National Volunteers
The National Volunteers was the name taken by the majority of the Irish Volunteers that sided with Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond after the movement split over the question of the Volunteers' role in World War I.
Origins
The National Volunteers were the product of the Irish political crisis over the implementation of
In response, Nationalists formed their own paramilitary group, the
Great War split
Following the outbreak of World War I in August, and the successful placement of the Home Rule Act on the statute books (albeit with its implementation formally postponed), Redmond made a speech in Woodenbridge, County Wicklow on 20 September, in which he called for members of the Volunteers to enlist in an intended Irish Army Corps of Kitchener's New British Army. He pledged his support to the Allied cause, saying in his address:
The interests of Ireland — of the whole of Ireland — are at stake in this war. This war is undertaken in the defence of the highest principles of religion and morality and right, and it would be a disgrace for ever to our country and a reproach to her manhood and a denial of the lessons of her history if young Ireland confined their efforts to remaining at home to defend the shores of Ireland from an unlikely invasion, and to shrinking from the duty of proving on the field of battle that gallantry and courage which has distinguished our race all through its history. I say to you, therefore, your duty is twofold. I am glad to see such magnificent material for soldiers around me, and I say to you: "Go on drilling and make yourself efficient for the Work, and then account yourselves as men, not only for Ireland itself, but wherever the fighting line extends, in defence of right, of freedom, and religion in this war".[4]
Redmond's motives were twofold. Firstly, he felt it was in the future interest of an All-Ireland
Militant nationalists reacted angrily against Redmond's support for the war, and nearly all of the original leaders of the Volunteers grouped together to dismiss his appointees. However, the great majority of the Volunteers supported Redmond, and became known as the National Volunteers.[4]
Recruitment for World War I
The vast majority of the Volunteer membership remained loyal to Redmond, bringing some 142,000 members to the National Volunteers, leaving the
Many Irishmen enlisted voluntarily in
Moreover, Redmond's hopes for an Irish Army Corps were also to end in disappointment for him. Instead, a New Army 16th (Irish) Division was created. The Division was largely officered by
The National Volunteers after 1914
The war's popularity in Ireland and the popularity of John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party were badly dented by the severe losses subsequently suffered by the Irish divisions. In addition, the postponement of the implementation of Home Rule damaged both the IPP and the National Volunteers.
The majority of the National Volunteers (over 120,000 or 80%) did not enlist in the British Army. John Redmond had intended that they would form an official home defence force for Ireland during the War, but the British War Office baulked at arming and training the Irish nationalist movement.[12] Military historian Timothy Bowman has described the situation as follows: "While Kitchener saw the UVF as an efficient military force and was prepared to offer concessions to secure the services of UVF personnel in the British army his view of the INV was very different. The INV were, even in comparison to the UVF, an inefficient military force in 1914, lacked trained officers, finances and equipment. Kitchener was certainly not inclined to, as he saw it, waste valuable officers and equipment on a force which, at best, would relieve Territorial units from garrison duties and, at worst, would provide Irish Nationalists with the ability to enforce Home Rule on their own terms.[13]
In fact, the National Volunteers fell into decline as the war went on. Their strength fell to around 100,000 by February 1916,[8] and moreover their companies tended to fall into inactivity. In many cases, this was put down to a fear of conscription being introduced into Ireland should they drill too openly.[8] For this reason, British sources reported by early 1916 that the National Volunteers as a movement were "practically dead" or "non-existent".[8]
The National Volunteers' other problem was a lack of leadership, as many of its most committed and militarily experienced members had enlisted in Irish Regiments for the war. As a result, the RIC (police) report on them concluded: "It is a strong force on paper, but without officers and untrained, it is little better than a large mob".[14] They staged a very large rally, of over 20,000 men, on Easter Sunday 1915 in Dublin's Phoenix Park, but their Inspector General, Maurice Moore, saw no military future for the organisation: "They cannot be trained, disciplined or armed, moreover, the enthusiasm has gone and they cannot be kept going... it will be of no practical use against any army, Orange or German."[15]
By contrast, the smaller but more militant Irish Volunteers increased in both numbers and activity as the War went on. The numerical increase was modest, from 9,700 in 1914 to 12,215 by February 1916, but they trained regularly and had kept most of the Volunteer weaponry.[8] By March 1916, the RIC was reporting that the Irish Volunteers, "are foremost among [nationalist] political societies, not by reason of their numerical strength but on account of their greater activity".[8] In April 1916, a faction within the Irish Volunteers launched the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection centred in Dublin aimed at the ending of British rule in Ireland. During the Rising, one unit of the National Volunteers (in Craughwell, County Galway), offered its services to the local RIC to help suppress the rebellion in that area.[16]
The rebellion was put down within a week by the British Army (including Irish units such as the Royal Dublin Fusiliers). In its aftermath, and especially after the Conscription Crisis of 1918 in which the British Cabinet had planned to impose conscription in Ireland, the National Volunteers were eclipsed by the Irish Volunteers, whose membership shot up to over 100,000 by the end of 1918.[17] John Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party was similarly overtaken by the separatist Sinn Féin party in the general elections in December 1918.
After the
References
- ^ Townsend, Charles: 1916, The Easter Rising, pp. 33–34
- ISBN 978-1-84176-685-0
- ISBN 1-84176-685-2
- ^ a b O’Riordan, Tomás: UCC Multitext Project in Irish History John Redmond Archived 28 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Townshend, p. 73
- ^ a b Cambell, Fergus: Land and Revolution: Nationalist Politics in the West of Ireland, 1891–1921, p. 196
- ^ Fitzpatrick, David: in Thomas Bartlet (ed.), A Military History of Ireland, p. 386
- ^ a b c d e f Campbell, p. 197
- ^ Townshend, p. 75
- ^ Townsend, p. 75
- ISBN 0-7190-6285-3
- ^ Townshend, p. 62
- ISBN 0-7190-6285-3
- ^ Townsend, p. 70
- ^ Townshend, p. 71
- ^ Campbell, p. 215
- ^ Collins, M. E.: Ireland 1868–1966, p. 242
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Bartley, p. 397
Sources and further reading
- Thomas P. Dooley: Irishmen or English Soldiers?: The Times and World of a Southern Catholic Irish Man (1876–1916) Enlisting in the British Army During the First World War, Liverpool Press (1995).
- Terence Denman: Ireland's Unknown Soldiers: The 16th (Irish) Division in the Great War, Irish Academic Press (1992), ISBN 0-7165-2495-3.
- Desmond & Jean Bowen: Heroic Option: The Irish in the British Army, Pen & Sword Books (2005), ISBN 1-84415-152-2.
Great War memorials
Volunteers who died in the Great War are commemorated at the:
- Irish National War Memorial Gardens Dublin.
- Island of Ireland Peace Park Messines, Belgium.
- Menin Gate MemorialYpres, Belgium.