I just picked up something special at the post office for my Irish collection - an Ulster Volunteers Mannlicher M1904 rifle. These were rifles made by Steyr out of leftover parts from their contract with Romania for Mannlicher M1893 rifles, except in 8mm Mauser instead of 6.5mm Mannlicher. The majority of them ended up being purchased by the Ulster Volunteers, a Protestant Unionist paramilitary dedicated to resisting the Irish Home Rule bill - the protestant majority which dominated Ulster was dead-set against becoming a minority in an independent, Catholic Ireland. The 10,000 odd UVF Mannlichers were actually smuggled illegally into Larne in a very elaborate operation.
The Irish nationalists responded by forming their own paramilitary to counter-balance them, leaving Ireland on the brink of Civil War before Home Rule was suspended with World War One. The UVF, which people tend not to realise was a much large, better armed force than the nationalists, volunteered en-masse and was largely wiped out in the Battle of the Somme, while the Volunteers (well, some of them, but that's another story) ended up rebelling in 1916 and became the IRA. The UVF Mannlichers ended up being placed in storage in 1914 and never used in anger, but represent an extremely important moment in Irish history all the same.
Pardon my feet, its hot today!
07-07-2015, 02:55 AM
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