The Easter Rising begins in Dublin - Apr 24, 1916 - HISTORY.com The Easter Rising begins in Dublin Share this: The Easter Rising begins in Dublin Author The Easter Rising begins in Dublin URL Publisher A+E Networks Around noon on Easter Monday of 1916, some 1,600 Irish nationalists–members of the Irish Volunteers–launch the so-called Easter Rising in Dublin, seizing a number of official buildings and calling on all Irish patriots to resist the bonds of British control. Since the outbreak of World War I, the leading Irish nationalist, Sir Roger Casement, had pressed the German government to see the potential benefit of an Irish rebellion against British rule. Consequently, on April 2, the German merchant ship Aud was sent to the Atlantic coast of Ireland, loaded with some 20,000 rifles and 1 million rounds of ammunition bound for the hands of the Easter rebels. Before the Aud reached its destination, however, a British ship intercepted it, and the crew members of the Aud scuttled the ship with all its cargo.

When Casement himself traveled from Germany to Tralee Bay, also on the Atlantic coast, three weeks later, he was put ashore by the Germans on an inflatable raft. He was subsequently arrested, tried and executed for treason by the British authorities. Meanwhile, plans for the Easter Rising had gone ahead without Casement or German help. Due to last-minute uncertainty, however, one of its leaders canceled the orders for mobilization on the Saturday before the planned uprising—because of this only 1,600 of an expected 5,000 participants gathered at Liberty Hall on April 24 to march towards the center of Dublin. There, they seized the post office, several court buildings, St. Stephen’s Green and several other locations. From the steps of the post office, the rebels declared Ireland an independent republic, stating that We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. Despite the rebels’ hopes, the public did not rise to support them, and they were quickly crushed by the police and government forces sent against them, among them some newly recruited troops bound for service in World War I.

Sixty-four rebels were killed during the struggle, along with 134 troops and policeman, and at least 200 civilians were injured in the crossfire. Fifteen of the uprising’s leaders were eventually executed; a sixteenth, Eamon de Valera, was saved from a death sentence because he was an American citizen. Even in its failure, the Easter Rising and the continued volatility of the so-called Irish question demonstrated the thwarted desires for self-determination that still bubbled beneath the surface in Great Britain, as in many countries in Europe, even as the larger matter of international warfare superseded them for the moment. Related Videos When to Celebrate the Easter Rising of 1916? By Bernd Biege Updated March 21, 2016. Easter 1916, the Easter Rising , one of the most important dates in recent Irish history. When should this historical event be celebrated in Ireland? A slightly confusing issue, as the rather secular fight for Irish freedom seems to have become swamped by religious connotations. So much as to make it a movable feast ... which a historical event should never be. Or should it?

The Actual Date of the Easter Rising The attack by armed Irish rebels on the British forces in (mainly) Dublin took place on April 24th, 1916 - or Easter Monday . By accident rather than planning. Original schemes had called for the revolution to start a day earlier, but conflicting orders and counter-orders issued by fractions within the rebels' leadership meant that the "manoeuvres" planned for Easter Sunday were called off at the last minute. A hastily re-drawn plan of attack then made Easter Monday the day ... ... which actually might have been a stroke of luck, as many British officers were enjoying the races at Fairyhouse (County Meath) , leaving just a skeletal command structure in place. continue reading below our video Tips for Taking Better Travel Photos The Commemoration of the Easter Rising After 1916 and the War of Independence , an annual commemoration (mainly in the form of a military parade) was held on Easter Sunday. The largest celebration was in 1966, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

The Irish government, however, discontinued the annual parades in the 1970s, mainly due to renewed violence during the " Troubles " in Northern Ireland. Another change of political climate re-established the official commemoration, the 90th anniversary in 2006 was celebrated with a parade in Dublin - again on Easter Sunday. Currently planning is going ahead for the 100th anniversary of the Rising in 2016, which will (more than likely) culminate in a parade on Easter Sunday, March 27th, 2016. Nearly a month too early. The Wrong Day, the Wrong Date Now, my grandmother was born on Christmas Eve, so we always celebrated her birthday on Christmas Eve. Which was somehow logical: Christmas Eve falls on December 24th with some regularity. Christmas is not a movable feast. But would she have been born on April 24th, 1916 ... we would have celebrated each year on April 24th, not on Easter Monday. This (slightly whimsical) example shows a major problem: Anniversaries are commonly celebrated on the calendar date they happened.

There might even be adjustments for changing calendars, examples being the celebration of the Battle of the Boyne on July 12th (the battle happened on July 1st) and the commemoration of the October Revolution in November. In Ireland, however, the date of the Rising is unimportant - what seems to be more important is its connection to Easter. Adding further confusion by choosing Easter Sunday in place of the historical Easter Monday does not help. I would hazard a guess that when interviewing a thousand Irishmen and -women in the streets of Dublin, maybe only a hundred would be able to actually pinpoint the date of the Easter Rising. And many of the remaining 900 would struggle to make the correct choice between Easter Sunday or Monday when pressed for details. Why Easter Sunday? Easter Sunday might actually be an inspired choice when you think of the economy and transport issues - most shops are closed on Easter Sunday in Ireland, there is no major footfall in Dublin and closing off the streets for parades is no issue. And the commemorations don't collide with the Fairyhouse racing festival (which is still held at Easter). But Why Easter at All?

As mentioned before, (historical) anniversaries are usually celebrated on the day they happened all those years ago. So changing the date when a historical event is celebrated every year, the celebrations coinciding with the actual anniversary only once in a blue moon, is bordering on the hysterical. Enter stage left Patrick Pearse ... One of the leading lights of the Irish movement for independence and one of the military commanders in 1916, Pearse developed his own philosophy regarding the armed struggle. In short: To be successful, you did not have to win. It would, instead, be enough to give a "blood sacrifice" to ensure the independence of future generations. This rather mythological view of revolutionary activity was highly popular in the early 20th century. No more so than, perhaps, in Ireland - where Catholicism espoused a similar concept of self-denial and salvation. As exemplified by none less than Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to save mankind. His "blood sacrifice" (though this idea seems rather pagan) led to the salvation of man. In a swift (and often unconscious) move the insurrection was connected to the resurrection - the "blood sacrifice" leading to freedom.

