Ireland’s popular response
This chapter will show that between 1854 and 1856 the Crimean War formed a central part of life for a broad cross-section of Irish people, regardless of class or creed, and even Irish culture. It will be argued that these responses of Irish society to the conflict were a mix of martial and often imperial enthusiasm coupled with substantial local interest. These exemplify the ambiguity of Ireland’s relationship with the union and the empire, but they also demonstrate the complex historical ambiguities of identity-formation on the island. This it will do by showing how Irish people demonstrated an insatiable public appetite for information relating to the war and a desire to engage with it physically; through newspapers, ballads, exhibitions, monuments but also the movements of troops and public celebrations. It will also be shown that the war also stands as a notable period for a variety of traditions, trends and practices during the wider nineteenth century and beyond.