Ireland was burning. His Majesty's Royal Navy, as well as most of the colonial empire built over generation of work by Britain's sons, were now property of Germany. The economy was in a sustained freefall, and German conditions within the Treaty of Versailled pointed towards enormous, almost unpayable reparations.
During the first days of 1919, Scottish workers in Glasgow began a protest, which evolved into a riot. The War Cabinet convened in London, deciding to send troops at once, lest the riot become an uprising like those in Germany, Russia, the Ottoman Empire or the Greater Habsburg Empire. On the 31st of January, before Army units had begun moving, the Battle of George Square broke out between protesters and the police; the latter opened fire with small arms, resulting in over 150 dead Scots. Robert Munro, Secretary of Scotland, phoned London describing the battle as a supposed "Bolshevik uprising", prompting the immediate deployment of 20,000 troops and two dozen tanks into the city. Expecting to face off against armed revolutionaries, British troops were quick to open fire on physical threats or attacks, prompting the protesters to begin bombing their positions using mining supplies. By the end of February, over 200 soldiers and 1,200 Scot workers had been killed. News of the event prompted similar uprisings throughout Great Britain, which authorities were unable to contain.
Soon, the Royal Navy mutinied against London's government for it's "grave betrayal of the British spirit" by having promised to hand over most of its ships to the Kaiserliche Marine. The vast majority of the Royal Navy, now a rogue non-state actor, convened at HMNB Devonport; officially to negotiate terms with London, in reality stocking supplies for and coordinating a Grand Exile. In April, an armed communist group seized most of the capital metropolis' key infrastructure, battling out with the Brigade of Guards. Knowing full well of the Romanovs' execution, George V transported much of the House of Windsor towards Devonport to meet up with the fleet that was by law his; they sailed towards Canada on the 5th of May. When the British Army regained control of London, its prominent leaders declared the British monarchy as traitors (George V had ordered British troops to surrender in Britanny, and was heavily involved in negotiating the Treaty of Versailles) and forbid them from returning, thus creating the Republic of Great Britain. Violence would escalate between monarchists, republicans, socialists and national seccesionists, a period known as the British Revolution.
By mid-1922, all factions of the conflict had been either defeated, disarmed or had agreed to an armistice, all bested by the British Army. Under the Treaty of Birmingham, the Republic of Great Britain is recognised as the sole sovereign union of nations in Great Britain; England, Scotland and Wales are its constituents, all with their own parliaments and laws, but under a common constitution and the power of the British Parliament. As a measure to calm the situation, the British parliament recognises the cultural significance of the House of Windsor and the unique contributions of the monarchy to British history, but reaffirms its newfound commitment to republicanism. The General Elections of 1922 are immediately organised, in which Labour results victorious by a large majority. Ramsay MacDonald, an avid and brazen democratic socialist, would consolidate Labour's hold over the British mind through nine years of arduous reconstruction, winning the elections of 1925 and 1929.
Next: British Socialism