Religious imagery and ideas combined with nationalistic fervour made Pearse, a brilliant dreamer and orator, but a less-than-mediocre strategist, the saviour figure of Ireland. This is exemplified nowhere more than in the fairly new cathedral of Galway . Here, in the Chapel of the Resurrection (!), you will find a mosaic of Patrick Pearse. Alongside a mosaic of JFK ... Time for a Change? 2016 would be a good place to start - why not declare a new National Holiday on April 24th and henceforth celebrate the Easter Rising on the right date, without forcing it into the lunar calendar alongside Easter? Agreed, there would be some logistical problems with closing Dublin off for a parade ... but those have not stopped Saint Patrick's Day from becoming the party it is today. Easter 1916 Easter 1916 Go back to all activities What to do with this activity? This year, 2016, is the hundred year anniversary of the Irish Easter Rising of 1916. Your child might be learning about it in school.

The Rising began on Easter Monday, 24th April 1916 when Irish republicans took over some important buildings in Dublin. Their wish was to end British rule in Ireland and to establish a republic. They laid out their ideas in a Proclamation stating that the new republic would "guarantee religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens". The Rising was a failure from a military point of view, but it changed the course of history. Ireland became an independent republic at the end of 1921. Here are some good online sources that might interest your child: 1) For a 3 minute video giving a brief history of the Easter Rising click here . 2) For Google's interactive journey around 22 locations where fighting happened in Dublin, click here . 3) Here's a fantastic lego version of the Rising made by 3rd class children from Sunday's Well Boys National School in Cork. 4) If your child is interested and would like to read more about the men who signed the Proclamation, look here for short biographies from Ask About Ireland.

Easter Monday - The 1916 Easter Rising Easter Monday - The 1916 Easter Rising Chapters FOR FREEDOM As communications officer, Plunkett was distressed at the insurgents' uncertainty of contact with each other and with the world at large. The motorcycle couriers who were now carrying messages back and forth between the various garrisons would no longer be able to move so freely when the British forces began occupying and barricading the streets. Meanwhile, it was important to tell the world that the capital of Ireland was, for the first time in 750 years, in the hands of Irishmen. That message had to be gotten through, especially to the United States, from which much of the Irish republican Brotherhood's financial support and direction came. Plunkett ordered O'Kelly to take a squad of men, occupy the school of telegraphy on the other side of Sackville Street, and get its equipment into working condition. The assignment was not expected to be easy, for the British authorities had closed the school at the beginning of the European war to prevent the possibility of its being used clandestinely for German purposes. Key parts of the institution's wireless apparatus had been dismantled and removed: the doors had been sealed.

Plunkett needn't have bothered with the crippled equpment in the wireless school had it not been for a disastrous incident the previous week, Good Friday night which was reported in Monday's edition of the Freeman's Journal, on the same page as the cryptic story about the capture of the ' stranger of unknown nationalty ' who was Easter Monday - April 24th Since Jim Larkin was James Connolly's predecessor as head of the Transport and General Workers' Union, his ' men ' were more likely to be in the Irish Citizen Army than in the British army, Fitzgerald kept saying there was no more stout, but the man had already taken too much of it to be convinced. Meanwhile, the Scottish sergeant of the Post Office guard, who had been grazed by a bullet when the insurgents invaded the second floor, had returned from the hospital where his wound was dressed. Though he need not have come back to the Post office, he insisted on doing so because that was where he had been assigned. He seemed puzzled and offended to find himself a prsioner now, when he was only doing his duty. Peering out one of the windows, he saw a priest in the street trying to exert some influence over the mob.

' I'm no religion mo more! ' The sergeant exclaimed. ' Look at the people of Dublin coming to rescue us, and the priest pushing them back. ' Louise Gavan Duffy, a friend of Pearse's who had worked for him as a teacher at St. Its's, his school for girls, and who had been pne of the founders of Cumann na mBan, arrived at the Post office, not because she had received a call to duty but because she had heard the fight was on and the place was in rebel hands. She looked forPearse, knowing none of the other leaders, and quickly found him on the ground floor. ' I don't agree with what you're doing, ' she said. ' The way things stand, you haven't a chance of success. ' He listened courteously, looking deeply into her face as she spoke. When she was finished he said ' Are you here to stay and help us?' She replied ' Yes, of course. If there'sto be a fight, i want to be in it. ' ' They need you upstairs in the commissary ' he said.

Joseph Plunkett, back on duty now, refreshed after his rest but still pale and weak, called for Fergus O'Kelly, who had received rudimentary instruction in the use of a wireless at the Plunkett family estate in the Dublin suburb of Kimmage, where many of the Volunteers from England had been trained. Irish Heart actually Sir Roger Casement. To all but the leaders of the insurrection, the second story was as puzzling as the Casement story. It was dated ' Tralee, Saturday Evening ' and headed: Members of the Cumann na mBan on parade KERRY TRAGEDY - THREE MEN DROWNED - TWO BODIES RECOVERED. A tragic accident is reported from Killorglin. Three men, whose names are unknown, motoring from Limerick, were drowned in ballykissane Quay, near Killorglin last night, the motor having jumped over the bridge into the river. The bodies of two unknown men were recovered from the River Laune near Killorglin last evening. They are described as of the labouring class. Each had a revolver and some rounds of ammunition and the Sinn Fein badge. The body of the third victim had not yet been recovered.

The story of the three men drowned at ballykissane was the story of another missed opportunity in the preparation for the rebellion. By monday the insurgent leaders had heard from their contacts in County Kerry all the frustrating details of the tragedy. Good Friday moning, Joesph Plunkett and Sean MacDermot had sent five men on a mission to Cahirciveen, Waterville, where there was a government wireless station They were to take the station, dismantle the equipment, then set up the transmitter in Tralee, in the hope of contacting the ' Aud ' the German munitions ship expected Saturday or Sunday. The fact that the Aud had arrived Thursdays and on Friday morning was already settling into the depths outside Queenstown harbor doomed this primary aspect of the mission to failure from the start, but it need not have foreclosed a secondary benefit, the possession of all the radio equipment Plunkett so badly needed now in Dublin to set up a dependable communications system. The five men Plunkett and MacDermott had sent on the mission separated into two cars when they reached Killarney.

