History’s Dupes: The Irish in World War I and Lessons to Be Learned
There is a song, The Foggy Dew, which has been recorded by virtually every major Irish singer of the Twentieth century, from The Dubliners (1) to The Wolftones (2) to Declan Hunt (3). Sinéad O’Connor did a version with the Chieftans which is quite moving (4). Less accessible is Luke Kelly’s, with his raw, ragged voice (5).
The song commemorates the Easter Rising of 1916, when 1200 Irish held off 16,000 British Army troops and their heavy artillery for six days. The rebels included Socialst and Labor leader James Connolly, who had once organized for the IWW in New York City, and his Irish Volunteers, originally formed to defend striking workers against police violence in Dublin. The fighting left Central Dublin in ruins; the indiscriminate use of artillery, which many Irish believed the English would never use against an Irish city, and the drawn-out process by which the British executed the leaders throughout April and May, greatly soured Irish opinion towards the British Empire.
But “The Foggy Dew” is not just a celebration: it is also a condemnation of those Irish who threw in their lot with the English, fighting for them in World War I. The second stanza says of the insurrectionists:
“Right proudly high over Dublin Town
Flung they out the flag of war
’Twas better to die beneath an Irish sky
Than at Suvla or at Sud-el-bar”
Where are Suvla and Seed-el-Bar? In the Dardenelles, just west of modern-day Istanbul, where in 1915 a disastrous British-French campaign left 56,000 Allied and 56,000 Turkish soldiers dead. Among the casualties were the 6,000 killed and wounded of the 10th Irish Division. Roughly half of those losses were incurred during the amphibious landings at Seed-el-bar and Suvla.
This idea — that the Irish, of all people, would volunteer to be slaughtered for the British Crown — might seem surprising. But there is an explanation, Dear Reader: Belgium. As the song tells us:
“England bade our wild geese go
That small nations might be free…”
Yes, that’s right: the British Government pitched the War as a defense of ‘small nations’ and of ‘democracy’. Britain entered the War after Germany attacked France through neutral Belgium, to which Britain was tied by treaty. We today know, of course, that the War had nothing to do with Belgium: Germany, under Bismark, had set out to push its way in among the Western imperialist powers, and Britain — the leading imperialist power of Europe — was determined to push back hard. But Britain also had a powerful Socialist and Labor movement which were theoretically opposed to war in general and to war as a means of capitalist conflict in particular. The narrative about Belgium, with its refugees and its bombed cities, and the brutish Germany invader, was much more engaging, and British propaganda made the most of it. The propaganda was not subtle:
People in Ireland were especially susceptible to the ‘small nation’ propaganda. At the very onset of the war, on 18 September, 1914, the establishment of a separate Irish Parliament within the Crown (‘Home Rule’) had been made law — only to be suspended by another law, the Suspensatory Act, which was passed simultaneously, and which remanded Irish home rule until after the cessation of hostilities. Anxiety over Ireland’s future was exacerbated by the creation of the anti-Home Rule Ulster Volunteer Force, which by 1912 claimed nearly a quarter of a million men and had strong support in British military and Conservative Party circles. When war broke out, the UVF pushed its members to join the newly-formed 36th ‘Irish’ Battalion of the British Army. Nationalist leaders then pushed their members to join the 10th and 16th ‘Irish’ Battalions to show Nationalist loyalty. Again, the propaganda was not subtle. Have a look at these propaganda posters, designed specifically for the Irish ‘market’:
Again, one might wonder with what gall the English, who had invaded Ireland and repeatedly slaughtered and enslaved her people, from Cromwell to the Fenian Rebellion to the Great Famime, dared speak of “the Glory of Ireland.” With what gall dared they speak of the defense of Irish women, who filled England’s poor houses and brothels. Yet the propaganda worked: over 200,000 Irish men fought in the British armed forces, most on the theory that, in defending Belgium’s right to self-determination, they were also defending Ireland’s same right. 35,000 of those men were killed. All three ‘Irish’ batallions were decimated and ultimately disbanded. At war’s end, only half of the Irish men who left to fight on the Continent returned to their homes. And in the end, Ireland still had to fight a vicious war to secure her independence, and suffer partition and then civil war after.
You may shake your head, Dear Reader, that any people might be so sadly duped into believing that the imperialist holocaust they supported was anything but a war of conquest.
And so I invite you to reflect on your own beliefs concerning our current defense of ‘democracy’ and ‘small nations’ in Ukraine.
— — — — — —
My work is reader-supported. Putting together an analysis with data and detail takes time and effort and a willingness to challenge one’s own ideas about things. Data, after all, does not always lead us where we’d personally like to go. So if you appreciate what I’ve written, support me with a contribution via my PayPal. If you’re already on Medium, subscribe. I strive to get one to two essays up a week, depending on complexity.
— — — — — —
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA3V15DE7Lk
(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR2QIj2SHxQ
(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nprvXam4Q0