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Formation of Groups

Toward the end of the 19th century, and at the beginning of the 20th century, Irish nationalists were pushing for partial independence from Britain through the Home Rule movement.

By the early 1920’s, the country had become partitioned as southern Ireland gained partial independence from Britain. This turn in events was in part a result of actions by a revolutionary generation who were willing to declare their right to freedom through any means necessary.

After the Third Home Rule Bill became law in 1912, Ulster Unionist resistance to Home Rule entered a more militant phase with the formal establishment of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) by the Ulster Unionist Council in January 1913. The UVF were a paramilitary group devoted to opposing Irish Home Rule by arms if necessary.

Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force march through Belfast, rifles on shoulders shortly before the First World War. © IWM (Q 81771)


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The UVF were comprised of men aged 17 – 65 who had signed the Ulster Covenant. 


As a direct response to the formation of the UVF, Irish nationalists who sought to safeguard the introduction of Home Rule founded the Irish Volunteer Force (IVF) at the Rotunda in Dublin on the 25th November 1913. By mid 1914, the force had around 180,000 members including members of the Gaelic League, Ancient Order of Hibernians and Sinn Féin. 

The Irish Citizen Army (ICA) formed at the height of the Dublin Lockout of 1913 to protect striking workers from violent clashes with the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Led by a variety of trade unionists including James Connolly, the ICA were a small but competent socialist-militia comprising of mainly working-class males. The ICA also provided platforms for women to play a role in the revolution, most notably Kathleen Lynn, Helena Molony and Constance Markievicz.