An Irish Soldier on why he fought in World War One 

I don't understand why he would join to fight in another country's war. Especially Belgium after what they did in the Congo. My husband's grandfather also fought in WW1 but then joined the IRA in the war of independence.

@@carmelmulroy6459 Brainwashed. School was made mandatory by the British in 1892. The same thing that's currently going on in Russia. It's sad, really. I hope Ireland could cure this poison...

@@carmelmulroy6459 There was no internet back then.

I think my husband's grandfather did pretty well in the UK army but a few of his cousins were killed. I think as well nearly every Irish person has relatives living in the UK and if your cousin is the same age you might feel pressure to sign up with them.

He wasn't a brave Irishman. He was a traitor. No decent self respecting Irishman would have fought on the side of the scum that had subjugated us for so long. He was a fool and what a pity that he survived to bore us with his tales. The brave Irish men and women were fighting for our freedom in the GPO in 1916, while this loser was fighting for the Brits.

Each a volunteer, no conscription in Ireland.

I can assure you, as a Brit, that many, many of us appreciate and recognise the contribution of Irish soldiers not only in WWI but also those who fought 1939/45 (53,00 was it?) and also those brave Irishmen who fought from Corunna to Kabul back in the day. Éirinn go Brách.

Thank you for your assistance. Long live Ireland

Rest assured... not everyone forgets Irelands contribution.. 😉

Ironic because more volunteered to fight for britain in the south than the north. Though the north was busy with German air attacks which they were vulnerable to. Around 70,000 in the british army were Irish servicemen.

Have you ever had to.live under Brit rule in ireland

@@seamusmadden4896 i very much doubt it

@@seamusmadden4896 Well I’m living in London which I believe is under Brit rule. It’s terrible here compared to the Republic. We have a public transport system, a working healthcare system, great roads, rule of law. There are many things which could be improved but we haven’t got the cronyism corruption of Irish politics to help. But don’t worry back in Ireland they have a political system which is planning to replace the Irish population, a stand in Taoiseach who says national sovereignty is a thing of the past and homelessness in the tens of thousands while economic migrants are being housed as quickly as possible. Sure you’d miss the Irish welcome. Actually I forget Sinn Fein who are open border advocates and want even more immigrants. Silly me.

@@freespeechisneverwrong9351 Irish has all these thing u mention so no corruption in British politics?

@@JosephE-yd6ksor maybe you have no argument which is why you resort to namecalling which is the last resort of those who have lost the argument. Come on you can do better than that.

This applies to all nations. A common refrain I’ve heard is how soldiers on opposite sides would be shaking hands find much in common and be friends if not for war. Dire Straits Brothers in arms is a great example of this feeling

I suggest you read up on Peter Hitchens. Those first to sign up were British middle class and upper class industrialists, scientists, businessmen owners, engineers, chemists etc. And they were all led to their deaths going over the top with no children to leave behind. It is the single biggest reason why British industry never recovered because we sent our brightest to their death. At the time the working class wasn't trust and were the last to be signed up. This is where facts meet your fantasy and blanket statements about the age old myth of the government hating on the working class.

@@markymark5289 My great grandfather signed up in 1914 as a postman’s apprentice, another signed up at the same time as a coal miner. Not quite a fleet of Captain Blackadders as you suggest.

@@tailofbud2399 Look at those who signed up. Overwhelmingly those that signed up at the start were of middle class and upper class. The government believed that having better educated soldiers would win the war, ignoring the tactics of going over the top into German machines guns was disastrous and outright handing them a death sentence.

@@tailofbud2399 ......they weren't handed white feathers then by the ladies who made it their business to shame young men not in uniform ? For the navy only best and brightest became officers but for the army any incompetent upper class fool could even buy their commission . Strategic planned actions instead of charging machine guns didn't start until General Monash arrived ,he was a civil engineer and became a lawyer later .

What does Scotland have to do with anything

Scotland is literally England’s Equal. They should not be mentioned here. They done as much damage to the Irish as the English did

@@lasakau272 Ok

@@lasakau272 That has nothing to do with anything

1898 to be exact.

Yeah because religion has a lot to do with it! You clown, world is bigger than Northern Ireland and petty sectarianism

Christy B: You’ve won first prize for your sectarian unionist observation on this thread. Edit: you now have the clean sweep of podium places gold, silver and bronze for your bigoted anti-catholic rants. Sleep tight wrapped in your unionist flag tonight, you and your loyalist brethren will be abandoned by Westminster and hung out to dry. Your English parliament doesn’t want you.

@@LancerFFS Your pal Gerry Adams and the late Pat McClure gathered to decide on the fate of Jean McConville. Gerry Adams took part in the brutal murder of Jean McConville was abducted by the I.R.A and tortured late in 1972, held for a while and brought ultimately in the dark of night to Shellinghill Beach in Co Louth, her difficult life ended with a single shot to the back of the head.Michael was 11, Thomas eight, Susan seven and Jim six. Three of the 10 children then left orphaned are dead Annie, Billy and Agnes. Two more, Helen and Robert, were not in court. They didn’t get justice and perhaps, even probably, never will, but they got a disputed truth. Gerry Adams Sinn Fein I.R.A.

