Ireland and the Great War - Training and Discipline

Training and Discipline

Half the Irish recruits joined within the first six months of the declaration of war. Many worried that it would all be over before they could get to the front. They need not have concerned themselves.

"We thought we were the best-equipped army in the world"

Seán King, who had been stationed in India before the war, relates how members of the British Army found themselves unprepared for the new forms of warfare unleashed in 1914.

"Maybe your own officer would shoot you..."

Discipline could be harsh in the British Army. Jack King, who fought in the Royal Irish Regiment, outlines strong measures used to stiffen the nerves of the troops.