Irish Volunteers & Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Volunteers were a military organization established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and included members of the Gaelic League, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (a fraternal organization for Catholic-Irish devoted to protecting Catholic rights and churches), Sinn Fein, as well as the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a fraternal organization devoted to the violent overthrow of British rule over Ireland. The Military Council of the IRB was responsible for the planning and instigation of Easter Rising. The Irish Volunteers formed when and where they did because a year prior in 1912, the Ulster Volunteers had formed to stay loyal to Great Britain and work against the nationalist movements sprouting up. The Irish Volunteers declared that their aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland". They believed it was their duty to devote their lives to the cause of nationalism in Ireland and break free of British rule over Ireland.
An important member of both the Irish Republican Brother as well as the Irish Volunteers was Padraic Pearse the 'commander-in-chief' of Easter Rising. Pearse was in love with Gaelic language as he was strongly influenced by his family members who remained true to the language as well as his in-laws. Due to this fact he became involved in the Gaelic revival and joined the Gaelic League believing in their unifying and reviving actions of Irish culture and tradition. Becoming involved in the Gaelic League he began to become inspired by republican movements and leaders of the 19th Century. He opened his own school, St. Edna's, to carry on the Irish tradition and move the revival of the language into the educational system. Pearse became more and more involved with republicans, the IRB, and the Irish Volunteers, and in doing so was chosen to become the spokesperson on the rising. He was a great speaker and used beautiful and symbolic imagery to rally the people of Ireland to the cause. He wrote many stories and poems as well as political essays. Pearse came from a middle class family so, his education allowed for him to be able to write and speak very well. It was Pearse who read the original Proclamation of the Irish Republic which began the Easter Rising rebellion on Easter Monday in 1916. After the rising, Pearse was court-martialled and executed on May 3rd for his involvement.
The Irish Volunteers increased rapidly to the strength of nearly 200,000 by mid-1914. That being said, as the tensions increased and the nationalism grew, preparing and fighting during the 1916 Easter Rising as well as the Irish War of Independence were to follow. The Irish Volunteers fought for Irish independence alongside the Irish Citizen Army, Cumann na mBan, and Fianna na Eireann. During 1919 the Irish Volunteers took part in the Irish War of Independence, the year in which it became known as the Irish Republican Army.
The Irish Volunteers were allied with the Irish Citizen Army. The Irish Citizen Army was also created in 1913, but by trained members of the trade union of the Irish Transport and General Workers. These men formed an army during the Lockout of 1913 in which there were armed and violent strikes between the union members and the Dublin Metropolitan Police. James Connolly, who was a commandant during Easter Rising, took charge of forming the men in armed battalions while Jack White, a former British Army Captain, who trained the men for military action.
In 1914, the members reorganized the Irish Citizen Army to have more formal order and command. At this time women also began to join the Irish Citizen Army, or ICA, such as Countess Constance Markievicz, who became James Connolly's second in command during Easter Rising. They were also equipped with Mauser rifles that had come from Germany with the help of the Irish Volunteers. Both groups took part in the gun running of 1914 to Howth and assisted in the protection of na Fianna in doing so. During Easter Rising, they most famously occupied Liberty Hall, as seen in the picture on the lower left, but also fought with the Irish Volunteers on St. Stephens Green and Dublin Castle. Following 1916, many members joined the Irish Republican Army, while other stayed in ICA regiments that assisted the IRA in Anti-Treaty occupations as well as skirmishes.