Irish Regiments
The Irish military diaspora refers to the many people of either Irish birth or extraction (see Irish diaspora) who have served in foreign military forces, regardless of rank, duration of service, or success.
Many foreign military units were primarily made of Irish people or those of Irish military diaspora and had the word 'Irish', an Irish place name or an Irish person in the unit's name. 'Irish' named military units took part in numerous conflicts throughout world history. The first military unit of this kind was in the Spanish Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch. A notable example would be that of Owen Roe O'Neill.
Read more about Irish Regiments: Austria and Austria-Hungary, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Latin America, Papal States, Portugal, Russia, Spain, United States of America
Famous quotes containing the word irish:
“I went to a very militantly Republican grammar school and, under its influence, began to revolt against the Establishment, on the simple rule of thumb, highly satisfying to a ten-year-old, that Irish equals good, English equals bad.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)