In one car was a local driver who did not know the route to Cahirciveen, plus three of the five men, only one of whom claimed to know the route. As they passed through Killorglin Friday night, they took a wrong turn and headed unknowingly toward Ballykissane, where the road ended abruptly, at the end of a pier on the River Laune. Apparently without ever suspecting they were on the wrong road, they drove off the end of the pier into deep water. Only the driver survived. When he emerged from the water, he fell into the right hands, fortunately for the insurgents and had so far managed to escape questioning by the police. But the opportunity to capture the government wireless equipment ar Cahirciveen had gone down with the three men who drowned. Therefore it was with only a forlorn hope that Plunkett sent Fergus O'Kelly across Sackville Street to work on the crippled equipment at the wireless school. O'Kelly took with him six men, including John O'Connor, who was a qualified electrician, and Arthur Shields, a prominent Abbey Theatre who later became internationally famous, as did his brother Barry Fitzgerald, both on the stage and screen.

Breaking into the building, O'Kelly and his men found that the school's apparatus, a one and a half kilowatt ship's transmitter and receiver, had been disconnected by apparently not altogether dismantled. The antennae on the roof had been pulled down and all parts removed except the poles and the clamps to support them. But when O'Connor began, with commandeered equipment, to rebuild and restore the antennae, he soon found out where the British were. Sniper's bullets from south of the Liffey, at or near Trinity College, began skipping and whistling past him on the roof. The restoration of the antennae had to be postponed until the dead of night. Meanwhile, O'Kelly, noticing that the building housing the wireless school was dominated by the pagoda dome of the Dublin Bread Company building two doors away, sent a message to Connolly suggesting that the DBC building also be occupied to protect the wireless. Connolly went even further. He sent men to occupy the entire block of building directly across Sackville Street from the GPO.

Late in afternoon, one of the snipers on the Post Office roof got hold of a copy of the just-released proclamation issued by Lord Wimborne, the viceroy, which was now circulating through the building.

The sniper, began declaiming it, in the stentorian tones he thought appropriate for a viceroy, to a pair of fellow snipers on the roof of the Tower bar across the street: ' Whereas an attempt, instigated and designed by the foreign enemies of our King and country to incite rebellion in Ireland, and thus endanger the safety of the United Kingdom, has been made by a reckless, though small body of men, who have been guilty of insurrectionary acts in the city of Dublin: Now we, Ivor Churchill, Baron Wimborne, Lord-Lieutenant-General and Governor-General of Ireland, do hereby warn all His Majesty's subjects that the sternest measures are being, and will be taken for the propt supression of the existing disturbances and the Arthur Sheilds The famous actor Arthur Shields and the restoration of order: And we do hereby enjoin all loyal and law-abiding citizens to abstain from any acts or conduct which might interfere with the action of the Executive Government, and, in particular, we warn all citizens of the danger of unnecessarily frequenting the streets or public places or of assembling in crowds.

Given under our seal, on the 24th day of April 1916 - signed Wimborne. ' Ah he's an ould cod, ' one of the listeners shouted. ' Send us more grenades. ' Early in the evening, most of the leaders, O'Rahilly not included, had tea together in the GPO commissary. Clarke and MacDermott questioned men who had been out during the afternoon about reactions to the uprising in other parts of the city. At the mention of looting, the leaders did not conceal their anger, frustration and even personal sorrow. But they laughed as Sean T. O'Kelly told them stories of his adventures commandeering supplies. Pearse did not participate in the laughter. He would stay awhile, then leave, then return. Sometimes he had short whispered talks with MacDermott, Clarke or Plunkett. With him at almost all times now was his younger brother Willie. After everyone had eaten, the doctor who had performed throat surgery on Plunkett two weeks earlier arrived to examine his patient. The others sensitive to the serious, even termianl nature of Plunkett's tubercular affliction, politely left the room.

The doctor stayed on alone with Plunkett for almost an hour, talking in a surprisingly casual way about the uprising. Pearse in the meantime, was increasingly worried about any men in the Post Office who might not be ready spiritually for the very strong possibility of their deaths. They had no chaplain; the Republican movement at the time was no more popular with the clergy than it was with the majority of Irishmen. Most members of the Volunteers had been instructed by their immediate commanders in the days before the uprising to get to confession and communion before Easter . Indeed, British Intelligence agents, had they been sufficiently alert, could have predicted a military showdown of some sort simply by counting male heads in Dublin chapels Easter Saturday evening. The confessionals had been full of men and boys that night, all anxious to get themselves into a state of grace by morning, becaue they had heard convincing rumours about the ' maneuver ' scheduled for the next day but has not yet heard about MacNeill's order countermanding it. Pearse could feel satisfied, therefore, that the majority of the men who came out for the uprising, despite the countermand, had received the sacraments within the previous two or three days and were therefore ready to meet their maker if that eventually should arise.

Yet there were some who had missed their opportunities, and this was a matter of extreme concern to Pearse, who himself had gone to Dominick Street church Easter Saturday monrning, at one of the few free moments during that hectic wekend and talked a priest there into giving him Holy Communion even on the one morning of the year when Catholics do not ordinarily receive it. When he learned there were men in the Post Office who had not even gone to confession recently, he sent a messenger to the Pro-Cathedral, just two blocks away, to ask for a priest. Father John Flanagan, a curate attached to the archdiocese, answered the call at nine o'clock and was given a room at the ground-floor rear of the Post office, where he was kept busy hearing confessions until 11:30. In the streets the looting continued through the evening hours, for there were many shops still unplundered. Even those establishments near the Post Office that had been fairly well emptied kept drawing gleaners and children who made the rounds in search of worthwile items that might have been overlooked.

Some of the children had found a batch of fireworks in one of the shops and were setting off as dangerous a display as they could contrive near the Cable boot shop, next door to the Imperial Hotel and across the street from the Post office. At 9:30 the shop was in flames and a crowd had gathered to watch it burn. The fire was gaining momentum on the lowere floors when one man in the crowd, William Redmond-Howard ( who happened to be the nephew of John Redmond, leader of the Irish party in the British Parliamnet ) noticed a light behind a curtained window on the top floor. It occurred to him, as it had apparently not occurred by anyone else, that people might be living up there unaware of the disaster developing beneath them. He ran to the stairway door of the building, found it locked, and, when he got no response by pounding on it, called for help from the crowd. The shoulders of three men against the door brought no immediate result. However, their noise did. An angrey man put his head out of a top-floor window. ' What the hell's goping on down there? ' he demanded.

