Most of the WW1 soliders from Ireland were economic conscripts

Every November the ‘Irish Examiner’ devotes much space to those Irishmen who fought for England at the Somme. 

Some readers have even checked the paper’s masthead to make sure we haven’t picked up the ‘London Times’ by mistake. As far as nationalists and republicans are concerned most of these men were economic conscripts forced to join up after centuries of colonial exploitation left few job opportunities in their own country.

The Act of Union in 1801 taxed much Irish economic activity out of existence.