“Irishmen have two duties. One is to defend, at all costs,
Ireland from any foreign invasion. Secondly, to prove how
courageous Irishmen have always been in battle.
I am encouraged to see around me so many men who would
make good soldiers. I say to you – Go on drilling and get ready
for whatever you are called to do in defence of right, freedom
and religion in this war.
(Adapted from John Redmond’s speech to the Irish Volunteers at
Woodenbrigde, 20th September 1914.)
However, not all Irish Nationalists agreed with Redmond. While most of the volunteers supported Redmond, about 10,000 broke away after the Woodenbridge speech and formed a new group under Eoin Mac Neil. This group kept the name Irish Volunteers, while Redmond’s much larger group became known as the National Volunteers. Many of these National Volunteers joined the British Army. At first Redmond was shocked by the formation of the new Irish Volunteers. Although the Volunteers still supported Home Rule, it was clear that many of them thought Redmond had become too moderate. More and more people joined the Irish Volunteers. The new force contained members of the old Fenian group. The Fenians were now called the Irish Republican Brotherhood and many leading IRB figures had joined the Irish Volunteers on its formation. These men, who operated secretly within the Irish Volunteers, hoped to use the new force to gain something much more than Home Rule from the British. They wanted the complete separation of Ireland from Britain, and they were prepared to fight for it.
Redmond hoped that the two Irish divisions of the British Army, the 10th and the 16th, which were mostly Nationalist and Catholic, would be joined together in a separate Irish Brigade. Although Asquith supported this, it did not happen, because the War Office, which organized things like this, didn’t favour the Irish Nationalists as much as the Ulster Unionists. But this did not stop thousands of Irishmen joining the British Army.
b. Ulster Unionists—
Edward Carson was the speaker on the Unionist side. He set out to use Ulster to block Home Rule. Carson had become Unionist leader in 1910. In one way Carson was a strange choice to lead Ulstermen, because he was a Southern Unionist from Dublin and his home was in London. However, Carson was a brilliant public speaker and a very clever leader. The first chance most Ulster Unionists got to hear Carson was in September 1911 when he spoke to 50,000 Orangemen gathered at Craigavon, James Craig’s home outside Belfast.
James Craig was a perfect deputy for Carson. Craig was quiet, solid and reliable, and he was a terrific organizer. He used his talents to organise a number of mass protest meetings. Even though the two men were different they both lead the Ulster Unionist stand against Home Rule.
When the Third Home Rule was discussed in parliament, nearly every Unionist speaker raised the question of Ulster. They claimed that there were two different sets of people in Ireland. Not only were there two religions, there were two races or even two nations in the country. For the Unionists it followed that if Ireland was to be given Home Rule, then Ulster should also receive special treatment for Ulster, but to use Ulster opposition to force the Liberal government to drop Home Rule altogether. Fighting in World War 1 was important for Unionism because they wanted to show that they are loyal, In return, they expected the British government to allow most of Ulster to remain outside of the Home Rule arrangements for Ireland when the war was finally over. The British military leader, Lord Kitcher, was glad to have Ulster Unionists in the army but he wanted them to join existing regiments. Carson (who,with Craig, was in the War Office with Kitcher) disagreed, he wanted the Ulstermen to be kept together, organized like the UVF. This would be good publicity for the Unionist cause. Eventually Kitcher gave way. He had hoped to gain a brigade (about 3,000 men) from Ulster, but Carson promised him a division (3 brigades). Caron kept his promise and so the 36th (Ulster) Division was created.
When Unionists in Ulster learnt that the British were close to passing the Home Rule Bill, Carson and other leading Unionists realized that they had to do something to put pressure on Westminster. So they created the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1913 and it wasn’t long before Ireland and London realised that the UVF was a force to be reckoned with. They were well trained, by a former English General (Sir George Richardson), highly organised and very determined army. The British War Office saw them as a useful force to use in the war because they already had a type military training and they were well organised.
c. Socialists--
The socialists in Ireland were known as the ‘Socialist Party of Ireland’ and James Connolly led them. Connolly was opposed to the Irish joining the British
War effort for may reasons. He said that the war was a Capitalist war and the workers of Ireland should not be fighting for capitalists. He said that all Irish workers should be fighting the ‘Common Enemy’, Capitalism. Another reason Connolly was opposed to the Irish joining the war was because they were helping the British. Connolly supported two ideologies, he said Republicanism and Socialism were not antagonistic, but complementary. He was a Socialist Republican. James Connolly wanted Ireland to be free, so in 1913 the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) was founded. The ICA was a group f 200 members and they were involved in the Easter Rising of 1916. Even though Connolly was a big figure in Ireland during the war, his ideology wasn’t and Socialism made little impact in Ireland during this period.
d. Industrialists—
Industrialists in Ireland were usually wealthy, Protestant and Unionist. They were for the war for a couple of reasons. Firstly, a war meant mass production of steel for military warfare (e.g. Boats) and Belfast, which was one of biggest docks in the world at the time, was very busy during the war and therefore the Industrialists made a lot of profit because of it. Secondly, they were Ulster Unionists and they wanted to help the British in the war effort because they were loyal to Britain and the monarchy.
e. Young People--
The young people of Ireland had mixed views on the war. Some saw the war as an adventure and a chance to see Europe; they weren’t aware that they might not come back alive. A lot saw it as an easy job but that was far from the truth. Some young people just wanted to help Britain in the war and some were influenced by British propaganda. A lot of Irish young people died in the war.
f. Farmers--
A big percentage of Irelands economy was agricultural and the war created a lot of work and therefore money for farmers. Irish farmers helped the British war effort by sending them food i.e. eggs, milk, bread etc.
Also, farmers made uniforms and other materials for the British, usually from Linen. There was one aspect of the war which farmers feared, conscription. It meant they had to abandon their work and fight, so their farm was unattended and therefore they lost money.
g. Women--
A lot of southern women in Ireland didn’t like that their husbands and sons might die in the war for the British but in the North most (protestant) women were proud to see their men go and fight for Britain. Women found work in the factories making the materials for war after the Munitions Ministry was set up and conscription introduced (1916), since there was a shortage of men in the factories. Women also did other ‘men jobs’ like driving the buses and tarring the roads. ‘Land Girls’ helped to grow and harvest the food, which was desperately needed due to German submarine attacks on the British merchant ships..