' The place is on fire!' Redmond-Howard shouted, quite unnecessarily now. ' My God!' The man cried. ' There are women and children here!' Finally the stairway door opened and Redmond-Howard led the charge to the top floor, through the smoke and perilously close to the flames. Within a short time, all the able-bodied people were out of the building. Then, however, the rescuers found themselves confronted by a more difficult case - a woman in labor who was so distraught she refused to leave her bed. They made the almost fatal mistake of arguing with her. They were still arguing with her, and losing, when the fire brigade arrived. The captain wasted no time in discussion. He simply told his men to remove her. Though part of the staircase had caught fire by now and the screaming woman fought them all the way, the firemen managed to carry her downstairs to safety. This dramtic scene concluded, the crowd settled down to watch the firemen fight the flames, which they did to such advantage that some of the onlookers must have decided they had better take measures lest they run out of entertainment.

By the time the had the Cable boot shop fire under control, a few of the boyos on the sidelines had managed to start a second one, in another shoe store nearby. In the Post office, the concern about communications continued to nag Plunkett and Pearse. the wireless Fergus O'Kelly and his men were trying to repair in the school across the street would not be ready until morning at best. Meanwhile, there were only the most wishful of rumors about reactions to the uprising in country districts. Did anyone outside Dublin even know it had actually begun? Had any Volunteers outside Dublin risen in support? It might make a difference. About this time, a group of older Volunteers who had awaited the call at a meeting place in Parnell Street and a company of 30 Hibernian Rifles ( an independent nationalist group affiliated with the Ancient Order of Hibernians ) who had waited in a house on Frederick Street arrived at the Post Office eager to serve the cause. Among the Hibernian Rifles was a man named J.J Walsh, who knew Morse code. He sat down at the telegraph desk on the second floor and posing as a government superintendent, began sending out queries about the uprising in the hope of receiving some news in return.

But the few bits of information he was able to pass on to Pearse and Plunkett were sketchy that they both realised the only hope of continued contact with the outside world was through that wireless across the street. Amiens Street railway station - now Connolly station Pearse also talked to Connolly about the imminent danger of attack from the Amiens Street railway station, three blocks east of the Post office. Troop trains were rumored to be arriving at Amiens Street now in a steady stream from British garrisons all over Ireland. Connolly expected the attack to come via North Earl Street, which led directly from Nelson's Pillar toward the station, especially since a barricade had already been erected across Abbey Street, the one other likely route along which British troops might advance toward the Post office. Connolly said Earl Street had to be blocked immediately. Pearse, accepting his judgement, sent him Brennan Whitmore to direct the job. When Whitmore reported to Connolly, ten men assigned to work under his command had already been drawn up in a single rank opposite the front door of the Post Office. In addition to their arms, they carried crowbars, hatchets, saws, hammers, and whatever other tools they had been able to find.

Connolly's orders to Whitmore were brief: ' Take these men over to Tyler's boot shop and prepare to defend the place. But first i want you to build a strong barricade across Earl Street. ' Connolly paused to look hard at Whitmore and the men behind him ' You will defend the position ' he said ' to the last. ' BBC - History - 1916 Easter Rising - Newspaper Archives Contact Us The newspapers in Dublin and Belfast denounced the Easter Rising. The Irish Independent - owned by the Dublin entrepreneur William Martin Murphy - called for the execution of the rebel leaders and in particular James Connolly who had organised a strike against Murphy’s Dublin Tramway Company in 1913. A few days after the Rising the then pro-Union Irish Times put out an emergency edition and urged its readers to stay at home and read Shakespeare until events calmed down. During the 50th anniversary of the Rising in 1966 nationalist newspapers took a singularly different approach; the rebels who were denounced in 1916 were now being venerated as national saints.

In 1991 and 1996, after nearly two decades of IRA violence, newspaper editorials took a more muted response to the 75th and 80th anniversary of the Rising. Judge for yourself how attitudes have changed over the years in this selection of editorials from the Dublin based Irish Times, Irish Independent and Irish Press and the Belfast based Irish News and pro-unionist News Letter. Tuesday, 2nd May 1916 "The latest news about the Sinn Fein rising is good. On Sunday General Maxwell informed a group of Press representatives that the back of the rising was broken, but not yet over... " 1000+ images about EASTER RISING 1916 ♣ on Pinterest | Easter rising, Dublin and Dublin ireland Forward April 28th 1916, Patrick Pearse surrenders to British Troops outside the GPO in Dublin. Public opinion was against them and they were booed and heckled as they were led away. This was to change some 2 weeks later when the first if the leaders of the Easter Rising were executed.

See More Easter Monday - The 1916 Easter Rising Easter Monday - The 1916 Easter Rising Chapters FOR FREEDOM He had been forced to post guards at the door leading to the roof to prevent the men below coming up on sightseeing tours. Every few minutes someone on the lower floors, or even on the street, would shout ' Here comes the military, ' and in the scramble to be ready in case it might be true, more guns would go off. It began to look as if one would be safer outside the building than in it. While O'Rahilly and Fitzgerald talked, Fitzgerald's wife returned from he flag-delivering mission with a harried look on her face and the flag still in her hand. Whoever told Pearse the Citizen Army boys had taken the castle, she said, ought to go and have another look. She had arrived there and hurried up to one of the entrances assuming they had possession, but she had soon found herself facing a bayonet in the hands of a khaki-clad British soldier. With the Irish flag under her arm, she had retreated as discreetly as possible.

She could assure one and all that the British were as much in control of the castle as they had been for hundreds Easter Monday - April 24th While his wife hurriedoff with a brand-new tricolour tucked under her arm, Fitzgerald gaped in wonder and dismay at the great bustle of strange activity inside the Post Office. As he looked around at the apparent chaos, he was greeted by friends and aquaintances who must have been surprised to see him as they had been to see O'Rahilly. He alsoencountered, to his amazement, a pair of Swedish sailors, who said they had come to join the rebellion because they didn't want to miss a chance to fight the English. They were prepared to fight unti Thursday, when their ship was scheduled to leave. They had apparently been taken seriously. They were posted at a window. Other men at other windows were singing the ' Soldiers Song ' Some were exchanging banter banter with the girls passing in the street. Guns went off, presumably by accident, but without causing much concern. Fitzgerald made his way as quickly as possible through this incomprehensible ground-floor scene and hurries upstairs to find O'Rahilly.

