‘The irreconcilable attitude is apparently confined to the purely political sphere’: Responses in Independent Ireland to an Irish Military Tradition

  • Steven O’Connor
Chapter

Abstract

When one compares the relative disparity of the rival military traditions in Ireland — the Irish defence forces at the height of the Emergency numbered 42,000 men while an estimated 60,000 of their compatriots volunteered for the British forces during the war1 — it is astonishing that the latter tradition has received so little attention from historians. That a neutral country could find more of its young people leaving for the bat- tlefront than joining its own defence forces raises questions about post- 1922 Irish society, particularly in the decade immediately preceding the outbreak of war when the volunteers’ generation were in their formative years. How did the population regard Ireland’s and Britain’s shared military past? Did the continuation of the military connection provoke public controversy? Did the government ever try to stop recruitment?

Keywords

Irish Society Defence Force Irish People Retire Officer British Army 
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Notes

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Copyright information

© Steven O’Connor 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • Steven O’Connor
    • 1
  1. 1.Trinity College DublinIreland

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