Conscription Crisis of 1918 (Ireland)
Encyclopedia
The Conscription Crisis of 1918 stemmed from a move by the British Government
to impose conscription
in Ireland
during the First World War
, and contributed to pivotal events in early 20th-century politics in Ireland, galvanising popular support for parties favouring separation from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
.
were dangerously short of troops for the Western Front
. In the German Spring Offensive of 1918
, German
troops broke through the Allied lines in several sectors of the front in France
, with a local advantage in numbers of four to one, putting severe strain on the Allied armies
. The British Army, in one day, suffered a stunning setback, with the enemy overrunning ninety-eight square miles of territory, and penetrating, at the furthest point, to a depth of four and a half miles.
In addressing this grave military situation, the British Government decided to extend conscription to Ireland (conscription in Great Britain having started in January 1916), as an untapped reservoir of manpower for the front through a new Military Service Bill, as well as proposing a new Home Rule Bill. This had the effect of alienating both nationalists and unionists in Ireland. Despite opposition from the entire Irish Parliamentary Party
, conscription for Ireland was voted through at Westminster
.
Though large numbers of Irishmen had willingly joined Irish regiments and divisions of the New British Army
at the outbreak of war in 1914, the likelihood of enforced conscription created a backlash. The reaction was based particularly on the fact that implementation of the Government of Ireland Act 1914 (as previously recommended in March by the Irish Convention
) was controversially linked with a "dual policy" enactment of the Military Service Bill. The linking of conscription and Home Rule outraged the Irish nationalist parties at Westminster, (including the IPP
, AFIL
and others) who walked out in protest and returned to Ireland to organise opposition.
Although the crisis was unique in Ireland at the time, it followed similar campaigns in Australia (1916-17) and Canada (1917)
.
File:IrishAntiConscriptionComittee_6of9members.jpg|thumb|257px|The 9 Anti-Conscription Committee members
rect 1 1 85 120 Arthur Griffith
rect 88 1 172 120 Éamon de Valera
rect 173 1 257 120 John Dillon
rect 1 122 85 241 Joe Devlin
rect 88 122 172 241 William O'Brien
rect 173 122 257 241 Thomas Johnson
rect 1 243 85 362 Michael Egan
rect 88 243 172 362 Timothy Michael Healy
rect 173 243 257 362 William X. O'Brien
On 18 April 1918, acting on a resolution of Dublin Corporation
, the Lord Mayor of Dublin
(Laurence O'Neill
) held a conference at the Mansion House, Dublin
. The Irish Anti-Conscription Committee was convened to devise plans to resist conscription, and represented different sections of nationalist opinion: John Dillon
and Joseph Devlin
for the Irish Parliamentary Party
, Éamon de Valera
and Arthur Griffith
for Sinn Féin, William O'Brien
and Timothy Michael Healy
for the All-for-Ireland Party
and Michael Egan, Thomas Johnson
and W X O'Brien
representing Labour and the Trade Unions.
On the evening of the same day, the Roman Catholic bishop
s were holding their annual meeting at Maynooth
(with a similar agenda, to deliver a "Statement on Conscription") and they met a delegation from the Mansion House Conference.
From both assemblies came an anti-conscription pledge to be taken at the church door of every parish
the next Sunday, 21 April, which read:
was called in protest, and on 23 April 1918, work was stopped in railways, docks, factories, mills, theatres, cinemas, trams, public services, shipyards, newspapers, shops, and even Government munitions factories
. The strike was described as "complete and entire, an unprecedented event outside the continental countries
".
In the following weeks, anti-conscription rallies
were held nationwide, with 15,000 people attending a meeting in County Roscommon
at the start of May, where John Dillon, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party and Éamon de Valera of Sinn Féin shared the platform in a united cause. This in itself is notable as, while sharing nationalist views, Dillon and de Valera's parties had previously been divided in opinion as to the best means for devolution from the UK, and would subsequently be divided by the Anglo-Irish Treaty
. However, all were galvanised to collective action on the conscription issue.
