Ireland and the Great War

Résumé du document

Many European nations, such as Ireland, hoped to achieve nationhood through the Great War. The self-mobilization of the society was extremely powerful. Military service was central to the culture of war-time. Universal conscription was the norm, and it encountered only a very little resistance in Europe. The UK managed to recruit 2.5 million volunteers before introducing conscription in 1916 to find the same number again. Ireland sent 21000 volunteers, but resisted conscription.

Combat-related death:
Modern technology such as machine guns made WWI the deadliest conflict so far. It gave a huge importance to the ability of the soldiers to defend themselves, leading to the trenches war. These two issues once related shaped the experience of the conflict in the concerned societies. It became hard to sustain self-mobilization in face of such huge casualties. Mass destruction required mass production, which led belligerent countries to launch an unexpected war effort. The last two years of war were marked by the need for both collective and individual endurance. Where the nationhood was the weakest, it turned into refusal. Elsewhere, it sustained the war effort. Ireland experienced both.

Extraits

[...] Only a few memorials were actually built. Although the State tried to ease the life of the veterans through an extension of social welfare, it could not use the war as the corner-stone of the new state's foundation. This was the role of 1916 rising. The memories of the Great War were constantly denied. Horne's conclusion is that every sense, the Great War was our as it contributed decisively to the major turning point of Irish history. References John Horne, Our War? [...]

[...] It gave a huge importance to the ability of the soldiers to defend themselves, leading to the trenches war. These two issues once related shaped the experience of the conflict in the concerned societies. It became hard to sustain self-mobilization in face of such huge casualties. Mass destruction required mass production, which led belligerent countries to launch an unexpected war effort. The last two years of war were marked by the need for both collective and individual endurance. Where the nationhood was the weakest, it turned into refusal. Elsewhere, it sustained the war effort. [...]

[...] Horne argues that three features have emerged in the most recent historiography of the War: - The intensity with which societies engaged in it. - The mass death caused by combat. - The remembrance of how people came to understand an event whose trauma none has anticipated. Society engagement: Many European nations, such as Ireland, hoped to achieve nationhood through the Great War. The self-mobilization of the society was extremely powerful. Military service was central to the culture of war-time. Universal conscription was the norm, and it encountered only a very little resistance in Europe. [...]

[...] Ireland experienced both. The relationship between these two issues shaped the third one: remembrance: Profusion of monuments and rituals of collective mourning almost everywhere with the function to preserve the link between deaths and the purpose the war had been fought for. In Ireland, they proved to be one of the principal ways in which memory of the conflict divided. These three features provide a good framework for the study of Ireland during the war Society engagement: The Nationalists had sympathy for Belgium and Serbia, small nations invaded by the German Empire and its ally Austro-Hungary. [...]

[...] - Republicans believed that the British Empire was the actual enemy. The mobilization of the Irish society for and against the war helped defining the versions of statehood in contention and the credibility of British policies in Ireland. Mass combat-related death: The Irish casualties were lower than those of many belligerent countries in relation to the overall population per 1000 against 16 per thousand in Britain and 12 per 1000 in Australia dominion as well)). This shows the limits of the Irish war effort. [...]