As I'm sure we all know, during the Anglo-Irish treaty negotiations Lloyd George threatened the Irish delegation that unless the treaty was signed on the night of the 5th December 1921, there would be "immediate and terrible war". Well, I've been doing some thinking and despite the fact the British would have upped their game on the IRA, there would've been international intervention. De Valera travelled to America to garner support from the then-President Wilson and the American public, and what I'm suggesting here is that America would've intervened if Britain began waging their immediate and terrible war. And if not America, then surely some other country would've intervened to stop Britain. And when I say "intervene", I don't just mean by force. Oh yes, perhaps politically other countries would be knocking at Britain's door.
Aside from that, I read on a source elsewhere on the web that Lloyd George was prepared to add (I forget how many) British WW1 vets to the Tans roster, yet what he seems to be forgetting is that the Tans and Auxies respectively were only experienced in trench warfare. When it came to guerrilla warfare, they didn't have a clue. But that's a moot point anyway, the IRA were dangerously low on arms and ammunition. They wouldn't be able to last another year against British pressure (not to mention the sheer numbers fighting against them). In fact, the RAF were preparing planes for strafing runs against the flying columns, and following Bloody Sunday, British intelligence were getting their act together as well. I don't know about you lot, but what I'm sure of is that even if we did wait until after the Second World War, even before the Rising and the War of Independence, we wouldn't have been able to hold out. What say you on this matter?