On June 11 Dublin's Lord Mayor, Laurence O'Neill, in a letter to the President of the United States
Woodrow Wilson
called for support against conscription:
Over a year earlier Wilson had introduced the Selective Service Act of 1917
; by June 1917 it enabled the registration of all American men aged between 21 and 31 for conscription.
government undertook several initiatives to quell the backlash.
As Sinn Féin was publicly perceived to be the key instigator of anti-government and anti-conscription feeling, the viceroy Lord French
, claiming evidence of a treasonable plot between Sinn Féin and the Germans
, ordered the arrest of seventy-three Sinn Féin leaders, including Griffith and de Valera, on 17 May. This heavy-handed response by the Dublin Castle
authorities did little to defuse the situation. (In fact, a lack of evidence meant the German Plot was little believed in the UK, Ireland or the US, and aggravated opinion and Sinn Féin
support.)
Simultaneously, a more subtle effort (and possibly with more potential for success) was undertaken from the offices of Lord Northcliffe
under the Minister of Information
. The "Hay Plan" was conceived by Stuart Hay—a British Army
Captain—who was under orders to establish a proposal to work around widespread anti-conscription feeling and persuade Irish nationalists to join the French
army (initially as labourers in specialised battalions). Hay's plan relied on the power of the Catholic Church in Ireland (and empathy among Irish Catholics for Catholic Belgium and France which were under German occupation), to sway opinion:
The plan simply called for a letter (drafted by Hay, and approved by Edward Shortt
, then Chief Secretary for Ireland
) to be sent by the French Primate
to the Irish bishops, requesting that they soften their opposition to conscription to aid the war effort in France.
Despite some progress in August in persuading Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Logue through these means, the "Hay Plan" was delayed (and ultimately stymied) by complications in diplomatic channels and by political rivalries. In France the German Spring Offensive
and its follow-on attacks had failed by July, and the Allies counter-attacked successfully at the Second Battle of the Marne
and the Hundred Days Offensive
.
As a result, recruitment efforts through September and October continued to have very limited success, and by the Armistice
in November (marking the end of World War I) conscription remaining unimplemented in Ireland.
. However the legacy of the crisis remained.
Completely ineffectual as a means to bolster battalions in France, the events surrounding the Conscription Crisis were disastrous for the Dublin Castle authorities, and for the more moderate nationalist parties in Ireland. The delay in finding a resolution to the home rule issue, partly caused by the war, and exaggerated by the Conscription Crisis in Ireland, all increased support for Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin's association (in the public perception at least) with the 1916 Easter Rising
and the anti-conscription movement, directly and indirectly led on to their landslide victory over (and effective elimination of) the Irish Parliamentary Party, the formation of the first Dáil Éireann
and in turn to the outbreak of the Anglo-Irish War in 1919. (See: Aftermath of World War I - United Kingdom and Irish (UK) general election, 1918
).
This opposition also led in part to Sinn Féin being ignored by the subsequent victors at the Paris Peace Conference
in 1919, despite its electoral success. It appointed representatives who moved to Paris and several times requested a place at the conference, with recognition of the Irish Republic
, but never received a reply.
The crisis was also a watershed in Ulster Unionism's relations with Nationalist Ireland, as expressed by Unionist leader James Craig
: for Ulster Unionists the conscription crisis was the final confirmation that the aspirations of Nationalists and Unionists were unrecompatible.(sic)
Support and enlistment was more prominent amongst Irish unionist and Protestant traditions, however, nationalist and Catholic enlistment was also common as the war was seen to be fought in defence of smaller Catholic countries (like occupied Belgium). In this cause, those who would later become detractors of conscription (including John Dillon, William O'Brien and the Catholic bishops) were prominent on recruitment platforms at the outbreak of the war.
In all, 200,000 to 300,000 Irishmen served with British forces during the Great War, and, of the 680,000 fatalities from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
, some 40,000 to 49,000 were from Ireland.
