Irish in the British Armed Forces Irish in the British Armed Forces The Irish in the British Armed Forces refers to the history of Irish people serving in the British Armed Forces (including the British Army, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and other elements). Ireland was then as part of the United Kingdom from 1800-1922 and during this time in particular many Irishmen fought in the British Army. Different social classes joined the military for various reasons, including the Anglo-Irish officers who thoroughly identified with the British Empire, while others, typically poorer Irish Catholics did so to feed their families or seeking adventure. Many
Officer (armed forces) armed forces, and the senior 13.7% of the French armed forces. In 2012, officers made up about 18% of the German armed forces, and about 17.2% of the United States armed forces. Historically, however, armed forces have generally had much lower proportions of officers. During the First World War, fewer than 5% of British soldiers were officers (partly because World War One junior officers suffered very high casualty rates). In the early twentieth century, the Spanish army had the highest proportion of officers of any European army, at 12.5%, which was at that time considered unreasonably high by many Spanish