SNIPPET: The years leading up to the Great War of 1914-1918 were times of uncertainty and turmoil in Ireland. By 1912 it seemed that the British Parliament's third attempt at a Home Rule Bill would bring Ireland's long cherished dream of independence to fruition, albeit in a limited form. In the mainly unionist north-east, however, where the strong opposition to Home Rule was led by Dublin lawyer Sir Edward CARSON, the Ulster Volunteer Force was formed on military lines under the slogan, "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right." In 1914, a large consignment of arms was landed at Larne, Co. Antrim and the UVF began training in earnest. Meanwhile, arms for the nationalist Irish Volunteers, the mirror image of the UVF on the nationalist side, were landed at Howth, Co. Dublin. The stage seemed set for a bitter civil war. It was averted by an even greater calamity and, within a few years, men who had been implacable political and religious enemies became close comrades in arms. Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, and some 30,000 men of the Ulster Volunteers and a similar number from the Irish Volunteers enlisted to serve with the allies. There was no conscription in Ireland, and it is estimated that more than 200,000 Irishmen volunteered to serve in the British forces and that as many as 35,000 of them died in battle. The spirit of comradeship and tolerance that was forged between Ireland's two traditions in the First World War is being kept alive by a unique heritage centre in County Down, the Somme Heritage Centre near Newtownards. Website www.irishsoldier.org