Protestant Nationalists and the Irish Conscription Crisis, 1918

The Great War had an enormous effect on Irish politics and society.At least 210,000 Irishmen fought in the war.2There were an estimated 35,000 casualties.3The outbreak of war in Europe deferred the implementation of the Third Home Rule Bill, which ultimately ruined hopes of a parliamentary solution to the prolonged Irish constitutional crisis.It provoked a split in the Irish Volunteers, which resulted in the smaller faction launching the Easter Rising of 1916.The experiences of the men who fought in the 36th (Ulster) Division became a source of Ulster unionist pride and contributed to a sense of distinctiveness in the northern province.Perhaps most importantly, the war led to the eclipse of the constitutional nationalist movement, the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), by Sinn Féin, the principal advanced nationalist group, which would precipitate the Irish War of Independence of 1919 to 1921, and the Irish Civil War, of 1922 to 1923.A chief cause of this eclipse was the Irish conscription crisis of 1918.Between April and June of that year moderate and advanced nationalists, the trade unions, local government, and the Catholic Church combined forces in an unprecedented display of unity in opposition to the measure.Despite the crossparty nature of anti-conscription resistance, Sinn Féin took the electoral credit for the successful campaign, which led to the destruction of the once-mighty IPP in the 1918 general election.Another significant aspect of the conscription crisis was the highly-public identification of the Catholic Church, including its hierarchy, in the campaign.As will be seen, the anti-conscription protest initially took on an avowedly confessional nature, which seemed to demonstrate the correlation between Catholicism and nationalism in Ireland.However, one neglected aspect of Irish Great War studies has been the involvement of Irish 1 I would like to thank the Irish Research Council for funding this research.I would also like

Irish · Political science · Protestantism · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Philosophy

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