Position:Home>History> Irish in World War one?

Back then the whole of Ireland was still occupied by Britain, many native Irish Catholics seen the fight against tyranny as a noble cause and accepted the foreign kings shilling to fight in a war that had nothing to do with them!. You have to know back then the native Irish were treated like dog shi't!. No right to vote or education and denied the right to work so a lot of native Irish used the war as a way to get weapons, and speaking as a native Irishman myself i consider anybody that was an Irish Catholic that joined the British army a "soupy"!. Then you had many non native Irish form their own regiment the "UVF" Ulster volunteer force which became the embryonic form of all Irish terrorism they had one loyalty and that was to the British crown, then there was the inniskillen rifles and the the 38 ulster rifles who absolutely hated Catholics whereas the native Catholics who joined up tended to stick to their own Irish regiments!. Our history in world war One and indeed WW2 is renowned the world over but its a bit of our history that should remain forgotten!. We've fought everybody else's battles but our own!. Thats why i'm writing this in English!Www@QuestionHome@Com

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At that time, the whole of Ireland was part of the UK and so was at war to the same extent of the rest of the UK, suffering similar tragic loss of life!.

There was some resentment of this involvement, which increased the push towards breaking away from the UK!.

The Irish involvement is covered in most significant books relating to WW1!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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At that time Ireland was part of the UK and Irishmen were recruited into the army on the same basis as any other British subject!.

When conscription started, it was not enforced in Ireland because the Irish were regarded as being politically unreliable!. While volunteers were welcome and many served (including my own grandfather) the authorities could not risk importing disaffection into the ranks!.

The Germans, like Napoleon before them and Hitler in the 2WW, tried to use the Irish problem to stir up trouble in the rear of the British army!. Not only did they support the 1916 rising but they also sent Irish propagandists round the prison camps in Germany to try to recruit men to act as agents!. Since all the Irish there had been volunteers and most were pro-British, they did not have much luck; they would certainly have had more had the Irish been conscripted and had the Irish prisoners been a cross-section of the population, as the English and Scottish ones were!.

Hope this helps!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Ah, you want to read up on the Ulster Rifles!. It ties up a lot of loose ends relating to the UVF and Unionist opposition to the Home Rule Bill!. All very interesting stuff and the formation of the Ulster Rifles solved a big problem for the UK government of the day!.

Here's a taster for you -

In Ireland, a unique situation existed!. This summary is from Ray Westlake’s “Kitchener’s Army”:

“It took several weeks after war was declared that permission to form an Ulster Division was granted!. The Ulster Volunteer Force, a Protestant organisation created by Sir Edward Carson as a force to counter the threat of the Home Rule Bill, was already in existence and its members were as eager as any to join the war!. However, due to the political situation in Ireland, things were held up!. Many volunteers refused to wait and either crossed to England or Scotland to enlist, or joined the 10th or 16th Divisions already being formed by the War Office in Ireland!.

With over 80,000 members, it was clear that the UVF was in a position to make an important contribution to the recruitment of the New Armies!. Lord Kitchener met with Sir Edward Carson in London who, although eager to help was concerned at how the situation in Ireland might turn while his force was away at war!. The Government were not able to give any guarantees that might put Sir Edward’s mind at rest!. However, he later agreed to raise a Division, without any conditions, and within days had placed an order for 10,000 uniforms with a London firm of outfitters!.”

The UVF was not only organised, but trained to some extent as a military force, and had been armed!. It was therefore considerably more advanced as a formed body of men than the similar formations of the New Armies now being created elsewhere"!.

These battalions were clothed and administered by their raisers in the same way as the locally raised New Army battalions in Great Britain, although the UVF was at a high state of readiness in August 1914 as a result of heightened tensions in connection with the Home Rule debate that had occurred earlier in the year!.

Www@QuestionHome@Com

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In 1916 we declared ourselves an independent republic!. The English in accordance with their Sterling and valiant defence of the right of small nations such as Belgium to be free promptly marched against us in overwhelming force and blew seven bales of crap out of Dublin!. Later they murdered the surviving leaders of the rebellion except De Valera (after all they needed America to win their war for them)and conscripted as many of the rebels as possible to fight in the war against Germany!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

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They fought and died besides us and at that time we were Lucky and proud to have them read, the book they were not dividedWww@QuestionHome@Com

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Ireland was part of the UK at that timeWww@QuestionHome@Com

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