which they had been subjected.

When Isabella and Albert were expelled from England in 1598, and Elizabeth was returned to the throne, English plans were drawn up to conquer and occupy Ireland almost immediately.

Ireland in Southern Victory
During the Great War the Irish rose up in an attempt to expel the hated British from their land, led by General Michael Collins. The uprising was heavily supported by both the United States and Germany, who had recognized the free and independent Republic of Eire by 1916. At the end of the war, defeated Entente powers were forced to grant diplomatic recognition to the Republic. The United Kingdom nonetheless clandestinely supported the Protestant loyalists in an early 1920s rebellion against the new Republic. This was defeated with the help of both the US Navy -- in the form of the USS Remembrance shelling and bombing Belfast -- and the German Fleet.

At the beginning of the Second Great War the British invaded and occupied Ireland. The Irish immediately rose up and began a spirited underground campaign against their hated enemy. They were once again supported in their campaign by the Germans, but not by the United States until 1943, when the American Navy started to supply guns and ammunition to the Irish Rebels as they had in 1916.