Ireland and the Home Rule question have influenced the course of European - and world - history at so many points in those few decades, it's fascinating. So many "what if"s - what if the Liberals hadn't lost power for a generation (and such a crucial generation) in Britain due to the failure of the Second Home Rule Bill, what if Parnell hadn't been politically ruined by his romance with a fellow MP's wife, and so on. And that's all even before the turn of the 20th century, without counting the effects of the Easter Rising - or the effects, as in this book, of their *not* rising prior to that. And then there's the effects on North-American history, with the Fenian Brotherhood playing its role in the genesis of the Canadian state and all that.

As I think I've mentioned before, I'm inclined to agree with you on the point that perhaps Germany winning the war rapidly would have been better. Britain declaring war to protect Belgium's neutrality as they'd sworn was all very noble, but perhaps they shouldn't have. Then again, France might've grown still more aggressive and frustrated after yet another defeat - and the Balkan would've gone up in cinders again a couple times one way or another.