The Fallen: The 36th Ulster Division

The 36th Ulster Division

Chapter One: The Beginning- During 1914 the Ulster volunteer force was formed by two men sir Edward Carson and James Craig. The reason for this was to oppose home rule in Ireland. In Ireland there are two strong Majoritys the Unionists and the Republicans,there is a hatred between both sides dating back to Martin Luther who formed the Prodestent religion. The Unionists class themselves as a Prodestent side and the Republicans class themselves as a Catholic side, The Unionists had a fear that home rule was about, and that meant a united Ireland but the Unionists didnt want that they wanted to be a part of britian. So the Unionists decided that they will take up arms and fight for there cause so this is were the ulster voulunteer force is formed. The Ulster voulunteer force was led by two men sir Edward Carson and James Craig, Sir edward carson was born on the 9th of january 1954 in the city of dublin in Ireland. James craig was born on the 8th of january 1871 in the city of Belfast Northern Ireland.
Chapter Two: Equipping for war- During 1914 the Ulster Voulunteer Force was taking up arms by gun-running 25,000 rifles and 3 to 5 million rounds of rifle ammunation, They smuggled these weapons in through the ports of Larne and Donaghadee small coastel towns in Northern Ireland. These weapons were brought in for the fight against the oppsoing side the Irish Voulunteer Force who was led by two men called James Connoly and Patrick Pearse. The Irish Voulunteer Force also had smuggled 900 rifles in the Howth gun-running a Village in Ireland. Both sides were ready to start a civil war in Ireland for there own causes but a turn of events stopped it happening.
Chapter three:A new war is Brewing- On august 4th 1914 Britian had declared war on Germany, This is when lord Kitchener started to form a 'new army' to fight. Looking at the situation in Ireland Britian came up with a plan to raise its armys numbers, To put it simple they approached the Ulster Voulunteer force and said if you fight for Britian we wont allow home rule. They did the same to the Irish voulunteer force and said if you fight for us we will give home rule, So both sides jumped to the deal and said okay we will fight for you.
Chapter Four: Training for war- Both the Ulster Voulunteer Force and the Irish Voulenteer Force started to train for war against the Germans. They both trained anywhere they could the Ulster Voulunteer Force trained in local orange halls and school yards the Irish Voulunteer Force trained in school yards and so on. When it came time to mobilize the troops both the Ulster Voulunteer force and the Irish Voulunteer Force was put into divisions. The Ulster Voulunteer Force was put up to make the 36th Ulster Division and the Irish Voulunteer force was put into the 16th Irish Division and the 10th Irish Divison.
Chapter 5: France- All 3 Divisons went on to have seen action in the most famous battles of the first world war the most notourious one is the battle of the Somme were the bravery of the comrades of the 36th Ulster Division earned them 4 vcs for there bravery in the heat of the battle. After the first day of the battle of the Somme the British suffered 57,470 casualties however 4,900 of them were from the 36th Ulster Divison. The 36th Ulster Division was the only one to achieve there objectives on that fateful day by capturing the Schwaben Redoubt of the germans and by doing so helped orther Divisions achieve there objectives in the coming days.
LEST WE FORGET