When he reached the top floor O'Rahilly saw him and came forward, his smile arising in his eyes and spreading to his entire face. ' They were determined to have a rising. ' he said, ' so here we are. ' Fitzgerald asked ' How long do you think we can hold out?' ' By a miracle, ' O' Rahilly said ' we might last for twenty-four hours, but i don't think we'll go that long. ' After O'Rahilly had shown him through the upper part of the building, including the second-floor commissart, which was now filling up with sacks of commandeered food, they sat down to try to establish some kind of order. They decided that Fitgerald should handle the provisions and mess; no one else had shown any inclination to do so. O'Rahilly's efforts so far had been toward getting the upper-floor windows manned and fortified, posting snipers and lookouts on the roof, and handling the disposition of weapons and ammunition as they arrived. Irish Heart of years. O'Rahilly showed no sign of surprise. he appeared not to have believed the report in the first place. He did not pretend to be happy with any part of what was going on around him.

the insurgent forces were pitifully small, inadequately armed, and, as it was now obvious to anyone who had been downstairs in the Post Office, dangerously undertrained. The country was not yet in sympathy with their aims and was not likely to support them. It had been a great mistake, in his opinion, to precipitate the uprisng at this moment. It was only a matter of hours before they should all be wiped out. Despite his romantic commitment to Irish independence, O'Rahilly was essentially a life-loving man who favored practical methods and found no satisfaction in courting death simply as a gesture of protest. The head of a County Kerry clan ( hence the title ' The O'Rahilly ' which he assumed) he had embraced the Gaelic and Republican movements as a young man ( he was now forty-one ) and it was he who first conceived the idea of founding the Irish Volunteers. Because he had an independent income of £900 per year, he could afford an automobile ( which he actually owned jointly with one of his sisters) and was therefore considered wealthy by most of the other Republican leaders. He used to take trips through the countryside, tossing pennies to small children with adonitions in Desmond Fitzgerald Gaelic.

His own Gaelic was not as good as theirs, and that became one of the jokes. In latter years his Gaelic had improved because he had no timidity in using it and because, through foreign travel, he had developed a facility with languages. He had once designed a modification of the Gaelic alphabet. He had also designed the Dublin house in which he lived with his wife and five children and had made with his own hands some of the furniture in it. During a sojourn in America, he had invented an automatic warning gate for railroad crossings. After te Volunteers were organised, he had taken charge of the task of arming them, amd in doing so, he had sometimes spent more of his own money than he could afford. He had recently siad to a friend who was a priest ' I suppose father, i'll be accounted a fool from the worldly point of view. I am giving this movement all my time, all my thoughts day and night, my money as far as i can. I do not suppose i'll ever have a foryune to leave my children, but one thing i shall try to leave them the memory of a father of whom they need not feel ashamed.

' As a result of his devotion to the movement, he had developed a close friendship with Patrick Pearse. He felt now that despite their differences about when, how and under what circumstances an uprising should take place, Pearse had betrayed that frienship by going ahead secretly and witholding from him the IRB plans. It seemed clear to him that neither Pearse nor the other leaders thought he would have the courage to appear when the fighting began. They must have considered him simply a rich dilettante playing at revolution. He was also outraged at their apparent kidnapping of his friend Bulmer Hobson. That was a matter he would have to settle soon, but for Michael Joesph O'Rahilly ' The O'Rahilly ' The O'Rahilly the moment he didn't want even to speak to any of them. When he and Fitzgerald had worked out what seemed to him satisfactory arrangements for managing the upper floors of the building, he sent Fitzgerald downstairs to get their approval. Pearse was so receptive to O'Rahilly's arrangements that Fitzgerald could sense in him the deep guilt and embarrassment he must feel about O'Rahilly. ' Isn't O'Rahilly a marvelous man?' Pearse said.

When Fitzgerald, changing the subject, asked him if there were any prospects of victory, Pearse hesitated, then spoke in general terms about the situation without making any cheerful or exaggerated predictions. Though he had accepted the necessity of living a lie by witholding from O'Rahilly and the rest of the moderates the plans for the uprising, he could not bring himself to tell an outright lie even at a time like this, when, as commander in chief, he had almost a duty to stimulate optimism. As their conversation came to a close, he said once more ' Isn't O'Rahilly a marvelous man? ' When Fitzgerald reported to Tom Clarke, he found him clearly elated at the realisation that Irishmen, however few in number, had actually risen in arms against England, that this generation was not going to pass meekly without reasserting the Irish right to self-government. He was not, on the surface at keast, bitter or vindictive in his attitude toward the English, despite those fifteen years in British prisons, during which he maintained his sanity by copying the entire Old and New Testaments twice in shorthand. He was simply afire with zeal for Irish independence.

He was bitter, however, toward his fellow Irishmen and fellow Republicans who had propagated the counterman order. And that bitterness perhaps included the O'Rahilly. Yet time and again he assured Fitzgerald that of all men he admired O'Rahilly. ' What do you think of our chances of victory?' Fitzgerald asked him. ' Imagine what a fight we could have put up ' Calrke said ' if there had been no countermand order. ' He did not say, however, that even under those circumstances they could have hoped for victory. About their outlook as it stood, he made no predictions. After reporting to Clarke, Fitzgerald located James Connolly, who quickly approved of whatever O'Rahilly thought best for the upper floors of the building. Fitzgerald and Connolly talked for only a short time, because Connolly was busy and Fitzgerald could not speak to him freely, never having met him before. Fitzgerald felt it would take very little under the circumstances to make Connolly angry. Pearse walked up to Fitzgerald with a sizable sheaf of ten pound notes, accompanied by the Volunteer who had laid hands on the manager of the Metropole Hotel.

