Losing Ireland, losing the Empire: Dominion status and the Irish Constitutions of 1922 and 1937

Abstract

The above quote reflects the very real fear in the late 19th and early 20th century within parts of the British establishment that resolving the 'Irish Question' by creating a path - via Home Rule, or otherwise - to independence for Ireland would inevitably lead to calls for independence elsewhere within the British Empire. So it did prove: whether it was truly determinative or not, acceptance of Irish sovereignty - first as a Dominion, then as a republic - did indeed foreshadow the break-up of the Empire, which by the mid-20th century could no longer hold on to many of its territories, weakened by the enormous strain of Britain's participation in two world wars, and run ragged by the diverse anti-colonial rebellions that had engulfed Britain's Asian, African and Caribbean colonies.