Sir, – John Bowman (“Time for us to remember first World War fallen”, Opinion & Analysis, August 2nd) restates the current orthodoxy with regard to the Great War. Despite widespread evidence to that contrary we are being asked to believe that nationalist Ireland somehow discarded all memory of that event for over 50 years.
This simplistic notion is playing its part in turning what should be an opportunity for reflection on Ireland’s role in the carnage of 1914-18 into a celebratory nostalgiafest. I agree with him when he states that it “remains the historian’s task to analyse the past with as open a mind as possible.” In that spirit it is well to remember that many Irish veterans of the war felt that they had been betrayed and drew the conclusion that their service had been a mistake.
Your article was accompanied by a photograph of the victory parade in Dublin during July 1919. Earlier that month 2-3,000 members of the Irish Nationalist Veterans’ Association gathered at the Mansion House in Dublin, where they voted to boycott that event. Speakers from the floor stated that they returned from service abroad to find in Ireland a “larger army of occupation than Germany found necessary to keep down Belgium”.
The veterans were addressed by Mary Kettle, whose husband, Tom, had died on the Somme in 1916. She complained that “soldiers were asked to march past College Green, their own House of Parliament, where their rights were bartered away, to salute Lord French (who) as Lord Lieutenant and head of the Irish Executive was responsible for the rule of coercion in this country and for the betrayal of every Irish nationalist soldier who fought and fell in the war ...” She hoped “ in honour of her husband’s memory, not a single Dublin Fusilier would march in the procession. If it had brought about an Irish settlement they would march proudly; such was not the case; but, on the contrary, they were asked to join and unite with the army of occupation.”
Tom Kettle’s death is often held up as emblematic of Irish nationalist sacrifice in the war; his widow’s words help remind up of why memory of this conflict remains so problematic. – Yours, etc,
DR BRIAN HANLEY,
Dunmanus Road,
Dublin 7
Sir, – Regarding the hoopla currently under way concerning our participation in the Great War some thoughts come to mind. Interestingly, this conflagration was not started by Germany, not looked for, not provoked. Neither was there any reality to the manias of the time about “poor little Belgium” or Germany’s wish to “conquer the world”. Both were mythical. Another curiosity was that the largest, most powerful, most feared army in the world at the time was not that of Germany but of France.
The fact is that during the countdown to August 1914 the "warmongering" Kaiser was frantically casting about among Europe's chancelleries for any expedient that might head off the catastrophe he, more than anyone, could see looming ahead. In the Wilhelmine era, Germany had risen immensely in the world, artistically, scientifically, industrially, so much so that as early as 1906 there existed high up in His Majesty's Government a group determined to have Britain declare war on Germany for the express purpose of crushing it the moment a suitable casus belli presented itself.
Poor deluded Redmond, crooning about the promised paltry bauble of “home rule”, can hardly be blamed here. It was of their own volition that large numbers of Irishmen flooded into Britain’s armies to further a cause as unworthy as any in history, ie to annihilate the finest, most active, creative and honourable people the world has seen since the fall of Rome, a people with whom we had never had any quarrel. Mark the event by all means, but, recalling Kipling’s words “should any ask you why we died tell them – because our fathers lied”. Mark it for the tragedy it was. Yours, etc,
JOHN CULLY,
The Cedars,
Monkstown Valley,
Co Dublin
Sir, – I was taken with the photograph of the Great War victory parade past the old Irish parliament house in Dublin’s College Green in 1919, a building used in many recruiting posters and and postcards addressed to Irish nationalists, who thought they would advance Irish self-government by joining the British forces.
I think it only fair to point out that on the morning of that parade, three members of Ireland’s first democratic parliament, and that parliament’s clerk, were arrested by British agents and later sentenced to jail terms for conducting an illegal assembly – Dáil Éireann. – Yours, etc,
DONAL KENNEDY,
Belmont Avenue,
London N13
Sir, – James Connolly saw the first war as one of imperialist rivalry and spoke and voted against it in the Socialist International. Many young Irishmen who joined up were seeking an escape from grinding poverty In some cases even those in employment were to go at the behest of their employers and to keep their jobs. I see nothing in this to justify military celebrations or indeed commemorations. In human terms WW1 was a dire failure for all sides. – Yours, etc,
MAIRIN DE BURCA,
Upper Fairview Avenue,
Dublin 3
Sir. – I accept the worthiness of commemorating the many thousands of Irishmen who died in the first World War, but I am beginning to have doubts about the plethora of said ceremonies involving our Government. It smacks of retrospective embarrassment. Last week’s event at Glasnevin cemetery seemed to me to be a step too far. If the past 100 years has been characterised by a failure to pay tribute to the fallen, we are now perhaps going overboard now. This is especially true of your paper, although with your history as the voice of the unionist tradition this can be excused. I am not in any sense a rabid republican, but the pomp in Glasnevin made me uneasy. By all means have events to remember the dead, but so many? Yours, etc,
A JONES,
Mullagh,
Co Cavan
Sir, – Perhaps an antidote to the "imperialist" coverage of the centenary of the first World War might be a comparison of recruitment figures for parts of the British Isles during the war. According to JM Winter's "Britain's 'lost generation' of the First World War", quoted in JJ Lee's Ireland 1912-1985, 26 per cent of Scottish men of serving age joined the British army during the war and 24 per cent of Welsh men, but only 10 per cent of Irish men. A high of 43,000 Irish men who volunteered between August and December 1914 (half of them from Ulster) shrank to a low of 12,000 between August and March 1915 and figures fell further as the war progressed. Perhaps the war was not as popular here as some current studies would have us believe. Yours, etc,
JOHN HANAMY,
Ballinacurra Gardens,
Limerick
Sir, – I welcome the inclusion in the Decade of Commemoration of those Irish who fell in the Great War, but object to the Cross of Sacrifice ceremony held at Glasnevin last week given the presence at it of members of the British army. It seems that decades of propaganda with the specific purpose of incrementally deconstructing the narrative of the Irish State and restoring a British dimension here are bearing fruit. While it is appropriate to honour the Irish dead, what is not acceptable is the persistent efforts to confer a new respectability on the British army under the guise of honouring the Irish war dead. Sooner, rather than later, Irish society must make fundamental decisions regarding its political identity, ethos and future policy directions. Will we continue along the path of nation-building, asserting a distinct post-colonial Irish identity or do we instead see ourselves as part of the so-called “Anglosphere”? Yours, etc,
TOM COOPER,
Templeville Road,
Dublin 6W
Sir, – Now more than ever is the time to expose that 2000-year-old obscenity Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (it is sweet and dignified to die for your fatherland). There is no glory in luring naive young men and women to kill and be killed. A veritable deluge of commemorations of the first World War is upon us, politicians, aristocrats and bemedalled elites disporting themselves with pomp and ceremony to mark the beginning of that most horrendous sacrifice of the innocent youth that goes by the name of the Great War. It was wrong when Horace said it 2,000 years ago and it was wrong in 1914, 1916, 1939 and for all the "wars to make the world safe for democracy and freedom". Yours, etc,
MICHAEL ANDERSON,
Moyclare Close,
Dublin 13
Sir, – Thank you, President Higgins, for your more than wise words. We have, as you said, a multilayered sense of belonging. Our Irish Defence Forces continue to nurture, give pride and service to our country. I will always stand to attention when they pass. – Yours, etc,
ROBIN GILL,
Church Hill,
Carrigaline,
Co Cork