Within that corpus of literature, the role and significance of youths in the Nationalist movement, especially during the 1910s and early 1920s, is an important theme that has to date been afforded little attention. This lacuna in Irish historiography is surprising given the substantial number of surviving accounts by minors involved in well–known militant organisations, notably Fianna Éireann and the Irish Volunteers (later the Irish Republican Army). As this study will demonstrate, the unprecedented involvement of an emerging generation of boys and girls in the political and militant activities associated with the Revolution increased and diversified significantly during the 1910s and early 1920s. The aim of this thesis is, therefore, to explore and evaluate both the evolving nature and the significance of their involvement that left a lasting impact on the campaign for independence.