The
Conscription Crisis of 1918 stemmed from a move by the
British government to impose
conscription (military draft) in
Ireland in April 1918 during the
First World War. Vigorous opposition was led by trade unions,
Irish nationalist parties and Roman Catholic bishops and priests. A conscription law was passed but was never put in effect; no one in Ireland was drafted into the
British Army. The proposal and backlash galvanised support for political parties which advocated Irish separatism and influenced events in the lead-up to the
Irish War of Independence.