Irish Soldiers of WWI

liverpool annie · Apr 23, 2009

Growing up I heard so many stories of the way the soldiers were treated after the war .... many came to Liverpool ! when I was researching my Munster Fusiliers - I found many more stories that broke my heart to read ..... thought you maybe interested in this ..... here are some facts about the Irish soldiers of WWI

More than 35,000 of them perished. Of the thousands who survived and came home, they found a country in violent upheaval, fiercely fighting its own great battle between north and south.

Many of the soldiers were victimized either physically or economically. Between 1919 and 1922, at least 200 were murdered because they had joined the British army. Economically, the 1919 unemployment ratio of ex-servicemen was 46% in Ireland compared to just 10% in Britain.

In 1919, a trust was founded to fund a permanent memorial to all the Irishmen who had fallen. Some nationalists opposed a number of proposals and an early plan to locate a memorial in Merrion Square failed. The present War Memorial Gardens in Dublin was completed under a de Valera administration in 1936.

The War Memorial Gardens are located on the southern slopes of the Liffey River, opposite the Magazine Fort in Phoenix Park. Designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, the gardens were built by a workforce made up of ex-servicemen from both the British and Irish armies. The Memorial is part of a larger, 150-acre park between Islandbridge and Chapelizod.

The committee which proposed building a memorial and established the Irish National War Memorial Trust fund to cover the cost, also erected memorials to the Irish soldiers at battlefields in France and Flanders. An eight-volume directory of the names and services of every Irish officer and soldier killed in the Great War was also published. Copies of these records are kept in the book-rooms at the National War Memorial.

In the early days after the war, many communities erected memorials to honor those who had been killed. During the early twenties, thousands of people would gather at various centers around the country, such as College Green in Dublin where the Ginchy Cross was temporarily erected each year as an Irish Cenotaph. A two minute silence was observed at 11am. According to 'The Irish Times, "120,00 people attended the College Green commemoration in 1925."

On the Sunday prior to Remembrance Day, veterans gathered to parade to a requiem mass and a service at both Dublin cathedrals - Catholic and Protestant. These religious services were attended by the Lord Mayor of Dublin and Foreign Ministers accredited to the Irish Free State. Representatives of the Free State government attended official commemorations in both Dublin and London and in 1938, a Fianna Fáil government sent a wreath of orange flowers and white lilies to the London Cenotaph, "in memory of the brave."

The singing of the British national anthem and the display of the Union Jack at these events caused a great deal of distress to participants; Imperialists exploited the occasion as much as extreme Nationalists. Over the years, in the Irish consciousness, the poppy and Remembrance Day have become associated less with respect for those who died in war and wrongly confused with a statement of political allegiance.

As for the role of the Irish soldiers, it was gradually played down by the Republic who wanted to distance Ireland from Great Britain, and by others who preferred not to dwell on the contribution the Irish had made to the war.

Recently, some commentators and historians have begun to examine and evaluate the Irish soldiers' participation. Some attention is now being given to the sacrifice of the 35,500 Irish soldiers who died, the suffering of the 200,000 who watched their comrades perish and the grief of the loved ones who mourned for so many lives lost or ruined
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