Government of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Government is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the remaining Ministers...
to impose conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and contributed to pivotal events in early 20th-century politics in Ireland, galvanising popular support for parties favouring separation from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
.
Background
From early 1918, the British ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
were dangerously short of troops for the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. In the German Spring Offensive of 1918
Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
, German
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
troops broke through the Allied lines in several sectors of the front in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, with a local advantage in numbers of four to one, putting severe strain on the Allied armies
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
. The British Army, in one day, suffered a stunning setback, with the enemy overrunning ninety-eight square miles of territory, and penetrating, at the furthest point, to a depth of four and a half miles.
In addressing this grave military situation, the British Government decided to extend conscription to Ireland (conscription in Great Britain having started in January 1916), as an untapped reservoir of manpower for the front through a new Military Service Bill, as well as proposing a new Home Rule Bill. This had the effect of alienating both nationalists and unionists in Ireland. Despite opposition from the entire Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
, conscription for Ireland was voted through at Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
.
Though large numbers of Irishmen had willingly joined Irish regiments and divisions of the New British Army
Kitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...
at the outbreak of war in 1914, the likelihood of enforced conscription created a backlash. The reaction was based particularly on the fact that implementation of the Government of Ireland Act 1914 (as previously recommended in March by the Irish Convention
Irish Convention
The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on...
) was controversially linked with a "dual policy" enactment of the Military Service Bill. The linking of conscription and Home Rule outraged the Irish nationalist parties at Westminster, (including the IPP
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
, AFIL
All-for-Ireland League
The All-for-Ireland League , was an Irish, Munster-based political party . Founded by William O'Brien MP, it generated a new national movement to achieve agreement between the different parties concerned on the historically difficult aim of Home Rule for the whole of Ireland...
and others) who walked out in protest and returned to Ireland to organise opposition.
Although the crisis was unique in Ireland at the time, it followed similar campaigns in Australia (1916-17) and Canada (1917)
Conscription Crisis of 1917
The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I.-Background:...
.
The Conferences and pledge
rect 1 1 85 120 Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith was the founder and third leader of Sinn Féin. He served as President of Dáil Éireann from January to August 1922, and was head of the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.-Early life:...
rect 88 1 172 120 Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
rect 173 1 257 120 John Dillon
John Dillon
John Dillon was an Irish land reform agitator from Dublin, an Irish Home Rule activist, a nationalist politician, a Member of Parliament for over 35 years, and the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party....
rect 1 122 85 241 Joe Devlin
Joseph Devlin
Joseph Devlin, also known as Joe Devlin, was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician...
rect 88 122 172 241 William O'Brien
William O'Brien
William O'Brien was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
rect 173 122 257 241 Thomas Johnson
Thomas Johnson (Irish politician)
Thomas Johnson was an Irish nationalist and Irish Labour Party leader. He was elected a Teachta Dála for Dublin County to the Third Dáil at the 1922 general election and was the leader of the Labour Party until 1927...
rect 1 243 85 362 Michael Egan
rect 88 243 172 362 Timothy Michael Healy
Timothy Michael Healy
Timothy Michael Healy, KC , also known as Tim Healy, was an Irish nationalist politician, journalist, author, barrister and one of the most controversial Irish Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
rect 173 243 257 362 William X. O'Brien
William X. O'Brien
William X. O'Brien was a politician and trade unionist in Ireland.Born in Clonakilty, County Cork, O'Brien moved with his family to Dublin in 1897, and quickly became involved in the Irish Socialist Republican Party...
On 18 April 1918, acting on a resolution of Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation , known by generations of Dubliners simply as The Corpo, is the former name given to the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin between 1661 and 1 January 2002...
, the Lord Mayor of Dublin
Lord Mayor of Dublin
The Lord Mayor of Dublin is the honorific title of the Chairman of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent is Labour Party Councillor Andrew Montague. The office holder is elected annually by the members of the...
