At the outbreak of WWI, thousands of Nationalists and Unionists answered the call to serve – each motivated by very different visions of their nation’s future
Ireland’s contribution during the First World War was substantial, and in many ways remarkable given the political divide on the island. Around 50,000 Irishmen were already serving or reser vists in regular regiments in 1914 and a further 160,000 volunteered after war broke out.
Around 35,000 of these men died, and nowhere was the sacrifice more severe than on the Somme in 1916, where 2,000 men from the 36th (Ulster) Division were killed on the first day alone, with another 3,500 wounded. Two further days of fighting, in September, saw 1,200 men from the 16th (Irish) Division die, with 2,400 wounded.
These two units have dominated the narrative of the Irish in the First World War, but the story is far more complex, as was the attitude of the civilians back home. On the 50th anniversar y of the Easter Rising, in 1966, Irish Taoiseach Sean Lemass (a veteran of the Rising himself) commented that: “In later years it was common – and I was also guilty in this respect – to question the motives of those who joined the new British armies at the outbreak of the war, but it must in their honour and in fairness to their memory, be said, that they were motivated by the highest purpose.”
The motivations of those who joined the British Army are fascinating to consider, especially as men from both sides of the Irish political divide were also willing to contemplate fighting against that army. Each faction saw the war as an opportunity to further its cause, even though the causes were directly opposed to each other.
The (Third) Home Rule Bill of April 1912 promised a devolved government for Ireland, prompting angry denouncement from the Unionist population. Already divided ideologically, Ireland moved a step closer to armed confrontation with the bill. In Ulster, Unionists organised themselves into the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), which quickly grew to around 90,000 in number – well-organised along British Army lines.
In response, Nationalists set up the Irish Volunteer Force, more numerous (around 190,000) but perhaps less well- organised than their Unionist counterpar ts. Civil war appeared a very real possibility and, ironically, the Ulster Volunteers were ready to fight against the British Army if Britain attempted to force home rule upon the country. With the atmosphere volatile, army officers at the Curragh base of the 3rd Cavalr y Brigade refused to take part in a militar y operation against the UVF in March 1914. The outbreak of war temporarily shelved both the Home Rule Bill and the developing political tensions, but the problem was not about to go away.
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