April 5th, 1916
The Irish Volunteers, also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland.
Easter Rising, 1916
The official stance of the Irish Volunteers was that action would only be taken if the Dublin Castle administration attempted to disarm the Volunteers, arrest their leaders, or introduce conscription to Ireland.
The IRB, however, was determined to use the Volunteers for offensive action while Britain was tied up in the First World War. Their plan was to circumvent MacNeill’s command, instigating a Rising, and to get MacNeill on board once the rising was a fait accompli.
Pearse issued orders for three days of parades and manoeuvres, a thinly disguised order for a general insurrection.
MacNeill soon discovered the real intent behind the orders and attempted to stop all actions by the Volunteers. He succeeded only in putting the Rising off for a day, and limiting it to about 1,000 active participants within Dublin and a very limited action elsewhere. Almost all of the fighting was confined to Dublin - though the Volunteers were involved in engagements against RIC barracks in Ashbourne, County Meath, and there were actions in Enniscorthy, County Wexford and in County Galway.
The Irish Citizen Army supplied slightly more than 200 personnel for the Dublin campaign.