(Laurence O'Neill
Laurence O'Neill
Laurence O'Neill was an Irish politician and corn merchant. O'Neill was elected to Dáil Éireann as an independent Teachta Dála for Dublin Mid at the 1922 general election...
) held a conference at the Mansion House, Dublin
Mansion House, Dublin
The Mansion House on Dawson Street, Dublin, is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin since 1715.-Features:The Mansion House's most famous features include the "Round Room", where the First Dáil assembled on 21 January 1919 to proclaim the Irish Declaration of Independence...
. The Irish Anti-Conscription Committee was convened to devise plans to resist conscription, and represented different sections of nationalist opinion: John Dillon
John Dillon
John Dillon was an Irish land reform agitator from Dublin, an Irish Home Rule activist, a nationalist politician, a Member of Parliament for over 35 years, and the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party....
and Joseph Devlin
Joseph Devlin
Joseph Devlin, also known as Joe Devlin, was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician...
for the Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
, Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
and Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith was the founder and third leader of Sinn Féin. He served as President of Dáil Éireann from January to August 1922, and was head of the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.-Early life:...
for Sinn Féin, William O'Brien
William O'Brien
William O'Brien was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and Timothy Michael Healy
Timothy Michael Healy
Timothy Michael Healy, KC , also known as Tim Healy, was an Irish nationalist politician, journalist, author, barrister and one of the most controversial Irish Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
for the All-for-Ireland Party
All-for-Ireland League
The All-for-Ireland League , was an Irish, Munster-based political party . Founded by William O'Brien MP, it generated a new national movement to achieve agreement between the different parties concerned on the historically difficult aim of Home Rule for the whole of Ireland...
and Michael Egan, Thomas Johnson
Thomas Johnson (Irish politician)
Thomas Johnson was an Irish nationalist and Irish Labour Party leader. He was elected a Teachta Dála for Dublin County to the Third Dáil at the 1922 general election and was the leader of the Labour Party until 1927...
and W X O'Brien
William X. O'Brien
William X. O'Brien was a politician and trade unionist in Ireland.Born in Clonakilty, County Cork, O'Brien moved with his family to Dublin in 1897, and quickly became involved in the Irish Socialist Republican Party...
representing Labour and the Trade Unions.
On the evening of the same day, the Roman Catholic bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s were holding their annual meeting at Maynooth
Maynooth
Maynooth is a town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to a branch of the National University of Ireland, a Papal University and Ireland's main Roman Catholic seminary, St. Patrick's College...
(with a similar agenda, to deliver a "Statement on Conscription") and they met a delegation from the Mansion House Conference.
From both assemblies came an anti-conscription pledge to be taken at the church door of every parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
the next Sunday, 21 April, which read:
"Denying the right of the British government to enforce compulsory service in this country, we pledge ourselves solemnly to one another to resist conscription by the most effective means at our disposal."
Strikes and other actions in Ireland
Following their representation at the Mansion House, the labour movement made its own immediate and distinctive contribution to the anti-conscription campaign. A general strikeGeneral strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
was called in protest, and on 23 April 1918, work was stopped in railways, docks, factories, mills, theatres, cinemas, trams, public services, shipyards, newspapers, shops, and even Government munitions factories
Filling Factories
A Filling Factory was a munitions factory which specialised in filling various munitions, such as bombs, shells, cartridges, pyrotechnics, screening smokes, etc...
. The strike was described as "complete and entire, an unprecedented event outside the continental countries
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
".
In the following weeks, anti-conscription rallies
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
were held nationwide, with 15,000 people attending a meeting in County Roscommon
County Roscommon
County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...
at the start of May, where John Dillon, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party and Éamon de Valera of Sinn Féin shared the platform in a united cause. This in itself is notable as, while sharing nationalist views, Dillon and de Valera's parties had previously been divided in opinion as to the best means for devolution from the UK, and would subsequently be divided by the Anglo-Irish Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
. However, all were galvanised to collective action on the conscription issue.
