Irish Volunteers

The Irish Volunteers was a paramilitary organisation formed in November 1913. It was set up in response to an article by Eoin MacNeill in the nationalist newspaper, An Claidheamh Soluis. The article called on nationalists to arm themselves in order to achieve Home Rule.

With the advent of the First World War, there was a split in the Irish Volunteers. This was because the leader of the Nationalist Party, John Redmond, called on all Irish Volunteers to support the British war effort. Those who agreed with Redmond became the National Volunteers. Those who did not want to support the British in the war remained the Irish Volunteers, many of whom eventually took part in the 1916 Rising.