Ireland’s contribution during the First World War was substantial, and in many ways remarkable given the political divide on the island. Around 50,000 Irishmen were already serving or reservists in regular regiments in 1914 and a further 160,000 volunteered after war broke out.
Around 35,000 of these men died, and nowhere was the sacrifice more severe than on the Somme in 1916, where 2,000 men from the 36th (Ulster) Division were killed on the first day alone, with another 3,500 wounded. Two further days of fighting, in September, saw 1,200 men from the 16th (Irish) Division die, with 2,400 wounded.
These two units have dominated the narrative of the Irish in the First World War, but the story is far more complex, as was the attitude of the civilians back…