Motivation: Why did they Fight for Ireland? The Motivation of Volunteers in the Revolution

Abstract

In recent historiography it has been shown that the reasons why people joined the Volunteers and became involved in violence during the revolutionary period in Ireland had often more to do with social context and coincidence than with an exceptional ideological commitment.¹ There were many what we can call ‘recruiting agents’ at work in the period before and after 1916, which drew in relatively a-political members. The GAA and the Gaelic League in particular supplied many new Volunteers. The popularity of militarism in the early twentieth century not only induced young men to join armies and volunteer organisations in great numbers throughout the western world, but also affected young women. Some of them set up or joined their own organisation, while many others showed their admiration for those who did in such a way that it constituted another motivating force for unattached young men. Peter Hart has also asserted that the mobilisation and activities of the Volunteers in the early period showed many similarities with traditional youth culture.² In general one could argue that a lot of young men took their lead from the local opinion makers and joined because they did so.