Between 1914 and 1918, many Irish Catholics in Canada found themselves in a vulnerable position. Not only was the Great War slaughtering millions, but tension and violence was mounting in Ireland over the question of independence from Britain and Home Rule. For Canada’s Irish Catholics, thwarting Prussian militarism was a way to prove that small nations, like Ireland, could be free from larger occupying countries. Yet, even as tens of thousands of Irish Catholic men and women rallied to the call to arms and supported government efforts to win the war, many Canadians still doubted their loyalty to the Empire. Retracing the struggles of Irish Catholics as they fought Canada’s enemies in Europe while defending themselves against charges of disloyalty at home, The Imperial Irish explores the development and fraying of interfaith and intercultural relationships between Irish Catholics, French Canadian Catholics, and non-Catholics throughout the course of the Great War. Mark McGowan contrasts Irish Canadian Catholics' beliefs with the neutrality of Pope Benedict XV, the supposed pro-Austrian sympathies of many immigrants from central Europe, Irish republicans inciting rebellion in Ireland, and the perceived indifference to the war by French Canadian Catholics, and argues that, for the most part, Irish Catholics in Canada demonstrated strong support for the imperial war effort by recruiting in large numbers. He further investigates their religious lives within the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the spiritual resources available to them, and church and lay leaders’ negotiation of the sensitive political developments in Ireland that coincided with the war effort. Grounded in research from dozens of archives as well as census data and personnel records, The Imperial Irish explores stirring conflicts that threatened to irreparably divide Canada along religious and linguistic lines.

Mark G. McGowan is professor of history at the University of Toronto, Principal Emeritus of St Michael’s College, and the author of Michael Power: The Struggle to Build the Catholic Church on the Canadian Frontier and The Waning of the Green: Catholics, the Irish, and Identity in Toronto, 1887–1922.

Mark G. McGowan's profile page

“Mark McGowan’s deep research into personal stories, newspapers, and multiple archives draws out the complex interplay of identity and loyalty during the war, observing how Irish Catholics justified service to the Crown. McGowan’s work provides new insight into the crisis around forcing young men to fight against their will, and Irish Catholics distanced themselves from those in French-speaking Canada. This is a fine book that sharpens our understanding of the complex interplay of fluid wartime identities and offers new ways to think about how the Great War shaped Canadians.” Tim Cook, Canadian Military History

“What emerges from McGowan’s tale is a rich and nuanced account of a Canadian people, shaped by religion and empire, and challenged by the greatest conflict of the twentieth century. Readers who are, like me, more familiar with the much more strident and divisive response to the war in Australia, fuelled by the opposition of the Irish-born Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, will find this a fascinating study in contrasts. It is well worth reading and should serve as a model for regional studies of religion, war, and empire.” Canadian Journal of History

"McGowan's sophisticated handling of primary sources, and wide-ranging but nuanced conclusions, makes this work a gold standard for any future works on religion and the Great War." Canadian Journal of Irish Studies

"The Imperial Irish brings together the accumulated results and insights of a generation of research into the history of the Irish Roman Catholic Church in Canada and its contribution to Canadian Great War national and ecclesiastical history. The chapters are tightly focused and make effective use of the personal experiences of many Irish Catholic Canadians. What most strikes me in the style is the ease with which the larger picture of institutions and issues flows back and forth into the lives of these people. This is mature scholarship – it is all of one fabric, one narrative, moving from personal to public and back. Mark McGowan has lived with these sources and also with these people for a long time." Duff Crerar, Grand Prairie Regional College, and author of Padre's in No Man's Land