Easter Rising - Wikipedia, the free encyclope...

Hide
Wikipedia's getting a new lookLearn more
Easter Rising
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
Jump to:navigation,search
Easter Rising
Part of theIrish revolution

Proclamation of the Republic, Easter 1916
Date 24–30 April 1916
LocationDublin,
skirmishes in countiesMeath,Galway,Louth andWexford
Result Unconditional surrender of rebel forces, execution of leaders
Belligerents
Irish Republican Brotherhood
Irish Volunteers
Irish Citizen Army
Cumann na mBan
Hibernian Rifles
Fianna ÉireannBritish Army
Dublin Metropolitan Police
Royal Irish Constabulary
Commanders
Patrick Pearse
James Connolly Brigadier-GeneralWHM Lowe
General SirJohn Maxwell
Strength
1,250 in Dublin,
~2,000–3,000 elsewhere, although they took little or no action. 16,000 troops and 1,000 armed police in Dublin by end of the week.
Casualties and losses
82 killed
1,617 wounded
16 executed 157 killed
318 wounded
220 civilians killed
600 civilians wounded
[show]v • d • e
Irish revolution (1912–22)
Events
Home Rule Crisis (1912–14)
Easter Rising (1916)
Conscription Crisis (1918)
Irish general election (1918)
Declaration of Independence (1919)
War of Independence (1919–22)
Creation of Northern Ireland (1921)
Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921)
Civil War (1922–23)
Organisations
Irish Republican Brotherhood –Irish Parliamentary Party –Sinn Féin –Irish Volunteers –Irish Republican Army –Irish Citizen Army –Ulster Unionist Party –Ulster Volunteers
The Easter Rising (Irish: Éirí Amach na Cásca)[1] was aninsurrection staged inIreland duringEaster Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted byIrish republicans with the aims of endingBritish rule in Ireland and establishing theIrish Republic. It was the most significant uprising in Ireland since therebellion of 1798.[2]
Organised by the Military Council of theIrish Republican Brotherhood,[3] the Rising lasted from Easter Monday 24 April to 30 April 1916. Members of theIrish Volunteers, led byschoolteacher andbarristerPatrick Pearse, joined by the smallerIrish Citizen Army ofJames Connolly, along with 200 members ofCumann na mBan, seized key locations inDublin and proclaimed theIrish Republic independent of Britain. There were some actions in other parts of Ireland but, except for the attack on theRIC barracks atAshbourne, County Meath, they were minor.
The Rising was suppressed after seven days of fighting, and its leaders were court-martialled and executed, but it succeeded in bringingphysical force republicanism back to the forefront of Irish politics. In the1918 General Election to theBritish Parliament, republicans (then represented by theSinn Féin party) won 73 seats out of 105 on a policy ofabstentionism and Irish independence. This came less than two years after the Rising. In January 1919, the elected members of Sinn Féin who were not still in prison at the time, including survivors of the Rising, convened theFirst Dáil and established theIrish Republic. The British Government refused to accept the legitimacy of the newly declared nation, precipitating theIrish War of Independence.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background2 Planning the Rising3 Build-up to Easter Week4 The Rising4.1 Easter Monday4.2 Tuesday to Saturday4.3 The Rising outside Dublin4.4 Casualties
5 Aftermath5.1 Arrests and executions5.2 Enquiry5.3 Reaction of the Irish public5.4 Rise of Sinn Féin
6 Legacy of the Rising7 90th Anniversary of the 1916 Rising8 See also9 Notes10 Bibliography11 External links
[edit] Background
TheAct of Union 1800 united theKingdom of Great Britain and theKingdom of Ireland, abolishing theIrish Parliament and giving Ireland representation atWestminster. From early on, many Irish nationalists opposed the union and what was seen as the exploitation of the country.[4] Opposition took various forms: constitutional (theRepeal Association; theHome Rule League), social (disestablishment of the Church of Ireland; theLand League) and revolutionary (Rebellion of 1848;Fenian Rising).[5] Constitutional nationalism enjoyed its greatest success in the 1880s and 1890s when theIrish Parliamentary Party underCharles Stewart Parnell succeeded in having twoHome Rule bills introduced by the Liberal government ofWilliam Ewart Gladstone, though both failed. TheFirst Home Rule Bill of 1886 was defeated in theHouse of Commons, while theSecond Home Rule Bill of 1893 was passed by the Commons but rejected by theHouse of Lords. After the fall of Parnell, younger and more radical nationalists became disillusioned with parliamentary politics and turned towards more extreme forms of separatism. TheGaelic Athletic Association, theGaelic League and the cultural revival underW. B. Yeats andLady Augusta Gregory, together with the new political thinking ofArthur Griffith expressed in his newspaperSinn Féin and the organisations the National Council and the Sinn Féin League led to the identification of Irish people with the concept of a Gaelic nation and culture, completely independent of Britain.[6][7] This was sometimes referred to by the generic term Sinn Féin.[8]
TheThird Home Rule Bill was introduced by British Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith in 1912. TheIrish Unionists, led bySir Edward Carson, opposed home rule in the light of what they saw as an impendingRoman Catholic-dominatedDublin government. They formed theUlster Volunteer Force on 13 January 1913.[9] TheIrish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) saw an opportunity to create an armed organisation to advance its own ends, and on 25 November 1913 theIrish Volunteers, whose stated object was "to secure and to maintain the rights and liberties common to all the people of Ireland", was formed. Its leader wasEoin MacNeill, who was not an IRB member.[10] A Provisional Committee was formed that included people with a wide range of political views, and the Volunteers' ranks were open to "all able-bodied Irishmen without distinction of creed, politics or social group."[11] Another militant group, theIrish Citizen Army, was formed by trade unionists as a result of theDublin Lockout of that year.[12] However, the increasing militarisation of Irish politics was overshadowed soon after by the outbreak of a larger conflict—theFirst World War[13] andIreland's involvement in the conflict.
[edit] Planning the Rising

