|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
Ulster Volunteer Force
Ulster Volunteer Force, created in January 1913, during the third Home Rule crisis, to coordinate the paramilitary activities of Ulster unionists. Volunteer activity spread among unionists in 1911–12, and was brought under the control of the Ulster Unionist leadership through the launch of the UVF. The UVF, with a membership of c.90,000, and led by retired officers of the British army, represented a formidable political tool. Grass‐roots pressure brought the Larne gun‐running of April 1914, and the partial arming of the UVF, but its military condition remained imperfect. Nevertheless, the Volunteers made a substantial contribution to Kitchener's New Army through their role in the 36th (Ulster) Division. The UVF was revived in July 1920, in the context of the Anglo‐Irish war; but was later largely incorporated within the official Ulster Special Constabulary.
The title ‘Ulster Volunteer Force’ was resurrected in 1966, and applied to a group of militant loyalists from the Shankill Road, Belfast, who were opposed to the liberal unionism of Terence O'Neill: this organization was proscribed by O'Neill after two murders committed in June 1966. By 1972 the UVF had attained a strength of c.1,500. It was legalized in April 1974 in an effort to guide it towards constitutional activity, but was again banned in October 1975. Successful prosecutions, following penetration by police informants, reduced its size and effectiveness in the later 1970s and 1980s, but a ruthless and elusive core remained. Between 1969 and 1994, when its leadership signed the joint loyalist ceasefire, the UVF was the principal loyalist organization responsible for sectarian and political assassination in Northern Ireland. Alvin Jackson |
|
|
Cite this article
"Ulster Volunteer Force." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Ulster Volunteer Force." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-UlsterVolunteerForce.html "Ulster Volunteer Force." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-UlsterVolunteerForce.html |
|
Ulster Volunteer Force
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) (Northern Ireland) A Protestant paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1912 to prevent more autonomy for Ireland from Great Britain (Home Rule), as the Protestant majority in the North feared they would suffer from being ruled by the Catholic majority in southern Ireland. Armed to the teeth and led, amongst others, by Edward Carson, it was prepared to use force and achieve its goals through civil war, with the thinly disguised encouragement of the Conservative Party led by Bonar Law. A clash with the southern Irish nationalists was averted by World War I. Many of its members joined the 36th (Ulster) Division, which suffered heavy casualties on the Somme in 1916. After the war the UVF cooperated with the Black and Tans, until the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The UVF was revived in 1966, in opposition to O'Neill's reforms. It was declared illegal in that year.
|
|
|
Cite this article
JAN PALMOWSKI. "Ulster Volunteer Force." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAN PALMOWSKI. "Ulster Volunteer Force." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-UlsterVolunteerForce.html JAN PALMOWSKI. "Ulster Volunteer Force." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-UlsterVolunteerForce.html |
|
Ulster Volunteer Force
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Formed in 1913, as the military backup to Ulster loyalist resistance to the third Home Rule Bill, and led by ex-British army officers and generals, the UVF achieved success in the Larne gun-running. Its membership totalled 100,000. It ceased with the First World War, but its veterans were the basis of the Ulster Special Constabulary, formed in 1920–1. The name was resuscitated in the mid-1960s for a secret protestant paramilitary force, responsible for sectarian assassinations, preceding the outbreak of widespread violence in 1969. Outlawed in the 1970s, it remained less popular and active than the Ulster Defence Army (UDA), with which it frequently clashed. The prominence of its long-imprisoned leader, Gusty Spence, in the announcement of the loyalist cease-fire in October 1994 has inflated its significance.
Michael Hopkinson |
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Ulster Volunteer Force." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Ulster Volunteer Force." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-UlsterVolunteerForce.html JOHN CANNON. "Ulster Volunteer Force." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-UlsterVolunteerForce.html |
|
Ulster Volunteers
Ulster Volunteers An Irish paramilitary organization, formed in 1912 to exclude Ulster from the HOME RULE Bill then about to go through Parliament. Its supporters pledged themselves ‘to use all means’ to resist this. They were given every encouragement by Sir Edward CARSON and several prominent English Conservatives. The Volunteers were drilled and armed: thousands of rifles were smuggled into Ireland for their use. A clash between these Volunteers and the nationalist Irish Volunteers (formed in Dublin in 1913) became probable but was averted by the start of World War I.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"Ulster Volunteers." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Ulster Volunteers." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-UlsterVolunteers.html "Ulster Volunteers." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-UlsterVolunteers.html |
|
Ulster Volunteer Force
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Formed in 1913, as the military back‐up to Ulster loyalist resistance to the third Home Rule Bill, the UVF achieved success in the Larne gun‐running. It ceased with the First World War, but its veterans were the basis of the Ulster Special Constabulary, formed in 1920–1. The name was resuscitated in the mid‐1960s for a secret protestant paramilitary force. Outlawed in the 1970s, it remained less popular and active than the Ulster Defence Army (UDA), with which it frequently clashed.
|
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Ulster Volunteer Force." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Ulster Volunteer Force." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-UlsterVolunteerForce.html JOHN CANNON. "Ulster Volunteer Force." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-UlsterVolunteerForce.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
