The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931

by Adam Tooze

actually held the balance of power in the House of Commons. Though undeniably a territory of colonial settlement, indeed the origin of British colonialism, Ireland, unlike the rest of the empire, had an integral place in the constitution of the United Kingdom. At Westminster, it was spectacularly over-represented. Of the 670 MPs returned in the last pre-war election, 103 were elected by Irish constituencies, of whom 84 were members of the moderate nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party led by John Redmond.22 But any move to Home Rule would provoke violent resistance from the Protestant community that held a solid majority in Ulster, Ireland’s Northern province, and who were fiercely committed to remaining under the direct rule of London.