The forgotten role of women insurgents in the 1916 Rising The forgotten role of women insurgents in the 1916 Rising Mon, Mar 20, 2006, 00:00 The debate surrounding the 90th anniversary of 1916 tends to forget about one important group of participants - women. Tom Clonan examines the role of women in the rising Contemporary accounts suggest that up to 90 women took part in the rebellion of Easter 1916 in Dublin. Sixty or so were members of Cumann na mBan (the League of Women), formed in 1914 by a group of women who attended the inaugural meeting the previous November of the Irish Volunteers. The constitution of Cumann na mBan contained explicit references to the use of force by arms against crown forces in Ireland. Under its constitution, the primary aim of the organisation was to "advance the cause of Irish liberty" and "teach its members first aid, drill, signalling and rifle practice in order to aid the men of Ireland". Weapons training became an integral part of Cumann na mBan's core activities.

For example, in addition to the rifle training mentioned in their constitution, documents held at Military Archives in Dublin show Cumann na mBan members including a Lily O'Connor to have been "highly proficient" in the use of a wide range of weapons including Webley, Colt and Smith and Wesson revolvers. On the day of the Rising, 40 such women - including Winifred Carney who arrived armed with both a Webley revolver and a typewriter - entered the General Post Office on O'Connell Street in Dublin with their male counterparts. By nightfall, women insurgents were established in all of the major rebel strongholds throughout the city - bar one. Éamon de Valera, located in Boland's Mill had no women under his command. According to some sources, de Valera steadfastly refused, in defiance of the orders of Pearse and Connolly, to allow women fighters into the Boland's Mill garrison. One Cumann na mBan member who fought in the Rising, Sighle Bean Uí Donnachadha later remarked: "De Valera refused absolutely to have Cumann na mBan girls in the posts.

The result, I believe, was that the garrison there did not stand up to the siege as well as in other posts." ADVERTISEMENT The women in the rebel garrisons fought alongside the men and were not confined - as is commonly believed - to nursing duties or other tasks traditionally assigned to women such as making tea and sandwiches for the fighting men. Constance Markiewicz for example - armed with a pistol - during the opening phase of the hostilities shot a policeman in the head near St Stephen's Green. Later, Markiewicz along with other female fighters - after a day of carrying out sniper attacks on British troops in the city centre - demanded that they be allowed to bomb the Shelbourne Hotel. Their superior officer, Michael Malinn, refused on the grounds that the risks to the women were "too great". According to contemporary accounts, Markiewicz's indignant reply was that the 1916 Proclamation, the rebels' declaration of their beliefs and intentions, stated that women were equal and that they had the same right to risk their lives as the men. Mallin relented and a number of women were shot en route to the Shelbourne.

In a related incident, volunteer Margaretta Keogh was shot dead outside the South Dublin Union. Margaret Skinnider, a Glasgow schoolteacher who had heard about the rising through suffragette contacts travelled to Ireland during her Easter holidays to join the armed struggle on the basis that it promised equal voting rights for women - a revolutionary idea at the time. She arrived - miraculously - by bicycle and managed to join the garrison at the Royal College of Surgeons on St Stephen's Green. Later, on being shot and captured by British troops near Harcourt Street, she was imprisoned and sentenced to death by the military authorities. Later, while on hunger strike her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. She was subsequently released and returned to Scotland to write a memoir of her activities entitled Doing My Bit For Ireland. Another sizeable contingent of women, mostly members of the Irish Citizens Army, also fought during the rising. The Irish Citizens Army expressly committed its female members to combat during the insurrection and women from this organisation played a vital role in a failed attack on Dublin Castle - from the rebel's point of view, the most potent symbol of British occupation and oppression.

Under the command of Seán Connolly, a contingent of 10 men and nine women - armed with revolvers - launched an attack on the gates of the castle. Failing to gain entry, they fell back and occupied City Hall just beside it. Later, the rebel garrison at City Hall under the command of Kathleen Lynn - the only officer present - surrendered to the British. At first, the British refused to take the surrender from a woman and seemed at odds as to what to do with the women they encountered in the various garrisons throughout the city. Initially, the British military authorities simply asked the women to "go home". They refused. Many, like Kathleen Lynn, were sentenced to death. Those sentenced to death went on hunger strike and succeeded in having their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Eventually, they were released. Lynn - the first female medical doctor to be elected a resident doctor to the Adelaide Hospital - subsequently went on to found St Ultan's Hospital in Dublin's city centre where she initiated Ireland's first immunisation programme for children. As the rising ground to a halt under a ferocious British onslaught, women all over the city surrendered with their male counterparts.

In the GPO, Pearse selected Elizabeth Farrell to present the surrender to the British authorities. Rose McNamara, the officer in command of the female detachment at the Marrowbone Lane Distillery presented the surrender of herself and 20 other women to the British. According to an account of that surrender: "The women of the garrison could have evaded arrest but they marched down four deep in uniform along with the men. An attempt was made to get them to sign a statement recanting their stand but this failed. ADVERTISEMENT "Miss McNamara who led the contingent went to the British OC [ the officer commanding] and explained they were part of the rebel contingent and were surrendering with the rest." In the years that followed, women played a high profile role in the emerging Irish Free State. Six women were elected to the first Dáil of May 1921. Forty three women were also returned to borough and district councils. Kathleen Clarke, the first female lord mayor of Dublin was elected in this period. Women also served as judges in the Sinn Féin courts between 1919 and 1921.

All of these developments for women - revolutionary when compared with the lot of women elsewhere in Europe at the time - were consistent with the renewed and newly stated aims of Cumann na mBan. In 1921, the organisation reiterated at its annual convention that its primary aim was: "To follow the policy of the Republican Proclamation by seeing that women take up their proper position in the life of the nation." In the same year, negotiations in London between an Irish delegation led by Arthur Griffith, the founder and head of Sinn Féin, and Michael Collins, minister for finance in the government established by the first Dáil in 1919 and head of the IRA, and the British government headed by prime minister David Lloyd George, led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty which delivered Irish independence but at a price: six counties in Ulster would, as Northern Ireland, remain part of the United Kingdom because a majority there wanted nothing to do with the Irish Free State, as the South was to be known. The Treaty was supported strongly by Griffith and Collins, and ratified by the Dáil, but was rejected by Éamon de Valera. In the ensuing civil war, Cumann na mBan also took the anti-Treaty side.

The role of the women drew particular criticism at the time. A London newspaper, The Sunday Graphic published an article headlined "Irish Gunwoman Menace" which described them as "trigger happy harpies". Underscoring the conservative years to come, the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Ireland issued a pastoral letter in October 1922 urging all women to desist from revolutionary activities. The government of the Free State banned Cumann na mBan in January 1923 and opened up Kilmainham Gaol as a detention prison for suspect women. Minutes of the executive council of the Senate and Army Intelligence reports of the period - held at Military Archives - identify female dissidents at the time as a primary threat to the security of the state. The then minister for home affairs, Kevin O'Higgins, described the female dissidents as "hysterical young women who ought to be playing five fingered exercises or helping their mothers with the brasses". Slowly but surely, the women were deterred from continuing in their dissident activities as greater numbers were arrested and interned. Some remained defiant, however.

