While scholars have rightly recognised that the First World War transformed twentieth-century Ireland, this article queries assumptions regarding the scope and scale of public support for hostilities during 1917 and 1918. Eleven elite boys’ schools are used as case studies to assess civilian reactions to the ongoing war effort, food shortages, and the 1918 conscription crisis within specific institutional communities, illuminating the importance of socio-religious affiliations and political aspirations in determining late-war behaviour. Drawing on school magazines and newspaper coverage of college events, it is argued that alternative visions of statehood underpinned divergent reactions to the conflict; Protestant schools clung to fundraising and militaristic activities seen to support continued union with Britain but Catholic establishments rejected such endeavours in the wake of increased separatist sentiment. This research also casts new light on the interplay between conflict, educational socialisation and politicisation in revolutionary Ireland. Constitutional nationalist reputation aside, wartime mobilisation in elite Catholic schools proved extremely lacklustre, while the unionist expectations their Protestant counterparts had for the post-war world ultimately went unfulfilled. Prestigious colleges across the denominational spectrum demonstrably navigated late-war pressures on their own terms, shaping Ireland's political landscape both throughout and beyond the conflict's most contentious years.

中文翻译：

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“帮助赢得战争”还是“爱尔兰至上”？：1917-18 年爱尔兰的重新动员、政治和精英男孩教育

虽然学者们正确地认识到第一次世界大战改变了 20 世纪的爱尔兰，但本文质疑关于 1917 年和 1918 年公众支持敌对行动的范围和规模的假设。11 所精英男校被用作案例研究，以评估平民对敌对行动的反应。持续的战争努力、粮食短缺和 1918 年特定机构社区内的征兵危机，阐明了社会宗教归属和政治愿望在决定战后行为方面的重要性。借鉴学校杂志和报纸对大学活动的报道，有人认为，对国家地位的不同看法支持了对冲突的不同反应；新教学校坚持筹款和军国主义活动，以支持与英国继续联合，但在分离主义情绪增加后，天主教机构拒绝了这些努力。这项研究还为革命爱尔兰的冲突、教育社会化和政治化之间的相互作用提供了新的视角。撇开宪法民族主义的声誉不谈，精英天主教学校的战时动员证明极其乏味，而工会主义者对他们的新教同行对战后世界的期望最终没有实现。各个教派的著名大学显然都以自己的方式应对了战后的压力，在整个冲突最有争议的年份和之后塑造了爱尔兰的政治格局。