#OnThisDay 1913 The Irish Volunteers were formed at the Rotunda in Dublin with Eoin MacNeill as its head. Pearse, Davitt & other nationalists from the Gaelic League & AOH attended. It was formed in direct response to the formation of the UVF the previous year.
The Volunteers split in 1914 after John Redmond’s speech at Woodenbridge asking them to join the British War effort. The majority of the Volunteers sided with Redmond and were called National Volunteers but roughly 10,000 stayed in Ireland keeping the title IV and fought in the Easter Rising. Men from both the IV and the NV played a vital role in the War of Independence.
Pic: National Volunteers in Waterford 1915
The Irish at War 