In 1922, Máire Comerford found herself inside the Four Courts which was being shelled by the newly formed Free State Army. She later recounted the manner in which "the building was shelled through and enveloped in flames. It was time for all of us to leave or surrender. I rode off through the smoke and the ruined buildings on my bicycle. I had stayed almost to the end and had cheated the enemy". Comerford was subsequently arrested for her part in a plot to kidnap the then taoiseach, W T Cosgrave. She was shot and wounded while trying to escape. She resorted to hunger strike and was eventually released. A final handful of women continued to fight. Armed with a revolver an Eithne Coyle held up the evening train at Creeslough and set fire to all of the newspapers on board. ADVERTISEMENT For a month she continued hijacking and burning trains. In order to facilitate these activities, Cumann na mBan operated city-wide creches to release women for active duty. In documents held at Military Archives in Dublin, a Free State army officer describes raiding a "baby club" at 21 Werburgh Street where "seditious" papers were seized.

Other papers seized by the military authorities at the time reveal a great deal about the wider military activities of female volunteers. One letter from the intelligence department of the IRA - 1st Northern Division - to female "Operative No 23" states: "Girls can get any amount of information from most men. Get them going. Don't think there is anything ignoble about army intelligence work. There is not - decidedly not. No army can move an inch or win the slightest victory without it. Help us move miles. Help us win victories. Realise your own importance - we realize it and rely on you." However, as the 1920s wore on, the role that women played in the political life of the nation steadily waned. The mythology of 1916 that became central to the emerging identity of the State contained little or no reference to the activities of the women who participated in the rising. Their contribution remains largely unrecognised in the debate today on the legacy of 1916.

The 1916 Rising - Department of Taoiseach The 1916 Rising Leagan Gaeilge Aspirations of the 1916 Rising The men and women of the 1916 Rising envisaged a new Ireland as a national democracy; an Ireland which, in the words of the Proclamation, ‘guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and [which] declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally.’ They believed that this could only be achieved through complete independence. When they seized the General Post Office in Dublin on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, the leaders of the Rising proclaimed a free Irish Republic in which the egalitarian idea was centrally enshrined. The Proclamation, which was first read out by Patrick Pearse on the steps of the GPO just after noon, declared the rights of the people of Ireland to be sovereign. It looked forward to the establishment of a native Government elected on the democratic principles of self-determination and government by consent.

The 1916 rising set in train an unstoppable process which led to the separation of Ireland from Great Britain. The events of 1916 must be viewed against the backdrop of the broader nationalist movement, the convictions of those who opposed any weakening of the link with the Crown and the momentous events being played out on the battlefields of Europe in one of the bloodiest conflicts that the world had ever seen. It should be noted that the continuing threat of conscription brought about by the manpower needs of the war consolidated the growing rift within the popular opinion. The ongoing frustration within Nationalist Ireland at the lack of progress on Home Rule, the prospect that it would not even be for the whole island, reinforced by the refusal of the British War Office to allow the creation of a distinctly Irish Brigade, and its rejection of even an Irish divisional badge, was compounded by the abhorrence of the executions. Home Rule The demand for Home Rule as articulated by the Irish Parliamentary Party had dominated Irish politics since the 1870s. This was strongly resisted by Unionism.

As the prospect of some form of Home Rule gained momentum in the early 1900s, Ulster increasingly became the focus of Unionism’s attempts to resist Home Rule. The imminent passage of the third Home Rule Bill, influenced by a British Government’s parliamentary dependency on Irish MPs, led to the formation by Unionists of the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1912. This represented an attempt to prevent the implementation of the third Home Rule Bill by the threat of force and precipitated the formation of the nationalist Irish Volunteers. The outbreak of World War I overshadowed the Irish crisis. The long awaited Home Rule Bill, though placed on the statute book, was not to come into effect until after the war, at which point special arrangements, yet to be negotiated, to meet the objections of Ulster Unionists would be introduced. World War I Official British estimates record over 200,000 Irishmen, from both traditions, fought in World War I with approximately 40,000 losing their lives. For Unionism, it was an issue of loyalty to the Crown. For Nationalists the situation was more complex.

The leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond, was also the nominal political leader of the Irish Volunteers. At a speech in Woodenbridge in September 1914, he pledged his support for the war effort and called on the Volunteers to go “wherever the firing line extends.” The majority of the Volunteers supported Redmond’s position and formed the National Volunteers. A smaller contingent led by Eoin MacNeill kept the name Irish Volunteers and refused to support the British war effort. The war was initially promoted by Britain as “the defence of little Belgium”. It later evolved into one fought for the rights of small nations as expressed by President Wilson, and the principle of self determination for such nations, especially in the defeated central European Empires formed much of the debate at the subsequent peace talks at Versailles. For some Irish nationalists there was an irony in fighting in the British army for such a cause. Moreover initial public enthusiasm for the war quickly faded as it was felt that there was little recognition for the contribution of those Irishmen who had enlisted. The rising casualty lists, allied to the threat of conscription, further dented such enthusiasm. 1916 Rising It was against this backdrop that the 1916 Rising was organised.

Elements within the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a secret association going back to 1858, which had consistently held as their aim the securing of a separate and distinct Irish Republic, formed the plan. It was hoped that the Rising would secure Ireland a place at a peace conference after the war. IRB members had risen to positions of prominence in the Volunteers and it was this force, along with the Irish Citizen Army led by James Connolly, that carried out the Rising. The broad spectrum of views and backgrounds of the Irish Volunteers was reflected in divisions amongst its leadership. The issue of conflicting orders, by those supporting and opposed to the Rising, made for a confused beginning to the Rising. It should be noted that the membership of the Irish Volunteers had risen from 2/3000 members in September 1914 to circa 15,000 by 1916. The organisation was strongly infiltrated by the Irish Republican Brotherhood On Easter Monday, 24 April, 1916, the General Post Office in Dublin was occupied by the insurgents and it became their headquarters. The Proclamation was read from here on the same day. The signatories were Thomas J.

Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada, P.H. Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas MacDonagh, Eamonn Ceannt and Joseph Plunkett. It sets out their aspirations not just for freedom from British rule, but to create an Ireland where all people could be free to accomplish their potential regardless of their wealth, class or religion. The insurgents also occupied other strategic buildings in Dublin, such as the Four Courts, Boland’s Bakery, Jacobs Factory, the College of Surgeons and the South Dublin Union. While most of the action took place in Dublin, sizeable numbers of Volunteers turned out in Louth, Wexford, Galway and Ashbourne. Fighting lasted a week and resulted in the deaths of over 250 civilians, 130 members of the crown forces and over 60 insurgents. In an effort to prevent further bloodshed, Pearse declared an unconditional surrender which read “ In order to prevent further slaughter of the civil population and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, the members of the Provisional Government present at headquarters have decided on an unconditional surrender, and commandants or officers commanding districts will order their commands to lay down arms. P.H.

Pearse, Dublin 30th April 1916.” Many Volunteer units marched in formation to lay down their weapons. It has to be said that, public opinion was not initially on the side of the insurgents, due to lack of understanding of the purpose, as well as the loss of life; the carnage and bloodshed. However, this was to quickly change. Aftermath The suppression of the Rising was immediate and vigorous. The city centre was shelled. Despite the concentration of activity in Dublin, martial law was proclaimed and extended across the country. Over 3,500 people were arrested – over twice the number who took part in the rising.. By May 1,600 had been interned in Wales, without trial. Fifteen prominent insurgents were executed between 3rd May and 12th May. (Roger Casement was subsequently hanged in Pentonville Prison in August 1916).

The executions, provoked public outrage, particularly those of William Pearse, for largely being the brother of Padraig Pearse; Major John MacBride, who had played no part in planning the Rising, but had previously attracted British hostility during the Boer War; a gravely ill Joseph Plunkett, and a badly wounded James Connolly. These events, allied to the fate of Francis Sheehy Skeffington, the well known pacifist and writer who was murdered during the Rising, as he sought to moderate its violence and prevent looting, rapidly turned public opinion. The long drawn out period of the executions – nine days- further inflamed public opinion. In the House of Commons, John Dillon of the Irish Parliamentary Party denounced British policy, contending that ‘in the whole of modern history… there has been no rebellion or insurrection put down with so much blood and so much savagery as the recent insurrection in Ireland.’ In lieu of funerals, masses were said for the executed, their bodies having been covered in quicklime. The return of released internees and the funeral of Thomas Ashe following his hunger strike in September 1917, became occasions of public demonstration.

