[Reaganwuzthebest]

Ireland was quite hopeful of Germany at least beating England into a position in which they could not overcome a mauser armed IRA.

The government of Ireland at the time was highly nationalistic, and hated Britain for historical injustices inflicted on the Irish.

Ireland actually supported Germany in the beginning for historical reasons, so I'm not sure if our forces would have been welcomed there initially, but what could they do about it? And most likely we would have gone to Northern Ireland anyway, still in Britain's control. Hitler wouldn't have had time to get in there, his hands would have been too full in Britain.

[Poohbah]

We would've simply have based our troops in Ulster.

[AveMaria]

>>>>Ireland actually supported Germany in the beginning for historical reasons, so I'm not sure if our forces would have been welcomed there initially<<<<

It is also important to remember that Hitler's narrow mindedness caused him to be defeated in his invasion of the USSR. Stalin was very strongly hated by many Russians, and by many residents of the former Soviet Republics, who did not want to be part of the USSR.

If Hitler had taken advantage of the ethnic divisions of the USSR, he could have armed anti-Stalin forces in the various Republics, and turned them against Stalin's forces. But Hitler's racist contempt, especially of the Asiatic and Muslim sectors of the USSR, caused the nationalists of those states to feel that they were better off with Stalin - the devil they knew.