Tom Clarke

Seán MacDermott
The Supreme Council of the IRB met on 5 September 1914, the day after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. At this meeting they decided to stage a rising before the war ended and to accept whatever help Germany might offer.[14] Responsibility for the planning of the rising was given toTom Clarke andSeán MacDermott.[15] The Irish Volunteers, the smaller of the two forces resulting from the September 1914 split over support for the British war effort,[16] set up a "headquarters staff" that includedPatrick Pearse as Director of Military Organisation,Joseph Plunkett as Director of Military Operations andThomas MacDonagh as Director of Training.Éamonn Ceannt was later added as Director of Communications.[17] In May 1915 Clarke and MacDermott established a Military Committee within the IRB, consisting of Pearse, Plunkett and Ceannt, to draw up plans for a rising.[18] This dual rôle allowed the Committee, to which Clarke and MacDermott added themselves shortly afterwards, to promote their own policies and personnel independently of both the Volunteer Executive and the IRB Executive—in particular Volunteer Chief of StaffEoin MacNeill, who was opposed to a rising unless popular support was secured by the introduction of conscription or an attempt to suppress the Volunteers or its leaders, and IRB PresidentDenis McCullough, who held similar views.[19] IRB members held officer rank in the Volunteers throughout the country and would take their orders from the Military Committee, not from MacNeill.[20]
Plunkett had travelled to Germany in April 1915 to joinRoger Casement. Casement had gone there from the United States the previous year with the support ofClan na Gael leaderJohn Devoy, and after discussions with the German Ambassador in Washington,Count von Bernstorff, to try to recruit an "Irish Brigade" from among Irish prisoners of war and secure German support for Irish independence.[21][22]. Together Plunkett and Casement presented a plan which involved a German expeditionary force landing on the west coast of Ireland, while a rising in Dublin diverted the British forces so that the Germans, with the help of local Volunteers, could secure the line of theRiver Shannon.[23]
James Connolly, head of theIrish Citizen Army (ICA), a group of armedsocialisttrade union men and women, was unaware of the IRB's plans, and threatened to start a rebellion on his own if other parties failed to act. If they had gone it alone, the IRB and the Volunteers would possibly have come to their aid,[24] however the IRB leaders met with Connolly in January 1916 and convinced him to join forces with them. They agreed to act together the following Easter and made Connolly the sixth member of the Military Committee.Thomas MacDonagh would later become the seventh and final member.
[edit] Build-up to Easter Week
In an effort to thwart informers and, indeed, the Volunteers' own leadership, Pearse issued orders in early April for three days of "parades and manoeuvres" by the Volunteers for Easter Sunday (which he had the authority to do, as Director of Organization). The idea was that the republicans within the organization (particularly IRB members) would know exactly what this meant, while men such as MacNeill and the British authorities inDublin Castle would take it at face value. However, MacNeill got wind of what was afoot and threatened to "do everything possible short of phoning Dublin Castle" to prevent the rising.
MacNeill was briefly convinced to go along with some sort of action when Mac Diarmada revealed to him that a shipment of German arms was about to land inCounty Kerry, planned by the IRB in conjunction withRoger Casement; he was certain that the authorities discovery of such a shipment would inevitably lead to suppression of the Volunteers, thus the Volunteers were justified in taking defensive action (including the originally planned maneuvers).[25] Casement, disappointed with the level of support offered by the Germans, returned to Ireland on a GermanU-boat and was captured upon landing atBanna Strand in Tralee Bay. The arms shipment, aboard the German shipAud — disguised as a Norwegian fishing trawler—had been scuttled after interception by the British navy, after the local Volunteers had failed to rendezvous with it.
The following day, MacNeill reverted to his original position when he found out that the ship carrying the arms had been scuttled. With the support of other leaders of like mind, notablyBulmer Hobson andThe O'Rahilly, he issued a countermand to all Volunteers, canceling all actions for Sunday. This only succeeded in putting the rising off for a day, although it greatly reduced the number of Volunteers who turned out.
British Naval Intelligence had been aware of the arms shipment, Casement's return and the Easter date for the rising through radio messages between Germany and its embassy in the United States that were intercepted by the Navy and deciphered inRoom 40 of the Admiralty.[26] The information was passed to theUnder-Secretary for Ireland, SirMatthew Nathan, on 17 April, but without revealing its source, and Nathan was doubtful about its accuracy.[27] When news reached Dublin of the capture of the Aud and the arrest of Casement, Nathan conferred with theLord Lieutenant,Lord Wimborne. Nathan proposed to raidLiberty Hall, headquarters of the Citizen Army, and Volunteer properties at Father Matthew Park and atKimmage, but Wimborne was insisting on wholesale arrests of the leaders. It was decided to postpone action until after Easter Monday and in the meantime Nathan telegraphed theChief Secretary,Augustine Birrell, in London seeking his approval.[28] By the time Birrell cabled his reply authorising the action, at noon on Monday 24 April 1916, the Rising had already begun.
[edit] The Rising
[edit] Easter Monday