On June 11 Dublin's Lord Mayor, Laurence O'Neill, in a letter to the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
called for support against conscription:
In the fourth year of a war ostensibly begun for the defence of small nations, a law conscribing the manhood of Ireland has been passed, in defiance of the wishes of our people. .... To warrant the coercive statue, no recourse was had to the electorate of Britain, much less to that in Ireland. Yet the measure was forced through within a week, despite the votes of Irish representatives and under a system of closure never applied to the debates, which established conscription for Great Britain on a milder basis.
Over a year earlier Wilson had introduced the Selective Service Act of 1917
Selective Service Act of 1917
The Selective Service Act or Selective Draft Act was passed by the Congress of the United States on May 18, 1917. It was envisioned in December 1916 and brought to President Woodrow Wilson's attention shortly after the break in relations with Germany in February 1917...
; by June 1917 it enabled the registration of all American men aged between 21 and 31 for conscription.
The "plot" and other reactions
Nervous of growing unrest, and still with dire need to progress conscription in Ireland, Lloyd George'sDavid Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
government undertook several initiatives to quell the backlash.
As Sinn Féin was publicly perceived to be the key instigator of anti-government and anti-conscription feeling, the viceroy Lord French
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC , known as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a British and Anglo-Irish officer...
, claiming evidence of a treasonable plot between Sinn Féin and the Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, ordered the arrest of seventy-three Sinn Féin leaders, including Griffith and de Valera, on 17 May. This heavy-handed response by the Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle administration in Ireland
The Dublin Castle administration in Ireland was the government of Ireland under English and later British rule, from the twelfth century until 1922, based at Dublin Castle.-Head:...
authorities did little to defuse the situation. (In fact, a lack of evidence meant the German Plot was little believed in the UK, Ireland or the US, and aggravated opinion and Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
support.)
Simultaneously, a more subtle effort (and possibly with more potential for success) was undertaken from the offices of Lord Northcliffe
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper and publishing magnate, famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.His company...
under the Minister of Information
Minister of Information
The Ministry of Information , headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of World War I and again during World War II...
. The "Hay Plan" was conceived by Stuart Hay—a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
Captain—who was under orders to establish a proposal to work around widespread anti-conscription feeling and persuade Irish nationalists to join the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
army (initially as labourers in specialised battalions). Hay's plan relied on the power of the Catholic Church in Ireland (and empathy among Irish Catholics for Catholic Belgium and France which were under German occupation), to sway opinion:
If the church were definitely or even in a large measure converted and the support it has given to disloyal elements be not taken away but thrown on to the other side in the controversy [the conscription crisis], much would be done for the future of the peace in Ireland.
The plan simply called for a letter (drafted by Hay, and approved by Edward Shortt
Edward Shortt
Edward Shortt PC KC was a British lawyer and Liberal Party politician. He served as a member of David Lloyd George's cabinet, notably as Home Secretary from 1919 to 1922.-Background and education:...
, then Chief Secretary for Ireland
Chief Secretary for Ireland
The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...
) to be sent by the French Primate
Primate (religion)
Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or ceremonial precedence ....
to the Irish bishops, requesting that they soften their opposition to conscription to aid the war effort in France.
Despite some progress in August in persuading Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Logue through these means, the "Hay Plan" was delayed (and ultimately stymied) by complications in diplomatic channels and by political rivalries. In France the German Spring Offensive
Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
and its follow-on attacks had failed by July, and the Allies counter-attacked successfully at the Second Battle of the Marne
Second Battle of the Marne
The Second Battle of the Marne , or Battle of Reims was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by France overwhelmed the Germans, inflicting severe casualties...
and the Hundred Days Offensive
Hundred Days Offensive
The Hundred Days Offensive was the final period of the First World War, during which the Allies launched a series of offensives against the Central Powers on the Western Front from 8 August to 11 November 1918, beginning with the Battle of Amiens. The offensive forced the German armies to retreat...
.
