Ireland was at war long before republican rebels fanned the flames

IN his letter (October 20), Pierse Martin implies this was a country untouched by war until perfidious nationalism kindled violent sectarian conflict in 1916.

Apart from the fact that sectarianism has been a feature of Irish socio-political life since the Tudors engaged in a Protestant plantation of Ireland, the first serious instance of violent sectarian division in 20th century Ireland was of course the Ulster unionist revolt of 1912.

This came in response to Home Rule, not to 1916. Unionists wanted to ensure Protestant settler hegemony and privilege, particularly in the North. It didn’t amount to bloodshed only because the British government backed down and its army mutinied.

Armed with 60,000 Austrian rifles, the UVF meant to go to war if necessary. On the contrary, the 1916 rebels called for a non-sectarian state to be created independently of Britain — a call that was enshrined by the first Dáil in 1919.

Secondly, Ireland was in fact at war. Simply because the killing and dying was being done in France did not mean Ireland was untouched by the violence. Every dead or maimed soldier had a family or friends and colleagues. That is without even taking into account the coarsening effect of a ghastly conflict like the First World War on the participants, and the militarisation of society that accompanied it.

The Irish Volunteers were founded to be the national army of a Home Rule Ireland and as a counterpoint to the already-formed Ulster Volunteers. Under John Redmond, the majority became simply another regiment of the British army. In a grandiose gesture, he volunteered their help without consulting their leadership and without trying to obtain anything for Ireland in return. That was the first stab in the back to the Volunteers. Thus Redmond was able to act ‘the big man’ in Westminster, but it would be other people who would do the actual killing and dying while he led from the rear, like Sassoon’s General. At least leaders like Pearse and Connolly, whatever their other faults, led from the front.

Men may have signed up for the First World War for many reasons, but once in there was no way out for the duration except as an invalid or in a bodybag. It may be idle speculation to wonder how many of them would have walked out if they’d had the free choice. We know some tried — dozens of Irishmen were shot as ‘deserters’ (ie, for trying to escape the madness) by the British. I’m sure others would have, too, had a firing squad not loomed in the background.

Nick Folley

36 Ardcarrig

Carrigaline

Co Cork