One of two flags flown over the GPO during the Rising
The Volunteers' Dublin division was organized into four battalions. As a result of the countermanding order all of them saw a far smaller turnout than originally planned. The 1st battalion under CommandantNed Daly mustered at Blackhall Street, numbering about 250 men. They were to occupy theFour Courts and areas to the northwest to guard against attack from the west, principally from the Royal and Marlborough Barracks; the exception was D Company, 1st Battalion, a company of 12 men led by CaptainSeán Heuston, who were to occupy theMendicity Institution, across the river from the Four Courts. The 2nd battalion comprised about 200 men under CommandantThomas MacDonagh who gathered atSt. Stephen's Green with orders to takeJacob's Biscuit Factory, Bishop Street, south of the city centre, and a smaller number of men who gathered atFairview, in the northeast, and who were later directed to the General Post Office.[29] In the southeast CommandantÉamon de Valera commanded about 130 men of the 3rd battalion who would take Boland's Bakery and a number of surrounding buildings to cover Beggars Bush Barracks and the main road and railway from Kingstown (nowDún Laoghaire) harbour. CommandantÉamonn Ceannt's 4th battalion, numbering about 100 men, mustered at Emerald Square inDolphin's Barn; They were to occupy theworkhouse known as the South Dublin Union to the southwest and defend against attack fromthe Curragh.[30] A joint force of about 400 Volunteers and Citizen Army gathered atLiberty Hall under the command of CommandantJames Connolly. Of these, about 100 men and women of the Citizen Army under CommandantMichael Mallin were sent to occupySt. Stephen's Green, and a small detachment of the Citizen Army under Captain Seán Connolly were directed to seize the area around theCity Hall, next toDublin Castle, including the offices of theDaily Express.[31] The remainder was to occupy theGeneral Post Office. This was the headquarters battalion, and as well as Connolly it included four other members of the Military Council:Patrick Pearse, President andCommander-in-Chief,Tom Clarke,Seán Mac Dermott andJoseph Plunkett.[32]
At midday a small team of Volunteers and Fianna members attacked the Magazine Fort in thePhoenix Park and disarmed the guards, with the intent to seize weapons and blow up the building as a signal that the rising had begun. They set explosives but failed to obtain any arms. The explosion was not loud enough to be heard in the city.[33] At the same time the Volunteer and Citizen Army forces throughout the city moved to occupy and secure their positions. Seán Connolly's unit made an assault onDublin Castle, shooting dead a police sentry and overpowering the soldiers in the guardroom, but did not press home the attack. The Under-secretary,Sir Matthew Nathan, who was in his office with Colonel Ivor Price, the Military Intelligence Officer, and A. H. Norway, head of the Post Office, was alerted by the shots and helped close the castle gates.[34] The rebels occupied the Dublin City Hall and adjacent buildings. Mallin's detachment, which was joined byConstance Markiewicz (Countess Markiewicz), occupiedSt. Stephen's Green, digging trenches and commandeering vehicles to build barricades. They took several buildings, including theRoyal College of Surgeons, but did not make an attempt on theShelbourne Hotel, a tall building overlooking the park.[35] Daly's men, erecting barricades at the Four Courts, were the first to see action. A troop of the 5th and 12th Lancers, part of the 6th Cavalry Reserve Regiment, was escorting an ammunition convoy along the north Quays when it came under fire from the rebels. Unable to break through, they took refuge in nearby buildings.[36] The headquarters battalion, led by Connolly, marched the short distance to O'Connell Street. They charged the GPO, expelled customers and staff, and took a number of British soldiers prisoner. Two flags were hoisted on the flag poles on either end of the GPO roof: thetricolour at the right corner at Henry Street and a green flag with the inscription 'Irish Republic' at the left corner at Princess Street. A short time later, Pearse read theProclamation of the Republic outside the GPO.[37]
The Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in Ireland, GeneralLovick Friend, was on leave in England. When the insurrection began the Officer Commanding the Dublin Garrison, Colonel Kennard, could not be located. His adjutant, Col. H. V. Cowan, telephoned Marlborough Barracks and asked for a detachment of troops to be sent to Sackville Street (O'Connell Street) to investigate the situation at the GPO. He then telephoned Portobello, Richmond and the Royal Barracks and ordered them to send troops to relieve Dublin Castle. Finally, he contacted the Curragh and asked for reinforcements to be sent to Dublin.[38] A troop of the 6th ReserveCavalry Regiment, dispatched from Marlborough Barracks, proceeded down O'Connell Street. As it passedNelson's Pillar, level with the GPO, the rebels opened fire, killing three cavalrymen and two horses[39] and fatally wounding a fourth man. The cavalrymen retreated and were withdrawn to barracks. This action is often referred to, inaccurately, as the "Charge of the Lancers."[40]

"Birth of the Irish Republic"
A piquet from the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion,Royal Irish Regiment (RIR), approaching the city from Richmond Barracks, encountered an outpost of Éamonn Ceannt's force under Section-Commander John Joyce in Mount Brown, at the north-western corner of the South Dublin Union. A party of twenty men under Lieutenant George Malone was ordered to march on to Dublin Castle. They proceeded a short distance with rifles sloped and unloaded before coming under fire, losing three men in the first volley, then broke into a tan-yard opposite. Malone's jaw was shattered by a bullet as he went in. The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel R. L. Owens, brought up the remainder of his men from Richmond Barracks. A company with aLewis Gun was sent to theRoyal Hospital (not then a hospital but the British military headquarters), overlooking the Union. The main body took up positions along the east and south walls of the Union, occupying houses and a block offlats, then opened fire on the rebel positions, forcing Joyce and his men to retreat across open ground. A party led by Lieut. Alan Ramsey broke open a small door next to the Rialto gate, but Ramsey was shot and killed, and the attack was repulsed. A second wave led by Capt. Warmington charged the door but Warmington, too, was killed. The remaining troops, trying to break in further along the wall, were enfiladed fromJameson's distillery inMarrowbone Lane. Eventually the superior numbers and firepower of the British were decisive; they forced their way inside and the small rebel force in the tin huts at the eastern end of the Union surrendered.[41]
[edit] Tuesday to Saturday

This article includes alist of references, related reading orexternal links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacksinline citations. Pleaseimprove this article by introducing more precise citationswhere appropriate. (January 2009)

A British armoured truck, hastily built from locomotive boiler atInchicore railway works[42]
British forces initially put their efforts into securing the approaches to Dublin Castle and isolating the rebel headquarters, which they believed was inLiberty Hall. The British commander, Brigadier-GeneralW. H. M. Lowe, worked slowly, unsure of the size of the force he was up against, and with only 1,269 troops in the city when he arrived from theCurragh Camp in the early hours of Tuesday 25 April. City Hall was taken on Tuesday morning. The rebel position atSt Stephen's Green, held by the Citizen Army underMichael Mallin, was made untenable after the British placed snipers and machine guns in theShelbourne Hotel and surrounding buildings. As a result, Mallin's men retreated to theRoyal College of Surgeons building. British firepower was provided by field artillery summoned from their garrison atAthlone which they positioned on the northside of the city atPhibsborough and atTrinity College, and by the patrol vesselHelga, which sailed upriver from Kingstown.Lord Wimborne, the Lord Lieutenant, declaredmartial law on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, 26 April, the guns at Trinity College and Helga shelled Liberty Hall, and the Trinity College guns then began firing at rebel positions in O'Connell Street.
Reinforcements were sent to Dublin from England, and disembarked at Kingstown on the morning of 26 April. Heavy fighting occurred at the rebel-held positions around theGrand Canal as these troops advanced towards Dublin. TheSherwood Foresters were repeatedly caught in a cross-fire trying to cross the canal at Mount Street. Seventeen Volunteers were able to severely disrupt the British advance, killing or wounding 240 men.[citation needed] The rebel position at the South Dublin Union (site of the present daySt. James's Hospital), further west along the canal, also inflicted heavy losses on British troops trying to advance towards Dublin Castle.Cathal Brugha, a rebel officer, distinguished himself in this action and was badly wounded.

Placements of Rebel forces and British troops around the River Liffey in Dublin
The headquarters garrison, after days of shelling, were forced to abandon their headquarters when fire caused by the shells spread to the GPO. They tunnelled through the walls of the neighbouring buildings in order to evacuate the Post Office without coming under fire and took up a new position in 16Moore Street. On Saturday 29 April, from this new headquarters, after realizing that they could not break out of this position without further loss of civilian life, Pearse issued an order for all companies to surrender. Pearcesurrendered unconditionally to Brigadier-General Lowe. The surrender document read:
"In order to prevent the further slaughter of Dublin citizens, and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers now surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, the members of the Provisional Government present at headquarters have agreed to an unconditional surrender, and the commandants of the various districts in the City and County will order their commands to lay down arms."
[43]
[edit] The Rising outside Dublin

This article includes alist of references, related reading orexternal links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacksinline citations. Pleaseimprove this article by introducing more precise citationswhere appropriate. (January 2009)

General Post Office, Dublin. Centre of the Easter Rising
Irish Volunteer units turned out for the Rising in several places outside of Dublin, but due to Eoin MacNeill's countermanding order, most of them returned home without fighting. In addition, due to the interception of the German arms aboard the Aud, the provincial Volunteer units were very poorly armed.
AtAshbourne, County Meath, the NorthCounty Dublin Volunteers (also known as the Fingal Volunteers), led byThomas Ashe and his second in commandRichard Mulcahy, attacked the RIC barracks. Reinforcements came fromSlane and after a five-hour battle, the Volunteers captured over 90 prisoners. There were 8–10 RIC deaths and two Volunteer fatalities, John Crennigan and Thomas Rafferty. The action pre-figured theguerrilla tactics of theIrish Republican Army in theIrish War of Independence from 1919 to 1921.
InCounty Louth, Volunteers shot dead an RIC man near the village ofCastlebellingham on 24 April.[44] Louth Volunteers also occupied Barmeath Castle on 28 April.[44]
In ruralCounty Dublin, fifty volunteers seized the RIC barracks and post office in the village ofSwords.[44] The RIC men inside were arrested and their weapons taken.[44] The telegraph wires were also cut.[44] Some of the Volunteers then continued toDonabate, where they repeated this process.[44] These Volunteers also blew up a railway bridge nearRogerstown.[44]

This section's factual accuracy isdisputed. Please see the relevant discussion on thetalk page. (May 2010)
InCounty Wexford, Volunteers took overEnniscorthy on Thursday 27 April.[44] They were led by six men and made Athenaeum Theatre their headquarters.[44] The Volunteers blocked all roads and the railway line, and cut the telephone and telegraph wires.[44] They then besieged the RIC barracks, which was defended by a number of armed constables. Shots were fired and one constable was wounded, although no real attempt was made to seize the barracks.[44] The Volunteers also stopped a train travelling fromWexford toArklow carrying workers toKynoch's munitions factory.[44]
Volunteer scouting parties scoured the countryside around Enniscorthy.[44] A group was sent north and took over the town ofFerns, but retreated upon spotting a force of 1000 British soldiers heading for Enniscorthy.[44] News of the surrender in Dublin reached Enniscorthy at midday on Sunday 30 April, by which time the British force had arrived.[44] However, the Volunteer leaders were sceptical of the news. Later that day the British escorted two of the leaders to Dublin to meet Patrick Pearse, who confirmed it to them.[44] The following day, Monday 1 May, they returned to Enniscorthy and formally surrendered.[44] There had been no bloodshed and little damage to property.

Irish War News, produced during the Rising
In the west,Liam Mellows led 600-700 Volunteers in abortive attacks on several police stations, atOranmore andClarinbridge inCounty Galway. There was also a skirmish atCarnmore in which two RIC men were killed. However his men were poorly-armed, with only 25 rifles and 300 shotguns, many of them being equipped only withpikes. Towards the end of the week, Mellows' followers were increasingly poorly-fed and heard that large British reinforcements were being sent westwards. In addition, the British warship,HMS Gloucester arrived inGalway Bay and shelled the fields aroundAthenry where the rebels were based. On 29 April the Volunteers, judging the situation to be hopeless, dispersed from the town of Athenry. Many of these Volunteers were arrested in the period following the rising, while others, including Mellows had to go "on the run" to escape. By the time British reinforcements arrived in the west, the rising there had already disintegrated.
In the north, several Volunteer companies were mobilised inCounty Tyrone and 132 men on theFalls Road inBelfast.
In the south, around 1,000 Volunteers mustered inCork, underTomás Mac Curtain onEaster Sunday, but they dispersed after receiving several contradictory orders from the Volunteer leadership in Dublin.
InCounty Kerry, two RIC men were shot and wounded in the village ofFiries after posting a proclamation about martial law.[44]
[edit] Casualties
The British Army reported casualties of 116 dead, 368 wounded and 9 missing. Sixteen policemen died, and 29 were wounded. Rebel and civilian casualties were 318 dead and 2,217 wounded. The Volunteers and ICA recorded 64 killed in action, but otherwise Irish casualties were not divided into rebels and civilians.[45]
[edit] Aftermath

Sackville (nowO'Connell) Street, Dublin, after the Rising

The Leaders of the Rising were buried in the old prison yard of Arbour Hill prison. The memorial was designed by G. McNicholl, the Proclamation of 1916 is inscribed on the wall in both Irish and English
[edit] Arrests and executions
General Maxwell quickly signalled his intention “to arrest all dangerous Sinn Feiners,” including “those who have taken an active part in the movement although not in the present rebellion,”[46] reflecting the popular belief that Sinn Féin, a separatist organisation that was neither militant nor republican, was behind the Rising.
A total of 3,430 men and 79 women were arrested, although most were subsequently released. In attempting to arrest members of the Kent family inCounty Cork on 2 May, a Head Constable was shot dead in a gun battle. Richard Kent was also killed, andThomas and William Kent were arrested.
In a series ofcourts martial beginning on 2 May, ninety people were sentenced to death. Fifteen of those (including all seven signatories of theProclamation) had their sentences confirmed by Maxwell and were executed by firing squad between 3 May and 12 May (among them the seriously-wounded Connolly, shot while tied to a chair due to a shattered ankle). Not all of those executed were leaders:Willie Pearse described himself as "a personal attaché to my brother, Patrick Pearse";John MacBride had not even been aware of the Rising until it began, but had fought against the British in theBoer War fifteen years before;Thomas Kent did not come out at all—he was executed for the killing of a police officer during the raid on his house the week after the Rising. The most prominent leader to escape execution wasEamon de Valera, Commandant of the 3rd Battalion. The president of the courts-martial wasCharles Blackadder.
1,480 men were interned in England and Wales under Regulation 14B of theDefence of the Realm Act 1914, many of whom, likeArthur Griffith, had little or nothing to do with the affair. Camps such asFrongoch internment camp became “Universities of Revolution” where future leaders likeMichael Collins,Terence McSwiney andJ. J. O'Connell began to plan the coming struggle for independence.[47]Roger Casement was tried in London forhigh treason andhanged atPentonville Prison on 3 August.
[edit] Enquiry
ARoyal Commission was set up to enquire into the causes of the Rising. It began hearings on 18 May under the chairmanship ofLord Hardinge of Penshurst. The Commission heard evidence from Sir Matthew Nathan, Augustine Birrell, Lord Wimborne, SirNeville Chamberlain (Inspector-General of theRoyal Irish Constabulary), GeneralLovick Friend, Major Ivor Price of Military Intelligence and others.[48] The report, published on 26 June, was critical of the Dublin administration, saying that "Ireland for several years had been administered on the principle that it was safer and more expedient to leave the law in abeyance if collision with any faction of the Irish people could thereby be avoided."[49] Birrell and Nathan had resigned immediately after the Rising. Wimborne had also reluctantly resigned, but was re-appointed, and Chamberlain resigned soon after.
[edit] Reaction of the Irish public
According to Peter Berresford Ellis it has become firmly set in people’s minds that the Dublin people jeered the prisoners as they were led off to imprisonment, and that this description of how Dublin viewed the insurrection has almost become written in stone. He suggests that it was certainly a view that the imperial propaganda of the time wanted to impress on everyone,[50] and that newspapers were unlikely to publish anything to the contrary.[51]
Examples cited[50] by Berresford Ellis include, Dorothy Macardle, writing in her The Irish Republic, "The people had not risen. Some had cursed the insurgents."[52] Thomas M. Coffey in Agony at Easter: The 1916 Irish Uprising writes, "The defeated insurgents quickly learnt how most Dubliners still felt about their rebellion when a raucous crowd came pouring out of the side streets to accost them ... The flood of insults was so fierce and vitriolic it hit the marching prisoners with an almost physical impact."[53]
According to Berresford Ellis this perspective became less tenable when a long obscure eyewitness account of the period resurfaced in 1991. Canadian journalist and writer, Frederick Arthur McKenzie,[54] was one of the best-known and reputable war correspondents of his day according to Berresford Ellis. He was one of two Canadian journalists who arrived in Dublin with the English reinforcements sent to put down the insurrection. McKenzie had no sympathy for the Irish ‘rebels’ and German sympathizers, as he perceived them, and was no anti-imperialist.[55]
McKenzie published The Irish Rebellion: What happened and Why, with C. Arthur Pearson in London in 1916. In it he notes:
I have read many accounts of public feeling in Dublin in these days. They are all agreed tha the open and strong sympathy of the mass of the population was with the British troops. That this was in the better parts of the city, I have no doubt, but certainly what I myself saw in the poorer districts did not confirm this. It rather indicated that there was a vast amount of sympathy with the rebels, particularly after the rebels were defeated.
Berresford Ellis then cites a passage by McKenzie describing how he watched as people were waving and cheering as a regiment approached, and that he commented to his companion they were cheering the soldiers. Noticing then that they were escorting Irish prisoners, he realised that they were actually cheering the rebels. The rebels he says were walking in military formation and were loudly and triumphantly singing a rebel song. McKenzie reports speaking to a group of men and women at street corners, "shure, we cheer them" said a woman, "why wouldn’t we? Aren't they our own flesh and blood." Dressed in khaki McKenzie was mistaken for a British soldier as he went about Dublin back streets were people cursed him openly, and "cursed all like me strangers in their city." J.W Rowath, a British officer had a comparable experience to McKenzie and observed that "crowds of men and women greeted us with raised fists and curses."[56]
Brian Barton & Micheal Foy cite Frank Robbins of the Irish Citizen Army who records seeing a group of Dubliners gathered to cheer the prisoners while being marched into Richmond barracks.[57] They also report de Valera’s surrendered Boland’s mill, where crowds lined the pavement in Grand Canal Street and Hogan Place and pleaded with the insurgents to take shelter in their houses rather than surrender. Foy and Barton concluded "Public attitudes locally were not uniformly hostile in an area which the police had come to regard as increasingly militant in the months before the Rising. Some of the British soldiers who fought there noted a strong antipathy towards them." At the South Dublin Union, Major de Courcy Wheeler noted that there was no hostility from the people towards the insurgents: "It was perfectly plain that all their admiration was for the heroes who had surrendered."[58]
This account flatly contradicts most of the contemporary accounts, says Berresford Ellis.[59] This is a view shared by Michael Foy and Brian Barton[60] also highlighting expressions of sympathy from the people who watched the prisoners being marched away. Quoting the diary of John Clarke a shopkeeper who writes "Thus ends the last attempt for poor old Ireland. What noble fellows. The cream of the land. None of your corner-boy class."[61]

Amural inBelfast commemorating the rising.
Foy and Barton felt the contradictions could be modified by other factors. They examined the routes which the British soldiers took the prisoners. Michael Mallin’s column of prisoners they say were marched two miles to Richmond barracks through a "strongly loyalist and Protestant artisan class district." It was from this district that the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and other Irish regiments of the British army drew their recruits. It was around Richmond barracks they say, that people lived who were economically dependent on the military. Another aspect they raise was the degree of hostility from Dublin women whose sons were serving in the army in France. They note that some priests at Church Street rebuked the insurgent prisoners and wounded. However the generally accepted account of the population of Dublin being uniformly hostile to the surrendered insurgents is one of the myths repeated so often as to become 'history.'[62]
Berresford Ellis concludes that it has becomes clear that the insurrection of 1916 needs more considered research and analysis before we can be certain that it is "assessed in its rightful historical context." The assertion that it was an unpopular rising by a small band who were jeered and insulted on their defeat as they were led off into captivity is just one of "the myths that have been propagated."[63]
[edit] Rise of Sinn Féin
A meeting called byCount Plunkett on 19 April 1917 led to the formation of a broad political movement under the banner of Sinn Féin[64] which was formalised at the Sinn FéinArd Fheis of 25 October 1917. TheConscription Crisis of 1918 further intensified public support for Sinn Féin before thegeneral elections to theBritish Parliament on 14 December 1918, which resulted in a landslide victory for Sinn Féin, whoseMPs gathered in Dublin on 21 January 1919 to formDáil Éireann and adopt theDeclaration of Independence.[65]
[edit] Legacy of the Rising