1860s Catholic newspapers in the USA could trivialise the plight of black slaves and argue against abolition, while at the same time insisting on the incomparable suffering of the Irish. This was an early iteration of the Mope syndrome the self image of the Catholic Irish as the Most Oppressed People Ever.More surprisingly, some exiles from the radical United Irish movement took up the pro-slavery cause when they arrived. The 1840s revolutionary John Mitchel readily fused hatred of England of been anti slavery and a defence of slavery. From his standpoint.We deny that it is a crime, or a wrong, or even a peccadillo, to hold slaves, to buy slaves, to sell slaves to keep slaves to their work, by flogging or other needful coercion. New York in 1863 saw Irish immigrants descend on black neighbourhoods, burning and lynching as they pursued the business of ethnic cleansing. In recent times, the notion of the Irish as somehow the equivalent of African-Americans in terms of oppression has been pressed into service in extremist Irish American political circles. Appropriating the suffering of other ethnic groups may be bad history but it finds fertile expression on social media.

@@christyb271 I give you one thing 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕 no one cares .

The 4by2's bend with the wind.

They wanted freedom.

This line was hilarious 😂

Why do you believe the Palestinians are in the wrong?

@@SaltyLemonChops Give me one reason why you think they are in the right and I shall endeavor to respond to that one issue. Otherwise, the subject is simply too huge.

Kevin O'Neil they’re being forced out of their homes and being told that their land belongs to other people who were given that land by god. They don’t deserve that kind of treatment. Why can the land not be shared?

@@SaltyLemonChops Great point. Firstly, you are probably aware of the fact that there has only ever been one kingdom in the land of Israel, the Jewish Kingdom. When they were exiled by the Romans in AD135, the land fell into utter desolation, the few inhabitants being passing nomads and small impoverished villages. There never was a nation of Palestine, the people called by that name are of Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Egyptian, et al, origin. The land only became desirable when it flourished under Jewish ownership. Prior to the War of Independence in '48, the Jews purchased land legally at vastly inflated prices from those who claimed the land. When the 5 Arab nations declared war on the Jews in '48, the Arabs told the 'Palestinian' settlers to vacate their homes, promising them a safe return after the Jews were annihilated. The Jews told the settlers that they didn't need to leave and that, if they stayed, they would gain full citizenship alongside the Jews, but if they left, their land would be forfeited. The vast majority left, those that stayed did, indeed receive citizenship and the full rights that go with it. They live today alongside their Jewish neighbours. Fast forward to today. The Arabs who leave their homes, do so for one of at least three reasons: 1. The Jews have paid them handsome sums for their land, therefore it is legally owned. 2. The Arabs have built dwellings on land illegally. 3. A member of the family has committed a terrorist atrocity, such planting a bomb at a Jewish wedding or slitting the throats of a whole family as they slept, including a baby of three months. The entire family have their home demolished as punishment. You make a mistake when you say that the Jews claim to the land is based on God's promise. The Israeli Government is completely secular and their claims are based on the law of the land. Thankyou for reducing your comment to one issue, but even this is so huge that it is virtually impossible to cover it satisfactorily. Here is an interesting fact. When the British held the Mandate, they promised the Jews a large chunk of land, but, following WWI, the British felt they owed the Arabs something and so gave most of the land promised to the Jews, to the Arabs. Today that land is Jordan. Jordan is the real Palestine, they already have a land. The Jews were left with the tiny sliver you see today. One other fact. You ask why they can't live together in peace. The answer is, the Arabs don't want peace, they want the Jews expelled or dead. Many times in the past there have been peace conferences and every time Israel has agreed to the terms set forth by the UN and every time, without one exception, the Arabs have refused peace. They want all of the land, period. Israel even agreed to giving them East Jerusalem for their capital, but that too was rejected, the Arabs insist on it all. In short, they have proved that it is impossible to live peacefully alongside them. Please present your question to an Arab of the area and, if he is honest, he will tell you that he is mandated by his religion to wage eternal war on the infidel, especially the Jews. While the Arabs stew in bitterness and hatred, Israel is one of the leading lights in scientific and medical advances. Excuse me for wandering away from the subject.

This west brit thing is annoying. It’s made up by idiots who think Irishneas is one thing and everyone else is an other including people with certain accents, or speak a certain way or live in certain places.

That’s an Irish accent. 100%. He’s even from the North Side. The house is still there. Not everyone has to sound like they were in the Commitments. I’m beginning to think people don’t even know what a west Brit is.

What exactly is a "West Brit"?

@@tonychearnley3236 An Irish person who is either unionist or who apes the accent and characteristics of the English. It’s a derogatory term. And it’s constantly thrown at those who served in the British army despite the fact that other than their military service, they possess no other “west Brit” tendencies. The 1916 rising and War of Independence warped the popular view of veterans of the Great War. Despite many supporting independence and many even fighting for it against the army they had served in, armchair republicans sully their names as “west Brits”.

Accents are constantly evolving, for example actors in American movies from the 1930's sound remarkably different from actors today.

They were Irish soldiers in the British army. It isn’t difficult.

✅

He fought against the British on his return.

As Michael Collins said to a girl he knew when she asked him where he'd get the men to fight for Ireland when he was on his way to a prison camp in Wales after the 1916 rebellion he just smiled and said shure won't his majesty train them for me.

@@Minime163 his Majesty's men certainly trained Dalton anyway.

A redcoat is right. A good friend to your Commander in Chief you proved to be!

Oh shut up what the fuck did you ever do that could compare too what that man did. He was 17. You coming on here mouthing off about republicanism with your Celtic jersey on and the Wolfe tones on. Gob shites like you do my head in. Fucking Sinn Fein is the single biggest obstacle too a united ireland and you are too stupid too realise it.