Political Ramifications The political ramifications of the Rising and its suppression were soon revealed in subsequent elections. The first of these occurred on 17 February 1917 in North Roscommon, when Count Plunkett, the father of the executed Joseph Plunkett was elected as an independent who would abstain from attending Westminster. Having backed Plunkett’s campaign, Michael Collins proposed Joe McGuinness as a candidate for the South Longford seat when it fell vacant in May. At the time McGuinness was serving a sentence in Lewes gaol for his part in the Rising. Deported prisoners would provide the nucleus of a resurgent, declaredly separatist , Sinn Féin party who in October would consolidate their link with the Irish Volunteers when a former prisoner, Eamon DeValera, assumed the presidency of both organisations. That July, De Valera had won the East-Clare by-election, defeating a Home Rule candidate. The Irish Parliamentary Party had continued in its efforts to secure Home Rule, and with a view to this end the Irish Convention first met in July 1917.

Despite not concluding until April 1918, agreement could not be reached with Ulster Unionists over the issue, even though Southern Unionists were more accommodating, and Home Rule remained elusive. Simultaneously a new crisis was in its early stages. It would prove to be one which would solidify support for the new Sinn Féin. The plan to introduce conscription into Ireland and the ensuing outcry from the public, cemented the transformation of Nationalist Ireland. Public indignation was vociferous, and a nationwide movement of resistance ensued. A one-day general strike was called and an anti-conscription pledge endorsed by Sinn Féin, the Irish Parliamentary Party, Labour and independent politicians. Despite the broad alliance formed on the issue of conscription, in the general election of 1918 Sinn Féin would secure an overwhelming victory, their declared aim being the establishment of Ireland as a recognised sovereign independent republic. Nationalist opinion had shifted The Representation of the People Act 1918 expanded the electorate to include all men over the age of 21 and all women over the age of 30.

Later that year, the Parliamentary Qualification of Women Act 1918 gave women over 30 the right to stand for election as an MP. Countess Markievicz was the first woman to be elected M.P. The December 1918 election was the first General Election since December 1910, the 1916 one being postponed because of the war. A whole new generation of voters had emerged, influenced by 1916 and its aftermath, the conscription crisis, and the war itself. Pursuing a policy of abstention from Westminister by Sinn Fein, the election led to the formation of the Dáil, a democratic institution which survived the upheaval of the tumultuous years of 1919 to 1923. Dáil Eireann continues today as our democratic parliament. Many of the surviving insurgents went on to serve with distinction as members of the Dáil and Government, as well as in other institutions of the new, independent Ireland.

The 1916 Rising was a seminal event led by men and women who held aspirations of a different type of Ireland, one which would guarantee religious and civil liberty and would pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation, and all of its parts. It occurred at a time of conflict on the international stage, resulting in Irishmen losing their lives on the Western Front, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, and at sea .The Rising resulted in the loss of many lives, be they combatants or innocent civilians. We commemorate these events on this their 100th anniversary and mourn the loss of all those who died. Fact sheet First battalion: Under Commandant Edward Daly, took possession of the Four Courts. Second battalion: Commandant Thomas McDonagh – occupied Jacob’s Biscuit factory. Third battalion: Commandant Eamon de Valera - occupied Boland’s flour mills and the railway line from Westland Row to Landsdowne Road.[intercepting the line to Kingstown] Fourth Battalion: Commandant Eamon Ceannt occupied the South Dublin Union.[James Street Hospital]. The Citizen Army commanded by Michael Mallin and Countess Markievizc occupied St.

Stephen’s Green In the Rising, 132 members of the crown forces were killed. Official figures put rebel combatants and civilians together – 318 killed and 2,217 injured. Republican deaths have generally agreed to number 60 or 62. Over 250 civilians died. Official British estimates record over 200,000 Irishmen fought in World War I with approximately 40,000 losing their lives. 1000+ images about 1916 Easter Rising on Pinterest | Irish republican army, Irish independence and Patrick o'brian Forward Street artists commemorate 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, Dublin, Ireland - 26 Mar 2016 The latest street art masterpiece '1916' by Solus, a Dublin based artist, commemorating the 1916 Irish Rebelion, completed a couple of days ahead of the centenary of Easter Sunday commemorations.

This is one of six pieces put together by Irish street artists with their vision of the 1916 events 26 Mar 2016 See More Easter Rising 1916 Ireland General Post Office, Dublin "Ireland is too great to be unconnected with us, and too near us to be dependant on a foreign state, and too little to be independent." C.T. Grenville to the Duke of Rutland, December 3, 1784 (H.M.C. 14 report app. 1, p. 155) This statement sums up the attitude of Great Britain toward Ireland from the twelfth century to the twentieth. The Third Home Rule Bill of 1912 was opposed by the Orange Order in Ulster. A divided Ireland would cause more unrest. The 1916 Rising represented the first major demonstration of force since the United Irishmen Rising of 1798. The insurrections of 1803, 1848 and 1867 had been small in comparison. (E. A. Benian. The Cambridge History of the British Empire. London, 1959.

p.663) See more below. Ireland in World War I Germany felt that England would be too busy with Ireland to enter World War I (.George W. Russell. The Irish Home Rule Convention. New York, 1917, p. 32.) ï¿½One of the immediate causesï¿½ of the war was Northern Irelandï¿½s threat to oppose Home Rule by rebellion. The German Kaiser, as a result of the warlike attitude of the Ulsterites was convinced that England was unable to become involved in a European war. Germany was convinced that England would be too buys to enter a war or at best would be of slight hindrance to Germany. (Tom Ireland. Ireland Past & Present. New York, 1942) Ulsterï¿½s open flaunting of the laws that prohibited no arms to be sent to Ireland, and the open drilling of the Ulster Volunteers threatening a civil war in Ireland, led Germany to believe that England was weak and would not interfere if she attacked France or Russia. Germany also believed that the large numbers of Irish in the British army would revolt over the disturbances at home.

John Redmon appealed to the people of Ireland as a whole to remain loyal to England. He hoped that a untied front on the part of the Irish might result in a peaceful union following the war. This probably would have worked had the leaders of Ulster cooperated withy Redmon, for during the fighting in Europe, many northern and southern Irish became friendly. Unfortunately, the leaders of Ulster would not put aside their private interests for the common good or Ireland, and the generous acts of the Irish Nationalists were to no avail. Discrimination by the English War Office were extremely noticeable in that the Protestants were permitted to form their own Irish companies but the Catholics were not. John Redmon volunteered the services of the Irish Volunteers to England. Most of the members did fight for England, but a small minority followed strict Sinn Fein policy and refused to fight. This group was in favor of neutrality. They joined with the Labour Citizen Army and together formed an effective anti-British fighting force. Eamon DeValera was part of this group. (Tom Ireland. Ireland Past & Present.

New York, 1942, pp 325-326.) Sinn Fein The Gaelic League was founded in 1893 for the purpose of re-establishing the Irish language and culture. The political outgrowth of the League was culminated in 1905 with the founding of the Sinn Fein movement, (We Ourselves), by Arthur Griffith. This was an organization that supported withdrawing Irish members from the British Parliament and setting up and Irish Parliament along with abandoning constitutional methods of bringing about the repeal of the 1800 Act of Union. Arthur Griffithï¿½s plan was to follow the Hungarian example of 1861. The plan called for a boycott of the British army and navy. No Irish members were to be sent to London and an extra legal Irish Parliament to be established in Dublin. A court system would be set up, English goods boycotted and a general program of non-cooperation with the English was to be instituted. During 1910-1913, the Sinn Fein movement seemed dormant and was without a dynamic leader. (Elie Halevy. The Rule of Democracy (1905-1914).

New York, 1961. p. 538.) Other Irish organizations were growing. The Irish socialist leader, Larkin had obtained many new ideas from the Industrial Workers of the World in the United States. The Irish Republican Brotherhood was revived by James Connolly. According to the author of the Irish Home Rule Convention, the Sinn Feiners placed Home Rule and other various Irish problems above a victory for the allied powers. ( George W. Russell. The Irish Home Rule Convention. New York, 1917, p. 19.) A German ship disguised as SMS Libau bringing arms and ammunition with Sir Roger Casement as leader was intercepted by the British off the Irish coast on Good Friday evening 1916 (H.B.C. Pollard, Secret Societies of Ireland. p. 147). There was a plan for a general rebellion during the Easter season.( Lawrence M. Larson. A History of England & the British Commonwealth, New York, 1932, p. 834) Casement was captured by the British and taken to London for trial. He was later hanged. Martial law was declared in Dublin City and county.

The suspension of the right of a British subject to be tried by a civil court was seen as a sign of the seriousness of the situation. Some of the Irish Nationalists in America were said to have known of the intentions of the Easter rising a few weeks before it took place. Easter 1916 Rising The Gaelic American stated President Wilson knew of Casementï¿½s intentions to land arms in Ireland and warned the British government. (New York Times, April 27, 1916, pp. 1 & 4.) The Irish Republican Brotherhood had decided at the early stages of the was that a rebellion must occur at some time during the war. Professor MacNeill, the nominal leader of the group had arranged for a p;arade to be held on Easter Sunday. He later found out the parade was to be the base of the rebellion and cancelled the event. By this time, the promised aid from Germany had fallen through. In spite of MacNeillï¿½s order, a few Irish decided to go ahead with the rising. James Connolly and Patrick Pearse were the leaders of the 1,000 man force.

On April 24, 1916, the Monday after Easter, the small group took over several buildings in Dublin. Despite the great odds against them, the Irish patriots held out for about a week. At this same time, Eamon DeValera had his big opportunity to come forth as one of the new leader of the Irish Nationalist movement. He was able to conduct his part of the uprising with great skill. Seven leaders of the rising proclaimed an Irish Republic. All seven of the signers were executed along with eight others. DeValera, the only battalion commander not killed, was saved because Redmon proclaimed him an American citizen. DeValeraï¿½s mother was an American, and he was born in New York City. His death sentence was communed to life imprisonment along with that of William T. Cosgrave. The British did not want to execute and American citizen and risk alienating the United States. (Ireland, pp. 328-334) John Redmon condemned the uprising and stated that too mujch encouragement had come from the Irish-Americans. (New York Times, April 29, 1916, pp.

1-3.) The Easter 1916 rising provided a ï¿½blood sacrificeï¿½ for an Ireland that had becomeap;athetic. (Edmund Curtis. A History of Ireland. New York, 1961. p. 406) The rising was not supported by public opinion in Ireland. Afterward, general incompetence on the part of the British government, and the arrests of thousands of men, some of who were taken to England, only served to arouse hatred for the English among the population. The men who were executed were regarded as martyrs. If the situation had been handled wisely by the British, the Irish radical cause and the Sinn Fein movement could have received a severe setback. A quote from page 28 of the Irish Home Rule Convention by George Russell, ï¿½A muddling nation trying to govern one of the cleverest nations in the World.ï¿½ (Russell, p.28.) As an aftermath of the rising about 50,000 British soldiers were stationed in Ireland which deprived England much needed men and equipment. Recruitment in Ireland practically stopped making a net loss to the firing line of 100,000 men.

(Russell, p.32.) Professor MacNeill, the nominal leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, had arranged for a parade to be held on Easter Sunday. He later found out the parade was to be the base of the rising and cancelled the event. The Easter Rising planned by the Irish Republican Brotherhood was virtually confined to Dublin. This was the opening act of the Irish War for Independence. Moreover, confusion was caused by a rash of conflicting orders sent out to the Irish Volunteers ï¿½ the main strike force - from their headquarters and the decision taken by the rebel leaders to postpone their action arranged for Easter Sunday 23rd April, until the next day. At about 11.00 am on Easter Monday, Patrick Pearse and the Volunteers, along with James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army, assembled at various prearranged meeting points in Dublin, and before noon set out to occupy a number of imposing buildings in the inner city area. These had been selected to command the main routes into the capital, and also because of their strategic position in relation to the major military barracks.

They included the General Post Office, the Four Courts, Jacobï¿½s Factory, Bolandï¿½s Bakery, the South Dublin Union, St. Stephenï¿½s Green and later the College of Surgeons. Photos There was little fighting on the first day since British intelligence had failed hopelessly, the properties targeted were taken virtually without resistance and immediately the rebels set about making them defensible. The GPO was the nerve center of the rebellion. It served as the rebelsï¿½ headquarters and the seat of the provisional government which they declared. Five of its members served there ï¿½ Pearse, Clarke, Connolly, MacDermott and Plunkett. The British military onslaught, which the rebels had anticipated, did not at first materialize. When the Rising began the authorities had just 400 troops to confront roughly 1,000 insurgents. Their immediate priorities were therefore to amass reinforcements, gather information on volunteer strength and locations and protect strategic positions, including the seat of government, Dublin Castle, which had initially been virtually undefended. On Tuesday, a British force of 4,500 men with artillery attacked and secured the Castle.

Photos "As the week progressed, the fighting in some areas did become intense, characterized by prolonged, fiercely contested hand to hand street battles. Military casualties were highest at Mount Street Bridge. There, newly arrived troops made successive, tactically inept, frontal attacks on determined and disciplined volunteers occupying several strongly fortified outposts. They lost 234 men, dead or wounded while just 5 rebels died. In some instances, lapses in military discipline occurred. Soldiers were alleged to have killed 15 unarmed men in North King Street near the Four Courts during intense gun battles there on 28th and 29th April. The pacifist Francis Sheehy-Skeffington was the best- known civilian victim of the insurrection. He was arrested in Dublin on 25th April, taken to Portobello Barracks and shot by firing squad next morning without trial. Overall the British authorities responded competently to the Rising. Reinforcements were speedily drafted into the capital and by Friday 28th April, the 1,600 rebels (more had joined during the week) were facing 18-20,000 soldiers.

From Thursday the GPO was entirely cut off from other rebel garrisons. Next day it came under a ferocious artillery attack which also devastated much of central Dublin. Having learnt the lessons of Mount Street Bridge, the troops did not attempt a mass infantry attack. Their strategy was effective. It compelled the insurgent leaders, based at the Post Office, first to evacuate the building and later to accept the only terms on offer ï¿½ unconditional surrender. Their decision was then made known to and accepted sometimes reluctantly, by all the rebel garrisons still fighting both in the capital and in the provinces." In total, the Rising cost 450 persons killed, 2,614 injured, and 9 missing, almost all in Dublin. The only significant action elsewhere was at Ashbourne, 10 miles north of Dublin. Military casualties were 116 dead, 368 wounded and 9 missing, and the Irish and Dublin police forces had 16 killed and 29 wounded. A total of 254 civilians died; the high figures were largely because much of the fighting had occurred in or near densely populated areas. It is widely accepted that 64 rebels lost their lives.

Their casualties were low because in the capital they were the defending force. Moreover, they fought with discipline and skill until, acting under instruction from their leaders, they surrendered their strongholds rather than fight to the last volunteer. The few other insurgents in Co. Meath, Galway and Wexford joined in the surrender. Sir John Maxwell, the British Commander-in-Chief caused sixteen of the Irish to be court-martialed and shot. The execution of these men was an attempt to murder of the Provisional Government of Ireland. Patrick Pearse was the first to be singled out for execution, he was not allowed to see his mother or brother before he was executed on May 3, 1916. One of Pearse's most famous speeches was his eulogy at the funeral of O'Donnovan Rossa who died in 1915. "They think they have forseen everything, but the fools! the fools! the fools!

they have left us our Fenian dead; and while Ireland holds these graves "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace." Pearse's Oration Below are the six organizations involved in the Easter Rising of 1916: The National Volunteers, The Citizensï¿½ Army, The Hibernian Rifles, Fianna ï¿½ireann, Cumann na mBan and The Foresters Following the formation of the Provisional Government, as outlined in the Proclamation, these organizations formally became known as ï¿½glaigh na ï¿½ireann, otherwise known as the Irish Republican Army, under the command of James Connolly. Benian, E. A., Cambridge History of the British Empire, London, 1959 Carrington, C. E., The British Overseas, Cambridge, 1950 Curtis, Edmund, A History of Ireland, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1961 Ireland, Tom. Ireland Past and Present. New York: G. P. Putnamï¿½s Sons, 1942.

Larson, Lawrence, A History of England & the British Commonwealth, New York, 1932 MacDonagh, Oliver, Ireland, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1968 MacManus, Seumas, Story of the Irish Race, New York, Devin-Adair, 1973 Russell, George, The Irish Home Rule Convention, New York, 1917 addtiional sources: Anzacs and the Easter Rising 1916: Australia's role in Ireland's past Anzacs and the Easter Rising 1916: Australia's role in Ireland's past More Dublin: "This is Ireland's Gallipoli." The professor of Irish history cannot hide his relief at being able to offer a simple answer. It is a scarce thing in Dublin this week. Italy earthquake avalanche rescue underway Play Video The Anzacs role in Ireland's Easter ... The Anzacs role in Ireland's Easter Rising 1916 Raymond Keogh outlines how Anzac soldiers shot and killed his great uncle as part of the Uprising in Dublin and his bid to have a plaque erected in his relative's memory. Up Next Italy earthquake avalanche rescue underway Play Video Italy earthquake avalanche rescue ...

Italy earthquake avalanche rescue underway 30 people are feared dead in a hotel swallowed by a post-earthquake avalanche in central Italy, however authorities report that six people have been found alive almost two days after rescue efforts began. Up Next Gay rights activists protest dance Play Video Gay rights activists protest dance Gay rights activists protest dance LGBTQ activists hold a dance party near Vice President-elect Mike Pence's house to protest his stance on gay rights. Up Next Mexican volcano erupts three times in two days Play Video Mexican volcano erupts three times in two days Dramatic video shows Mexico's Colima volcano spewing gas and ash in a series of explosions. Up Next The Obama years A look back at the key moments from President Barack Obama's two terms in the White House. Up Next Trump thanks supporters at pre-inauguration concert Play Video Trump thanks supporters at ...

Trump thanks supporters at pre-inauguration concert President-elect Donald Trump tells supporters at his pre-inauguration concert: "You're going to cheer me on but I'm going to be cheering you on." Up Next Death toll at Mali army base rises Play Video Death toll at Mali army base rises Death toll at Mali army base rises Over 100 people were badly injured and 77 killed by a suicide bomb attack on a military camp in Gao, northern Mali on Wednesday. Up Next Sinatra slams Trump over song Play Video Sinatra slams Trump over song Nancy Sinatra is not impressed President-elect Donald Trump considers "My Way" for his inauguration song. More videos The Anzacs role in Ireland's Easter Rising 1916 Raymond Keogh outlines how Anzac soldiers shot and killed his great uncle as part of the Uprising in Dublin and his bid to have a plaque erected in his relative's memory. The parallels between Australia's bloody debut on the world stage in 1915 and the doomed six-day rebellion against British rule that shattered Dublin a year later are certainly compelling. But Australia never put on a commemorative show like the one Ireland is staging this weekend to remember April 1916.

SHARE Pin to Pinterest PIN Link An Irish soldier stands guard in Dublin where the city is preparing for the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Photo: Reg Gordon/Failte Ireland Dublin looks like an Easter Rising theme park; banners hang from lamp posts everywhere, special tour buses prowl the streets, houses are decked out with buntings and flags, there are billboards and murals, radio, TV and newspapers talk of little else, museums and galleries are given over to The Rising, shops and street stalls sport ranges of 1916 memorabilia and, of course, the pubs are in on the action. On Sunday and Monday tens of thousands, maybe more, will throng central Dublin for the biggest deal in Irish public life since anyone can remember. It is an overwhelmingly state-sponsored and scripted affair. Advertisement "They got this thing screwed down pretty tight," an American visitor observes. But you cannot control talk, not in Ireland, and the legacy of the short-lived insurgency a century ago by about 1500 fringe dwellers of Ireland's nationalist movement is still fiercely debated in Ireland, much more than Australians discuss or clash over the finer points of the Anzac legend.

SHARE Pin to Pinterest PIN Link Anzacs outside Trinity College at the time of the Easter Rising in 1916. Picture shows two New Zealanders, a British soldier and an Australian, believed to be Private Michael McHugh. A small group of Anzac and South African soldiers took refuge in Trinity College, armed themselves with the rifles of the uni's student militia and took up commanding firing positions on the college roof. When the Anzacs, among them Queenslander Private Michael McHugh whose parents were from County Galway, were given orders to fire at will, the first man they shot down was young Gerald Keogh. SHARE Damage in Dublin caused by the 1916 Easter Rising. Photo: AP "It points to the meaninglessness of war and the tragedy of war and if there's some way of passing beyond this terrible dilemma that both of them were involved in." Raymond Keogh is not alone in hunting for meaning in the Easter 1916 story; just metres away from the spot where Gerald Keogh died, Trinity historian Eunan O'Halpin​ has just wrapped up yet another media interview.

The "go-to" professor has spent much of this week trying to explain to the world what the fuss over Easter 1916 is all about, and the message is that all the state-sponsored pageantry and pizazz contains a steely streak of realpolitik, more to do with Ireland's complex present than its tangled past. The Irish state, now without a government after an inconclusive election in February, has been in a tug of war with the country's persistent republican dissident movement, Sinn Fein, over the legacy of The Rising. Sinn Fein, founded in 1905, was the political driving force behind The Rising but for many in Ireland, the modern version of the party led by Gerry Adams is tainted by its close links with the Provisional IRA terrorist group. The Irish state brings the overwhelming force of its money and institutions to the struggle for control of The Rising, but as usual it can't entirely quell the insurgency. For O'Halpin, the Irish state had no choice but to co-opt The Rising's anniversary.

"Because this is the most potentially political centenary, I think the state quite rightly has been very active in promoting the centenary because if they don't, basically the republicans will come along and do it for them," O'Halpin told Fairfax Media. O'Halpin believes a sovereign state has a tricky time taking ownership of an event that can be seen as a murderous attack on an unsuspecting democracy by a fringe group bent on using violence to achieve their minority political goals. The task is made trickier still by the reality that The Rising put the gun front and square in Irish politics and that, even after 100 years, it has not entirely gone away. "The point about 1916 is ... for the Provisional IRA, until 1998, it was a core principle of theirs that they were the legitimate successors of 1916, not only in terms of physical force but that they were the government and parliament of Ireland," O'Halpin says. "This absurdist theology ignores the functioning of Irish democracy since independence." While they exchanged fire with the Irish Volunteers, McHugh and the other Australians in action around Dublin had no idea the battle was lighting a fire back home that would burn for decades.

Sectarian tension in Australian society had been put largely put aside for the sake of the war effort, but The Rising put an end to the harmony, University of NSW historian Jeff Kildea​ says. "It marked a watershed," Kildea says. "Chronic sectarianism in Australia had become quite acute in the pre-war years, had been largely put aside as most of the nation, Catholics and Protestant, put aside their difference and united behind the war effort. "That truce lasts about 20 months, until the Easter Rising." The author of Anzacs and Ireland says the subsequent bitter national disputes about conscription and other social issues that divided Australia had their roots in the backlash against The Rising. Crowds will gather for several ceremonies around Australia this weekend to mark the centenary. Next week, the Keogh extended family will hold a small ceremony in Dublin honouring their fallen young Irish Volunteer. In Ireland there will be a big party and nothing will be resolved. But as they say in Ireland, sure isn't it something to talk about.

The Aisling​ Society of Sydney ( aislingsociety.org.au ) will commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising outside the Sydney GPO, Martin Place at 10am on Easter Monday, March 28, 2016. The Irish Rising – a terrible beauty is born a free public exhibition at the State Library Victoria runs until July 31 – slv.vic.gov.au/irish-rising The writer travelled to Ireland as a guest of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Advertisement 1916 in Ireland - a rising against empire Get in touch 1916 in Ireland - a rising against empire At the height of the First World War a rebellion was staged in Britain’s oldest colony. Simon Basketter looks at how Irish rebels took over Dublin 100 years ago Published Tue 2 Feb 2016 Issue No. 2489 Holles Street barricade, 5th Leicesters, 1916 (Pic: Courtesy of the Sean Sexton Collection and The Photographers' Gallery) On Easter Monday 1916 about 1,600 men and women seized the centre of Dublin and declared an independent Irish Republic.

A battle raged for six days, resulting in the eventual defeat of the insurgents and the destruction of large sections of the city. In the immediate aftermath 16 of the leaders were executed, and 3,500 people arrested. Yet the Easter Rising gave birth to a movement that drove Britain out of 26 counties of Ireland, and laid the basis of the modern Irish state. The rebels blocked Sackville (now O’Connell) Street by detonating a bomb on a commandeered tram. The explosion shattered the window of Noblett’s sweet shop—people dodged bullets to make off with the chocolate. People sat in the remains of other shop windows trying on boots and shoes, some for the first time. Children ransacked an upmarket Grafton Street fruit shop, dragging away “great bunches of bananas”. Bread carts were “looted by hungry mobs”. The rising was fought by the Irish Volunteers, the smaller Irish Citizen Army, and a women’s auxiliary organisation. The British were initially caught off guard because they were engaged in a much bigger fight on their “eastern front” in Belgium and France. The extensive spy network claimed to have Republicans and socialists “under a microscope”.

But an intelligence report two days before the rising reported “no sign of a ‘rising’”. The rebels knew they would face an overwhelming British military response. Groups of rebels took a series of sites—including a factory, courts and the General Post Office (GPO). It was a rebellion of the young. One group in a plush area of Dublin convinced a chauffeur to park his impressive car carefully but permanently in a barricade. One unsympathetic witness said, “Many of them were mere boys, in fact only one in ten was a man. They had a great many young girls ranging from 13 to 20.” One clear-cut Republican military success was the defeat and surrender of a column of the Royal Irish Constabulary in Ashbourne, about 12 miles north of Dublin. Another occurred around Mount Street Bridge, over the Grand Canal. A small detachment inflicted huge casualties on a regiment of British soldiers trying to march on the capital. The next day a single gunshot saw a British column retreat, according to its officers “utterly flummoxed”. The British ruled Ireland as a troublesome colony.

In 1874 even Tory prime minister Benjamin Disraeli admitted Ireland was “governed by laws of coercion that do not exist in any other quarter of the globe”. Brandy-swilling Ireland was headed by a viceroy appointed by Britain. At the time of the rising it was brandy-swilling Lord Lieutenant Baron Wimborne. He gave his telephone orders in bad French “to confuse eavesdroppers”. Anti-Catholic sectarianism remained deeply embedded into the structure of British rule and Irish society (see below). The growth of a more confident if conservative class of Irish capitalists and land owners added respectable demands for more independence to militant urban and rural protest. British rule ultimately rested on force. By 1914, as Irish historian David Fitzpatrick put it, “a private army ruled in Ulster with the acquiescence of the state”. Edward Carson’s Tory-backed Ulster Volunteers had smuggled in 25,000 guns. Some 57 of 70 British army officers quit rather than take on Carson’s force. Sir Henry Wilson was one of the most senior British soldiers to encourage a British Army mutiny.

When he warned that if you lost Ireland, you lost the Empire, he spoke of a common nightmare among Britain’s rulers. Just 15 percent of the adult population had a vote in national elections in Ireland in 1910. Westminster had put Home Rule on the long finger once again. T.W. Russell MP warned that “if you set up a Parliament in College Green … the wealth, education, property and prosperity of Ulster will be handed over to a Parliament which will be elected by peasants dominated by priests”. He objected to peasants, and Catholic peasants at that, electing a parliament. But anti-imperialism was a growing movement around the world. In 1913 Republican leader Patrick Pearse wrote, “There will be in the Ireland of the next few years a multitudinous activity of Freedom Clubs, Young Republican Parties, Labour organisations, Socialist groups, and what not; bewildering enterprises undertaken by sane persons and insane persons, by good men and bad men, many of them seemingly contradictory, some mutually destructive, yet all tending towards a common objective, and that objective: the Irish Revolution.” Pearse is alleged to have said that, if nothing else, the rising would see the end of several bad poets.

But they were considerably more than that. They were nationalists, suffragists, revolutionary socialists who fought for a republic of equals. Lockout In a heroic but unsuccessful battle against the bosses, Irish workers had fought the Dublin lockout in 1913. The Irish Citizens Army developed out of the organised workers who had defended strikers. Their headquarters was that of revolutionary Marxist James Connolly’s Irish Transport and General Workers Union. From the outbreak of war it displayed a banner reading, “Neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland”. During the rising Connolly made sure the Starry Plough, the flag of Irish Labour, flew over the Rebel-occupied Imperial Hotel. The hotel was owned by William Martin Murphy, the Irish boss who had set out to smash the unions in the lockout. The proclamation of The Republic that came from the rising was addressed to “Irishmen and Irishwomen”. That was significant, as was the promise of universal suffrage. This was a time when nationalist leader John Dillon could declare that “women’s suffrage will, I believe, be the ruin of our Western civilisation.

It will destroy the home, challenging the headship of man, laid down by God.” Some conservative republicans rescinded the rebellion order on Easter Monday and a shipment of guns was intercepted in Kerry. This stopped many more from taking part across the country. But in truth the rising was not enough to take on the British Empire. The government in London resolved to “spread terror” through martial law. General Sir Grenfall Maxwell took thousands of prisoners. Of these 1,867 were deported and 171 tried, with 90 sentenced to death. Fifteen were shot, including Connolly, before public disquiet ended the policy. The Rising showed that Britain could be challenged. Its power was not unassailable. The issue of Irish self-determination would have to be dealt with. That was an achievement. Just weeks before the Rising Connolly wrote, “We are out for Ireland for the Irish. But who are the Irish? Not the rack-renting, slum-owning landlord; not the sweating, profit-grinding capitalist; not the sleek and oily lawyer; not the prostitute pressman—the hired liars of the enemy. “Not these are the Irish upon whom the future depends.

Not these, but the Irish working class, the only secure foundation upon which a free nation can be reared. “The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland, the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour. They cannot be dissevered.” Barricade made from barrels, 1916 (Pic: Courtesy of the Sean Sexton Collection and The Photographers' Gallery) Who are the true 'inheritors' of the Rising? The Easter Rising did not introduce violence to Irish politics. People were shot during election campaigns before the Rising. Street fighting was an established part of electioneering. Sectarian riots in Belfast drove hundreds of Catholics from their workplaces during 1912. Strikers and their supporters were batoned and sometimes killed. Over the years many have poured scorn on the “blood sacrifice” of the Rising that failed militarily. But the real, far bigger “blood sacrifice” was the First World War. Russian revolutionary leader Lenin defended the Easter Rising. “To imagine that social revolution is conceivable without revolts by small nations in the colonies and in Europe is to repudiate social revolution,” he wrote.

“Their misfortune was to have risen prematurely, when the revolt of the European working class has not yet matured.” Political leaders in Southern Ireland have competed to be the true inheritors of 1916. The new state dumped the social radicalism that inspired a section of the rebels. It emphasised the religious and the pious. Armed struggle was embarrassing because it could legitimise the fight of republicans in Northern Ireland. The 100th anniversary was to celebrate reconciliation and the queen was initially invited to attend. Instead it has started with protests against attempts by developers to destroy the area around the GPO. Irish socialist Kieran Allen’s new book, 1916 Ireland’s revolutionary tradition, powerfully recounts a proud tradition that traces resistance to empire and capitalism from 1916 to today. He argues, “The best way to commemorate the 1916 rising would be a new revolt to change Ireland—so that it will be in reality, [as the proclamation says] ‘cherishing all the children of the nation equally’.” Rule by violence and sectarianism Ireland was Britain’s oldest colony.

After it was fully conquered in the 17th century the English rulers sent in Protestant colonists to impose their will on native Catholics. Britain prevented the economic development of much of Ireland. During the 1840s famine more than a million Irish people died. In the 1880s sections of the British ruling class encouraged sectarianism in response to demands for Home Rule. They were terrified it would encourage independence across the Empire. Repression after the Rising, and an attempt to introduce conscription in Ireland, fuelled anger against Britain. After an overwhelming vote for independence and the setting up of an Irish parliament Britain attempted repression again. It created the Black and Tan death squads, which carried out vicious attacks. The mass guerilla resistance efforts of tens of thousands of republicans made Ireland ungovernable. There was also a massive increase in working class struggle, including a general strike against military repression in Limerick in February 1919. Agricultural labourers in the south west of Ireland began occupying land. By 1921 the British ruling class was forced to accept that it could not hold onto all of Ireland. It began imposing the division of Ireland from April 1921.

It partitioned off the six counties of the north, creating a sectarian statelet described by its first prime minister as “a Protestant state for a Protestant people.” Article information EASTER RISING 1916 EXPLAINED Details EASTER RISING 1916 EXPLAINED The men and women of the 1916 Rising envisaged a new Ireland as a national democracy; an Ireland which, in the words of the Proclamation, "guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and [which] declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally." They believed that this could only be achieved through complete independence. When they seized the General Post Office in Dublin on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, the leaders of the Rising proclaimed a free Irish Republic in which the egalitarian idea was centrally enshrined. The Proclamation, which was first read out by Patrick Pearse on the steps of the GPO just after noon, declared the rights of the people of Ireland to be sovereign.

It looked forward to the establishment of a native Government elected on the democratic principles of self-determination and government by consent. The 1916 Rising set in train an unstoppable process, which led to the separation of Ireland from Great Britain. The events of 1916 must be viewed against the backdrop of the broader nationalist movement, the convictions of those who opposed any weakening of the link with the Crown and the momentous events being played out on the battlefields of Europe in one of the bloodiest conflicts that the world had ever seen. It should be noted that the continuing threat of conscription brought about by the manpower needs of the war consolidated the growing rift within the popular opinion. The ongoing frustration within Nationalist Ireland at the lack of progress on Home Rule, the prospect that it would not even be for the whole island, reinforced by the refusal of the British War Office to allow the creation of a distinctly Irish Brigade, and its rejection of even an Irish divisional badge, was compounded by the abhorrence of the executions. The demand for Home Rule as articulated by the Irish Parliamentary Party had dominated Irish politics since the 1870s. This was strongly resisted by Unionism.

As the prospect of some form of Home Rule gained momentum in the early 1900s, Ulster increasingly became the focus of Unionism’s attempts to resist Home Rule. The imminent passage of the third Home Rule Bill, influenced by British Government’s parliamentary dependency on Irish MPs, led to the formation by Unionists of the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1912. This represented an attempt to prevent the implementation of the third Home Rule Bill by the threat of force and precipitated the formation of the nationalist Irish Volunteers. The outbreak of World War I overshadowed the Irish crisis. The long awaited Home Rule Bill, though placed on the statute book, was not to come into effect until after the war, at which point special arrangements, yet to be negotiated, to meet the objections of Ulster Unionists would be introduced. WORLD WAR I Official British estimates record over 200,000 Irishmen, from both traditions, fought in World War I with approximately 40,000 losing their lives. For Unionism, it was an issue of loyalty to the Crown. For Nationalists the situation was more complex.

The leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond, was also the nominal political leader of the Irish Volunteers. At a speech in Wooden Bridge in September 1914, he pledged his support for the war effort and called on the Volunteers to go “wherever the firing line extends.” The majority of the Volunteers supported Redmond’s position and formed the National Volunteers. A smaller contingent led by Eoin MacNeill kept the name Irish Volunteers and refused to support the British war effort. The war was initially promoted by Britain as “the defense of little Belgium”. It later evolved into one fought for the rights of small nations as expressed by President Wilson, and the principle of self determination for such nations, especially in the defeated central European Empires formed much of the debate at the subsequent peace talks at Versailles. For some Irish nationalists there was an irony in fighting in the British army for such a cause. Moreover initial public enthusiasm for the war quickly faded as it was felt that there was little recognition for the contribution of those Irishmen who had enlisted. The Rising casualty lists, allied to the threat of conscription, and further dented such enthusiasm. 1916 RISING It was against this backdrop that the 1916 Rising was organized.

Elements within the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a secret association going back to 1858, which had consistently held as their aim the securing of a separate and distinct Irish Republic, formed the plan. It was hoped that the Rising would secure Ireland a place at a peace conference after the war. IRB members had risen to positions of prominence in the Volunteers and it was this force, along with the Irish Citizen Army led by James Connolly that carried out the Rising. The broad spectrum of views and backgrounds of the Irish Volunteers was reflected in divisions amongst its leadership. The issue of conflicting orders, by those supporting and opposed to the Rising, made for a confused beginning to the Rising. It should be noted that the membership of the Irish Volunteers had risen from 2 - 3000 members in September 1914 to circa 15,000 by 1916. The organization was strongly infiltrated by the Irish Republican Brotherhood. On Easter Monday, 24 April, 1916, the General Post Office in Dublin was occupied by the insurgents and it became their headquarters. The Proclamation was read from here on the same day. The signatories were Thomas J.

Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada, P.H. Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas MacDonagh, Éamonn Ceannt and Joseph Plunkett. It sets out their aspirations not just for freedom from British rule, but to create an Ireland where all people could be free to accomplish their potential regardless of their wealth, class or religion. The insurgents also occupied other strategic buildings in Dublin, such as the Four Courts, Boland’s Bakery, Jacob's Factory, the Royal College of Surgeons and the South Dublin Union. While most of the action took place in Dublin, sizeable numbers of Volunteers turned out in Louth, Wexford, Galway and Ashbourne. Fighting lasted a week and resulted in the deaths of over 250 civilians, 130 members of the crown forces and over 60 insurgents. In an effort to prevent further bloodshed, Pearse declared an unconditional surrender which read “In order to prevent further slaughter of the civil population and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, the members of the Provisional Government present at headquarters have decided on an unconditional surrender, and commandants or officers commanding districts will order their commands to lay down arms. P.H.

Pearse, Dublin 30th April 1916.” Many Volunteer units marched in formation to lay down their weapons. It has to be said that, public opinion was not initially on the side of the insurgents, due to lack of understanding of the purpose, as well as the loss of life; the carnage and bloodshed. However, this was to quickly change. THE SEVEN SIGNATORIES The Proclamation of the Irish Republic was signed on April 24 1916 by seven men from all walks of life. Read more about the Seven Signatories who each played an integral part in the Rising. Ranging in age from 29 to 59, the Proclamation Signatories were relatively unknown to the Irish public but they were representative of various strands of Irish nationalism and the Gaelic Revival. THOMAS MACDONAGH MacDonagh was the first teacher on the staff at St. Enda’s, the school he helped to found with Patrick Pearse. MacDonagh was well versed in literature, his enthusiasm and erudition earning him a position in the English Department at University College Dublin. His play 'When the Dawn is Come' was produced at the Abbey Theatre.

He was appointed director of training for the Irish Volunteers in 1914, later joining the IRB. He was appointed to the IRB military committee in 1916. He was commander of the Second Battalion of Volunteers that occupied Jacob’s Biscuit Factory and surrounding houses during the Rising. THOMAS JAMES CLARKE Clarke’s father was a soldier in the British army. Clarke’s links with Clan na nGael in America, where he lived for many years, copper-fastened his importance to the revolutionary movement in Ireland. He served 15 years penal servitude in England for his role in a bombing campaign in London, 1883-1898. He was Treasurer of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and a member of the Supreme Council from 1915. The first signatory of the Proclamation of Independence through deference to his seniority in the nationalist movement, Clarke was with the group that occupied the GPO on Easter Monday. SEAN MADIARMADA MacDiarmada emigrated to Glasgow in 1900, and from they’re to Belfast in 1902.

A member of Conradh na Gaeilge, he was acquainted with Belfast nationalist and activist, Bulmer Hobson. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1906 while still in Belfast, later transferring to Dublin in 1908 where he assumed managerial responsibility for the IRB newspaper Irish Freedom in 1910. He was appointed to the provisional committee of Irish Volunteers in 1913, and was subsequently drafted onto the military committee of the IRB in 1915. During the Rising MacDiarmada served in the GPO. PADRAIG PEARSE Pearse’s interest in Irish culture dated from his teenage years. In 1898 he became a member of the Executive Committee of Conradh na Gaeilge. He graduated from the Royal University in 1901 with a Degree in Arts and Law. Pearse’s literary output was constant, and he published extensively in both Irish and English, becoming the editor of An Claidheamh Soluis, the newspaper of the Gaelic League.

He was a keen believer in the value of education, and established two schools, Coláiste Éanna and Coláiste Íde, devoted to the education of Irish children through the Irish language. One of the founder members of the Irish Volunteers, and one of the authors of the Proclamation, Pearse was present in the GPO during the Rising, and was Commander in Chief of the Irish forces. JOSEPH MARY PLUNKETT Plunkett received his early education in England, but returned to Ireland and graduated from UCD in 1909, after which he spent two years travelling due to ill health. Plunkett shared MacDonagh’s enthusiasm for literature and was an editor of the Irish Review. Along with MacDonagh and Edward Martyn, he helped to establish an Irish national theatre. He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and the IRB in 1914. During the planning of the Rising, Plunkett was appointed Director of Military Operations, with overall responsibility for military strategy. Plunkett was based in the GPO during the Rising. He married Grace Gifford while in Kilmainham Gaol following the surrender.

JAMES CONNOLLY Connolly first came to Ireland as a member of the British Army. The strong Irish presence in Edinburgh stimulated Connolly’s growing interest in Irish politics in the mid 1890s, leading to his emigration to Dublin in 1896 where he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party. He spent much of the first decade of the 20th century in America, returning to Ireland to campaign for workers' rights with James Larkin. A firm believer in the perils of sectarian division, Connolly campaigned tirelessly against religious bigotry. In 1913, Connolly was one of the founders of the Irish Citizen Army. During the Easter Rising he was appointed Commandant-General of the Dublin forces, leading the group that occupied the GPO. Unable to stand due to wounds received during the Rising, Connolly was executed while sitting down. He was the last of the leaders to be executed. EAMONN CEANNT Prior to the Rising, Ceannt was an employee of the Dublin Corporation. He was a co-founder of the Irish Volunteers, partaking in the successful Howth gunrunning operation of 1914.

His involvement in republican activities was complemented by his interest in Irish culture, specifically Irish language and history. He was an accomplished Uilleann piper. As commander of the Fourth Battalion of Irish Volunteers during the Rising, he took possession of the South Dublin Union (modern-day St. James’s Hospital). AFTERMATH The suppression of the Rising was immediate and vigorous. The city center was shelled. Despite the concentration of activity in Dublin, martial law was proclaimed and extended across the country. Over 3,500 people were arrested – over twice the number who took part in the Rising. By May 1,600 had been interned in Wales, without trial. Fifteen prominent insurgents were executed between 3rd May and 12th May. (Roger Casement was subsequently hanged in Pentonville Prison in August 1916). The executions, provoked public outrage, particularly those of William Pearse, for largely being the brother of Padraig Pearse; Major John MacBride, who had played no part in planning the Rising, but had previously attracted British hostility during the Boer War; a gravely ill Joseph Plunkett, and a badly wounded James Connolly.

These events, allied to the fate of Francis Sheehy Skeffington, the well-known pacifist and writer who was murdered during the Rising, as he sought to moderate its violence and prevent looting, rapidly turned public opinion. The long drawn out period of the executions – nine days - further inflamed public opinion. In the House of Commons, John Dillon of the Irish Parliamentary Party denounced British policy, contending that "in the whole of modern history… there has been no rebellion or insurrection put down with so much blood and so much savagery as the recent insurrection in Ireland." In lieu of funerals, masses were said for the executed, their bodies having been covered in quicklime. The return of released internees and the funeral of Thomas Ashe following his hunger strike in September 1917, became occasions of public demonstration. © 2016 The Celtic Times 1916 Irish Rising - definition of 1916 Irish Rising by The Free Dictionary 1916 Irish Rising - definition of 1916 Irish Rising by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Encyclopedia , Wikipedia .

Easter Rising n (Historical Terms) an armed insurrection in Dublin in 1916 against British rule in Ireland: the insurgents proclaimed the establishment of an independent Irish republic before surrendering, 16 of the leaders later being executed Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: Sinn Fein References in periodicals archive ? Michael Collins - the commander-in-chief of the Irish Free State Army in the 1910s - played an Irish football match in Newsham Park in 1914 as part of the Gaelic Athletic League while Patrick Pearce, who led the 1916 Irish rising against British rule, thanked three anonymous Liverpool women, who cooked for Irish rebels inside the Dublin Post Office, in his famous address after the conflict.

Question: Insurgents of what nation took part in the Easter Rising of 1916?
Answer: Ireland