The second half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence and steady growth in Britain of what has been termed ‘Christian militarism’, and the origins of this have been purported to lie in the Crimean War. Although it is evident that this new public sentiment, rhetoric and interaction of ‘religious people’ with the military did develop to a far greater extent in Great Britain, the initial emergence was evident among all denominations and throughout the entire United Kingdom. It has been shown in the previous chapter that within the public sphere the war elicited profound interest, enthusiasm, patriotism and support from a large cross-section of the Irish population, including all classes and creeds. While this enthusiasm and support may only have been skin deep, as it were, it was also evident within the country's various Christian churches and their adherents. Bishops, clergymen, soldiers and civilians, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics and Dissenters (with the exception of the Society of Friends) largely expressed a belief that the war against the ‘Northern barbarians’ was just and necessary. At certain stages this feeling was even used to profess a certain amount of inter-denominational unity, and included a denunciation of sectarianism. Elements of all denominations viewed the outbreak of the war, and its successes and failures, as providential. These views were espoused through pastoral letters, sermons, correspondence, diary entries and newspaper editorials, and were by and large comparable with those of their counterparts in Great Britain, and with France in the case of Catholics. The Crimean War saw a widespread movement by all denominations to Christianise the British Army, an organisation that was perceived to be both vile and corrupting. This was to be done through the provision of chaplains, unsanctioned (by the government) missionaries and the distribution of Bibles and tracts. The Irish Anglican, Presbyterian and Catholic churches all endeavoured to ‘save’ their respective military communicants during the war, and by those very methods.