' This young man has been out commandeering food, ' Pearse said ' Since you'll be in charge of provisions, will you go back with him to the places from which he took things and settle accounts. ' When Fitzgerald and the Volunteer entered the Metropole they found the manager still indignant. ' That young man asaulted me ' he said. The young Volunteer said ' I did no such thing. ' The manager replied ' You did, you took hold of me. ' ' I don't call that an assault ' replied the Volunteer. Before Fitzgerald had time to settle the argument, another man took hold of his arm, pulled him aside, identified himself as a newspaper reported, and asked for a statement. The manager grabbed Fitzgerald's arm and said ' I won't accpet this kind of treatment. ' Fitzgerald began to explain he had come there to pay for what the requisitioning party had taken. The newsman again asked him for a statement. The manager became more indignant. The Volunteer smiled sheepishly and shrugged. Fitzgerald, becoming impatient, escorted the reporter out of the hotel, then forced upon the manager the amount of money he had coming and hastened to depart.

The swelling crowd in Sackville Street was beginning to develop an ominous character. As people became gradually aware of the withdrawl of the police, a mood of license, fostered by contempt for the play soldiers who had captured the Post Office, began to permeate the festive atmospjere. Bitterness was added to the contempt when women out of the slums lined up at the side door of the Post Office, where they had always collected their ' separation money. ' They presented a problem for which the insurgents had no happy solution. ' Separation money ' was the term used for the stipend the British government offered to those whose sons or husbands were serving in His Majesty's armed forces. Because there were about 150,000 such Irishmen in 1916, most of them from poorer families, the gathering of shawl-enshrouded slum women at the Post Office door was soon sizable and restless. But there was only one thing to tell them. The sentries at the door kept trying to explain, ' You're no longer ruled by the English. You're citizens of the Irish Republic now. There'll ne no more separation money.' This patriotic message was not well received.

As its full purport sank in, a rich Dublin Patois began to fill the air. 'Remarks such as ' Bastard!' ' Lousers! Shite-hawks! Bowsies! ' and ' Wait till the military gets here. They'll take care o'yiz. ' ' Wait till me husband comes back from France. He'll take care o'yiz all by himself. ' The sentries tried to be polite. ' Please go away, ' they said. ' There's nothing we can do. ' The mood of the women was not improved by the unfortunate incident that took place about three o'clock. A young Volunteer was sorting a basketful of supplies at a Henry Street window when one of his homemade grenades ( packaged in a Meadowland cigarette tin ) fell out of the basket and down behind a pair of hot pipes. It began to sizzle; smoke arose from it. The soldier turned in fright to run, thought suddenly about the danger to the men around him, came back and rooted behind the hot pipes until he got hold of the cigarette tin, then flung it out the window into the street, where the shawlies were gathered, shouting for their separation money.

Luckily, it was about effective as most of the other homemade grenades. When it exploded, it reduced the women to silence for a moment, but it did not injure any of them. And its explosion was a mere rumble compared to the furious uproar that follwed, as the women quickly concluded that the bloody Sinn Feiners were now out to kill them all. Their fury seemed to raise them beyond fear. They bombarded the men in the Post Office with a salvo of obscenities and showed no inclination to disperse. A woman at the edge of the crowd, who was apparently not one of them, made the mistake of objecting to their language. She soon found herself in a vicous hair-pulling fight with a shawlie who objected to her objection. The men in the Post Office windows, relieved at this diversion of the crowd's attention, cheered the clumsy battle. The O'Rahilly climbed up to the roof to inspect the snipers' positions and moving from man to man, he warned each not to fire without orders. One of the men pointed out to him a British officer in the tower of the Amiens Street union, three blocks away, looking toward them through field glasses.

'You needn't worry about him ' O'Rahilly said. He pointed to Nelson's pillar directly in front of them, with the admiral's statue standing high on its pedestal. ' His Lordship here will screen you if they fire this way. So don't fire at them. You'll give away your position. ' Then, as he turned to leave he added, perhaps in sober recollection of all the wild shots taken at the Lancers, ' Besides which, you'd probably miss him anyway. ' That gimpse of one British uniform two blocks away left O'Rahilly with the question that was eating at everyone in the Post Office. Where were the British forces? Why hadn't they attacked? Perhaps they had been twice deceived. When they sent the Lancers prancing down the street, they must have thought they were dealing with only a handful of men. And when they learned how the Lancers had been received, they must have decided just as wrongly, that they were dealing with an army. It was amusing to contemplate the British General Staff planning an attack against a few brave men scattered around Dublin, as if they were planning an attack against ten German divisions on the Western Front.

But if the British were deceived about the strength of the insurgents, O'Rahilly was convinced they would not be long deceived, and the full force and might of the British army would come down upon them. They only had to send one man walking past the Post Office in civilian clothes to find out how ill-prepared the insurgents were. By nightfall, the Brirish would have would know their full strength and the attack would come. O'Rahilly was certain of that. A restless, impatient mood was beginning to permeate the entire Post office as everyone wondered at the continued absence of British troops. The insurgents, though almost all innocent of battle, were now reconciled to it and ready for it. Although they might dread it, they were eager to get on with it, to get it done. Waiting for action tightened their nerves, especially since they knew so little about what was happening outside the immediate vicinity og their makeshift fortress. Connolly, aware that he had to have instant communication with the roof of the building if he was to receive any warning of British troop movements, assigned a Volunteer named Liam Daly to improvise a telephone line. Daly had once told him he was a phone operator, and it was soon apparent he knew what he was doing.

Within a short time he had Connolly talking to the men on the roof. It was not from there, however, that the first definite indication came of the British closing in on the Post Office. At 3:30 Connolly sent a small contingent of men south across O'Connell Bridge to reinforce the pitiful garrison that for a while had been thought to hold the Castle but ' Dublin Shawlies. ' Sackville Street, Easter 1916 was now known to be holding the nearby City Hall with some difficulty. The men advanced westward along Fleet Street in the belief that the Dublin Telephone exchange apparently had been inadvertently overlooked. At Temple Bar, a few friendly civilians who were out to watch the fun told the insurgents they were heading for trouble. They could not long doubt the reliability of this information. As they moved along Fleet Street, a rude barrage of rifle fire greeted them from the exchange. They fell back into the nearest doorways to consider strategy. Another, more convincing, barrage of bullets bit into the pavement in front of them to help them make up their minds.