As a result, recruitment efforts through September and October continued to have very limited success, and by the Armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
in November (marking the end of World War I) conscription remaining unimplemented in Ireland.
After-effects
By June 1918 it had become apparent to most observers in Britain and Ireland that due to America's engagement the tide of war had changed in favour of the Allied armies in Europe, and by 20 June the Government had dropped its conscription and home rule plans, given the lack of agreement of the Irish ConventionIrish Convention
The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on...
. However the legacy of the crisis remained.
Completely ineffectual as a means to bolster battalions in France, the events surrounding the Conscription Crisis were disastrous for the Dublin Castle authorities, and for the more moderate nationalist parties in Ireland. The delay in finding a resolution to the home rule issue, partly caused by the war, and exaggerated by the Conscription Crisis in Ireland, all increased support for Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin's association (in the public perception at least) with the 1916 Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
and the anti-conscription movement, directly and indirectly led on to their landslide victory over (and effective elimination of) the Irish Parliamentary Party, the formation of the first Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann (1919-1922)
Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary, unicameral parliament of the unilaterally declared Irish Republic from 1919–1922. The Dáil was first formed by 73 Sinn Féin MPs elected in the 1918 United Kingdom general election. Their manifesto refused to recognise the British parliament at Westminster and...
and in turn to the outbreak of the Anglo-Irish War in 1919. (See: Aftermath of World War I - United Kingdom and Irish (UK) general election, 1918
Irish (UK) general election, 1918
The Irish general election of 1918 was that part of the 1918 United Kingdom general election that took place in Ireland. It is seen as a key moment in modern Irish history...
).
This opposition also led in part to Sinn Féin being ignored by the subsequent victors at the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
in 1919, despite its electoral success. It appointed representatives who moved to Paris and several times requested a place at the conference, with recognition of the Irish Republic
Irish Republic
The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...
, but never received a reply.
The crisis was also a watershed in Ulster Unionism's relations with Nationalist Ireland, as expressed by Unionist leader James Craig
James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon
James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, PC, PC , was a prominent Irish unionist politician, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland...
: for Ulster Unionists the conscription crisis was the final confirmation that the aspirations of Nationalists and Unionists were unrecompatible.(sic)
Voluntary enlistment
It should be noted that the bulk of opposition to the Great War in Ireland was to compulsory conscription, not to the war nor to voluntary enlistment in the British Army. In fact, many Irish supported the war and Irish involvement.Support and enlistment was more prominent amongst Irish unionist and Protestant traditions, however, nationalist and Catholic enlistment was also common as the war was seen to be fought in defence of smaller Catholic countries (like occupied Belgium). In this cause, those who would later become detractors of conscription (including John Dillon, William O'Brien and the Catholic bishops) were prominent on recruitment platforms at the outbreak of the war.
In all, 200,000 to 300,000 Irishmen served with British forces during the Great War, and, of the 680,000 fatalities from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
, some 40,000 to 49,000 were from Ireland.
Contemporaneous quotes
See also
- 1918 in Ireland1918 in Ireland-Events:*January 18 - Count Plunkett, Seán T. O'Kelly and others protest at the forcible feeding of Sinn Féin prisoners in Mountjoy Prison.*March 2 - In Skibbereen, County Cork Ernest Blythe is arrested for non-compliance with a military rule directing him to reside in Ulster.*March 6 - In the...
(for dates and timeline) - History of Ireland (1801-1922)
- Conscription crisisConscription crisisA conscription crisis is a public dispute about a policy of conscription, or mandatory service in the military, also known as a "draft". A dispute can become a crisis when submission to military service becomes highly controversial and popular revolt ensues...
, conscriptionConscriptionConscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
and conscription in Ireland - Aftermath of World War I - United Kingdom
External links and further reading
- Letters and Leaders of my Day T. M. Healy, K. C. (Anti-Conscription council delegate and Governor-General of the Irish Free State)
- The Hay Plan & Conscription In Ireland During WW1 Dave Hennessy
- Dublin and the Great War