Fighting For Ireland: The Creation of Northern and Southern Irish National Identity during the First World War

Abstract

The decade of 1912-1923 in Ireland was a period of transition, change, and bloodshed. By the end of the period Ireland had gone from a British colony to two separate nations, the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. While the actions of radical ultra-nationalists and unionists insured this physical partition of Ireland, the psychological and cultural divide that dominates Irish society was also created during this period. The divide between north and south was created by the epic struggle of the First World War. Both northern and southern Irish attempted to use the war to reinforce their position in the new Ireland that was to be created at the war's conclusion. The results were drastically different for both sides as the south was driven into the arms of the ultranationalists and the north into the radical unionists. By looking at public monuments, widespread stereotypes and cultural works, the separation between northern and southern Ireland becomes obvious as each side interpreted the war on opposite ends of the spectrum. The south, with its republican-nationalist leaders choosing to ignore the war and the soldiers contributions to the creation of the new Irish state to the point where the nation now suffers from a "collective amnesia". In the north, the unionists took their role in the war to become one of the foundation stones in their culture and identity. Such veneration led the unionists to develop a culture of sacrifice and bloodshed, which has contributed to the violence in Northern Ireland.