Pudently, the small squad of insurgents returned to the Post office with the sad news that the plan to capture the telephone exchange had gone awry and that the enemy was firmly lodged there, just a few short blocks away. Easter Rebellion begins - Apr 24, 1916 - HISTORY.com Easter Rebellion begins Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1916, on Easter Monday in Dublin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationalists led by Patrick Pearse, launches the so-called Easter Rebellion, an armed uprising against British rule. Assisted by militant Irish socialists under James Connolly, Pearse and his fellow Republicans rioted and attacked British provincial government headquarters across Dublin and seized the Irish capital’s General Post Office. Following these successes, they proclaimed the independence of Ireland, which had been under the repressive thumb of the United Kingdom for centuries, and by the next morning were in control of much of the city. Later that day, however, British authorities launched a counteroffensive, and by April 29 the uprising had been crushed. Nevertheless, the Easter Rebellion is considered a significant marker on the road to establishing an independent Irish republic.

Following the uprising, Pearse and 14 other nationalist leaders were executed for their participation and held up as martyrs by many in Ireland. There was little love lost among most Irish people for the British, who had enacted a series of harsh anti-Catholic restrictions, the Penal Laws, in the 18th century, and then let 1.5 million Irish starve during the Potato Famine of 1845-1848. Armed protest continued after the Easter Rebellion and in 1921, 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties won independence with the declaration of the Irish Free State. The Free State became an independent republic in 1949. However, six northeastern counties of the Emerald Isle remained part of the United Kingdom, prompting some nationalists to reorganize themselves into the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to continue their struggle for full Irish independence. In the late 1960s, influenced in part by the U.S. civil rights movement, Catholics in Northern Ireland, long discriminated against by British policies that favored Irish Protestants, advocated for justice. Civil unrest broke out between Catholics and Protestants in the region and the violence escalated as the pro-Catholic IRA battled British troops.

An ongoing series of terrorist bombings and attacks ensued in a drawn-out conflict that came to be known as “The Troubles.” Peace talks eventually took place throughout the mid- to late 1990s, but a permanent end to the violence remained elusive. Finally, in July 2005, the IRA announced its members would give up all their weapons and pursue the group’s objectives solely through peaceful means. By the fall of 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission reported that the IRA’s military campaign to end British rule was over. Related Videos Easter Rising in Ireland By Patricia Daniels, Contributing Writer Updated March 25, 2016. What Was the Easter Rising? On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, over 1,000 Irish nationalists took to the streets of Dublin, where they proclaimed a free Irish republic in defiance of the ruling British government. Following a week of battle with British troops, the vastly outnumbered rebels were defeated. More than 450 people were killed and 2,000 injured during the Easter Rising (sometimes called the Easter Rebellion). Leaders of the uprising were dealt with swiftly, executed for their actions only weeks after the insurrection.

Although short-lived, the rebellion had not been fought in vain; instead, it marked a turning point in Irish history. The Easter Rising galvanized the Irish people—many of whom had not previously supported the fight for independence—thereby strengthening the nationalist movement. Factors Leading Up to the Rising Under British rule for nearly seven centuries, the Irish officially became part of the United Kingdom (UK) with the passage of the Act of Union in 1800. continue reading below our video 4 Tips for Improving Test Performance Under the Act, the Irish Parliament was also abolished, leaving Ireland under the governance of the UK Parliament. Generally unpopular among the Irish, this arrangement led to the creation of several nationalist organizations during the 19th century. One of these groups, a secret society formed in 1848 and claiming a branch in the United States, was the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) . The main goal of the IRB was to achieve full independence for Ireland. Other, more moderate, nationalists were opposed to rebellion and advocated for home rule. Under home rule, Ireland would remain a part of the United Kingdom, yet retain some measure of self-government.

After many attempts to push home rule through Parliament, the bill finally passed in 1914; however, the enactment of the bill was delayed by the onset of World War I in July 1914. This delay caused the nationalist group known as the Irish Volunteer Force (IVF) to become divided. The majority of the group—approximately 120,000—split off and formed the National Volunteers, led by John Redmond. This group pledged its support to the British war effort. The remainder of the group, some 13,000 men, became the Irish Volunteers, committed to the cause of Irish home rule, despite the outbreak of war. These men, led by Eoin MacNeill , remained in Ireland for the duration of the war. Planning a Rebellion Impatient to achieve complete independence from the British, members of the IRB did not want to wait until the war was over. In fact, they believed that British involvement in the war would make it easier to stage a rebellion. The IRB began to plan its rebellion in 1915. The group hoped to recruit members of the Irish Volunteers, who shared their vision of an independent Ireland. First, the group needed both weapons and ammunition.

Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement, a former consular official for the British, arranged for a shipment of arms from Britain's enemies, the Germans. Casement's plan was stymied, however, when British intelligence intercepted messages between the rebels and the Germans. Casement was captured on April 21, 1916, just hours after his arrival from Germany to the Irish coast, and the weapons never reached the rebels. Casement was charged with treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London . Easter Rising Delayed Casement's failure to supply the arms resulted in the decision by many would-be rebels to withdraw from the planned insurrection. Only the most militant of them decided to remain committed to the mission. Eoin MacNeill, leader of the Irish Volunteers, was one who refused to continue to back the Easter Rising. Fearing a large number of casualties, MacNeill handwrote several notes on Saturday, April 22 that stated, “Volunteers completely deceived. All orders for tomorrow Sunday are entirely cancelled,” to be delivered to leaders in several cities. To be sure that everyone knew about the change of plan, MacNeill also placed a similar ad in the newspaper calling off the rebellion.

While the Easter Rising was planned for Sunday, April 23 and was to occur in a number of cities, the lack of weapons and MacNeill’s notes caused confusion, resulting in several cities pulling out of the plan and delaying the rebellion by a day. Leaders of the rebellion sent couriers throughout Dublin to announce that the rising was still on for Monday, April 24th. Rebels Overtake Dublin At 11:00 a.m. on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, rebel volunteers and their leaders came together at strategic positions in Dublin, including the General Post Office (GPO) , along with some local factories and other prominent businesses. Among their ranks were members of the IRB, Irish Volunteers who had ignored the warnings of MacNeill, the Irish Citizen Army (a socialist trade union group), and the women's group Cumman na mBan. In all, more than 1,000 rebels had assembled for the Easter Rising. The leaders successfully commandeered the GPO as their headquarters and then at 12:45 p.m.

on April 24, 1916, rebel leader Patrick Pearse read a proclamation to the small crowd gathered at the steps of the GPO. The Proclamation declared Ireland's independence and announced the creation of a provisional government run by the IRB. When the Easter Rising began, there were only 400 British troops confronting the rebels, but soon nearly 16,000 troops were deployed to squelch the rebellion. Most clashes between troops and rebels occurred in fiercely fought street battles, with the highest casualties (mostly British) at Mount Street Bridge on April 26, 1916. However, after a week of violence, the fighting was over, leaving approximately 450 people dead and more than 2,000 wounded. Quick Justice To the dismay of the rebels, the Irish public did not throw its support behind the rebellion; they instead blamed the rebels for the high number of civilian deaths (254) that occurred during the Easter Rising as well as the destruction of much of Dublin's center. Leaders of the rebellion were dealt with quickly. Fourteen, including Pearse and the others who had signed the Proclamation, were executed by firing squad in May.