A plaque commemorating the Easter Rising at theGeneral Post Office, Dublin, with the Irish text inGaelic script, and the English text in regularLatin script.
Some survivors of the Rising went on to become leaders of the independent Irish state and those who died were venerated by many asmartyrs. Their graves in the former military prison ofArbour Hill in Dublin became a national monument and the text of theProclamation was taught in schools. An annual commemoration, in the form of a military parade, was held each year on Easter Sunday, culminating in a huge national celebration on the 50th anniversary in 1966.[66]
With the outbreak ofthe Troubles inNorthern Ireland, government, academics and the media began to revise the country’s militant past, and particularly the Easter Rising. Thecoalition government of 1973—1977, in particular theMinister for Posts and Telegraphs,Conor Cruise O'Brien, began to promote the view that the violence of 1916 was essentially no different to the violence then taking place in the streets of Belfast and Derry. Cruise O'Brien and others asserted that the Rising was doomed to military defeat from the outset, and that it failed to account for the determination ofUlster Unionists to remain in theUnited Kingdom.[67] "Revisionist" historians[68] began to write of it in terms of a "blood sacrifice."[69] While the Rising and its leaders continued to be venerated by Irish republicans – including members and supporters of theProvisional IRA and the modernSinn Féin – with murals in republican areas of Belfast and other towns celebrating the actions of Pearse and his comrades, and a number of parades held annually in remembrance of the Rising, the Irish government discontinued its annual parade in Dublin in the early 1970s, and in 1976 it took the unprecedented step of proscribing (under theOffences against the State Act) a 1916 commemoration ceremony at the GPO organised by Sinn Féin and the Republican commemoration Committee.[70] ALabour PartyTD, David Thornley, embarrassed the government (of which Labour was a member) by appearing on the platform at the ceremony, along withMáire Comerford, a survivor of the Rising, and Fiona Plunkett, sister of Joseph Plunkett.[71] With the advent of aProvisional IRA ceasefire and the beginning of what became known as thePeace Process during the 1990s, the official view of the Rising became more positive and in 1996 an eightieth anniversary commemoration at theGarden of Remembrance in Dublin was attended by theTaoiseach and leader ofFine Gael,John Bruton.[72] In 2005 the Taoiseach,Bertie Ahern, announced the government’s intention to resume the military parade past the GPO from Easter 2006, and to form a committee to plan centenary celebrations in 2016.[73]
[edit] 90th Anniversary of the 1916 Rising

Garden of Remembrance Dublin
The 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising was commemorated by a military parade held in Dublin onEaster Sunday, 16 April 2006. ThePresident of Ireland (Mary McAleese), theLord Mayor of Dublin (Catherine Byrne), theTaoiseach (Bertie Ahern), members of theIrish Government and other invited guests reviewed the parade as it passed theGeneral Post Office, headquarters of the Rising. The parade comprised some 2,500 personnel from theIrish Defence Forces (representing the Army, Air Corps, Naval Service, Irish Army Reserve and Naval Reserve), theGarda Síochána, Irish United Nations Veterans Association and members of theOrganisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women. The parade started atDublin Castle and proceeded viaDame Street andCollege Green to theGPO, where a wreath was laid by the President. Earlier Ahern laid a wreath inKilmainham Gaol where the leaders of the rising were executed. The Taoiseach said the ceremonies were 'about discharging one generation's debt of honour to another.' The wreath-laying was attended by 92-year-old Father Joseph Mallin (son of ICA leader Michael Mallin), the only surviving child of the executed rebels, who was flown in from Hong Kong by the Irish Government for the event.[74] This was the first official commemoration held in Dublin since the early 1970s.
[edit] See also
The Foggy Dew, popular ballad chronicling the Rising, written by Canon Charles O’Neill in 1919.List of Irish rebellions "Easter, 1916", apoem byWilliam Butler YeatsRebel Heart (film)Rebel Heart (song)
[edit] Notes

TheGarden of Remembrance was opened in 1966, to mark the anniversary of the Rising. The Garden is "dedicated to all those who gave their lives in the fight for Ireland's freedom."
^Department of the Taoiseach - Easter Rising^ "Soldiers are we" by Charles Townshend,History Today, 1 April 2006^Leaders and Men of the Easter Rising: Dublin 1916 Francis X. Martin 1967 p105^ MacDonagh, Oliver, Ireland: The Union and its aftermath, George Allen & