Page 6 - Defence Forces Pictorial History
P. 6
1913
Foundation of the Volunteers
Óglaigh na hÉireann
The Defence Forces
he Irish Volunteers, Óglaigh na hÉireann, were founded
on 25 November 1913 at a public meeting held in the
T Rotunda Rink in Dublin. The founders included The
ORahilly, a member of the governing body of the Gaelic League,
Eoin Mac Néill, Professor of Early and Mediaeval Irish History
at University College Dublin, and Patrick Pearse, another
prominent member of the Gaelic League.
The movement caught the public imagination so that by July
1914 the Volunteers numbered some 180,000 members. The
Volunteers were formed against a background of rising militancy
in Ireland. The spur for this was the Irish Home Rule Bill of
1912 to which the Unionists were vehemently opposed.
As a result of Unionist opposition to Home Rule, the Ulster
Volunteer Force was created and by 1913 had been organised
into a force of nearly 100,000 men. Inspired by the example of
Ulster, the Irish Volunteers were founded.
A Pictorial History of Óglaigh na hÉireann, the Defence Forces of Ireland