Casement, after it had been conveniently leaked that he was homosexual to further besmirch his reputation, was hanged on August 3. One Easter Rising leader, Eamon de Valera , was at first sentenced to death but then had his sentence reduced to imprisonment, partly because he was born in the United States. (De Valera later went on to become president of Ireland.) After the Easter Rising, the British imposed martial law, which lasted until the fall of 1916. Anyone suspected of supporting the Easter Rising in any way was taken into custody, resulting in 3,000 arrests and more than 1,400 imprisonments, many of them without a trial. Twenty-five-year-old Michael Collins was one of those arrested and imprisoned; he was later released in December 1916. Aftermath of the Easter Rising The leaders of the Easter Rising hoped that even if their rebellion was quashed, their martyrdom would inspire others and reinvigorate Ireland’s national spirit. At first, this did not seem to happen, but soon the Irish became resentful of British authorities.

In the face of prolonged martial law, hasty executions, imprisonments without trial, and the postponement of home rule, public support for Irish independence grew. In December 1918, just two-and-a-half years after the Easter Rising, the Sinn Fein political party, which supported the establishment of an Irish Republic, won a majority of Irish seats in the UK Parliament (73 out of 105). The following month, January 1919, the Sinn Fein members refused to sit in the UK Parliament and, instead, defiantly created an Irish Parliament in Dublin called Dail Eireann. With the Dail Eireann’s subsequent declaration of Ireland’s independence on January 21, 1919, the Irish War of Independence (sometimes called the Anglo-Irish War) began. For two years (1919 to 1921), the Irish Republican Army (IRA), led by Michael Collins, used guerrilla tactics to fight off British forces. On July 11, 1921, the British, who were tired of fighting with no discernible results, agreed to a truce.

After months of negotiations, a treaty was signed on December 6, 1921, establishing the Irish Free State, a self-ruling nation of the British Commonwealth. Ireland's six northernmost counties (now known as Northern Ireland) voted against joining the Free State, remaining a part of the United Kingdom. On Easter Monday, April 18, 1949, the Irish Free State fully left the United Kingdom to become its own country, the Republic of Ireland. Easter Rising commemorative programme revealed Easter Rising commemorative programme revealed Events a ‘once in a lifetime invitation’ to public to participate, says Taoiseach Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 18:31 Updated: Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 20:04 Images To mark the countdown to the 100 year anniversary of the 1916 Rising the government have unveiled the official video. A commemoration parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter 1916 Rising passes the GPO in Dublin city centre in 2006.

File photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times A year-long Easter Rising commemorative programme with the emphasis on remembrance and reconciliation has been unveiled by the Government. The programme begins with a commemorative re-enactment of the funeral of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, which takes place on August 1st of this year. It ends on August 3rd next year with the centenary commemorations to mark the execution of Roger Casement in Pentonville Prison. The official State programme will have a strong educational element. Schoolchildren will be asked to come up with their own version of the Proclamation. March 15th next year has been declared Proclamation Day in schools. Each school will get a new national flag and a copy of the Proclamation. Rising’s meaning A new subject, Politics and Society, will be trialled in Irish schools from September next year. All the major academic institutions will be involved in an all- Ireland conference to debate the impact and meaning of the Rising. The centrepiece events will be held during Easter weekend next year. On Easter Saturday, a State reception is expected to attract up to 5,000 relatives of those who were involved during Easter week.

The main parade will take place on Easter Sunday from Dublin Castle to Parnell Square. The Government has confirmed there will be no British royal presence at any of the commemoration events. British ambassador Dominick Chilcott is expected to take part in a commemorative ceremony at Grangegorman cemetery to remember the British soldiers who died in the Rising, most of whom were actually Irish. The British Embassy will be funding an exhibition at the National Library entitled World War Ireland which will reflect on the events of 1916 at the Somme and in Ireland. ‘Have pride’ Speaking at the launch this evening, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Irish people should “celebrate and have pride in Ireland’s independence, and to honour those who gave their lives so that the dream of self-determination could be a reality”. ADVERTISEMENT He described the programme as a “once in a lifetime invitation” to the Irish public to participate in events surrounding the Rising commemoration. The National Library of Ireland is digitising 23,000 different items relating to the seven signatories of the Proclamation. The National Archives will publish online the 1916 courtmartial files and the Dublin City Metropolitan police surveillance files.

The Garda will host an exhibition to remember the men of the Dublin Metropolitan Police who were killed in the Rising. Seven signature concerts will take place in the National Concert Hall during Easter Week and a major exhibition will be curated by the National Gallery. The role of the Irish language will be remembered in the An Teanga Bheo (The Living Language) programme, the highlight of which will be a Rave-lóid 2016, an outdoor entertainment festival organised by Glór na nGael. International dimension There will be a substantial international dimension to the Rising commemorations. The University of Notre Dame is providing $3 million (€2.8 million) towards a three-part television documentary on the Rising, along with a 70-minute feature film. From May 16th to June 5th next year, the John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington DC will host a three-week festival of Irish arts. The Irish embassy in London is planning a flagship 2016 event at one of London’s main cultural venues. Argentina is also planning a major event to remember the links between the two countries, as 2016 marks the bicentenary of Argentine independence.

An international conference will take place in Buenos Aires in 2016 in association with the University of El Salvador and the Irish-Argentine community.

Question: In which year did the 'Easter Rising' in Dublin begin on Easter Monday, April 24th?
Answer: 1916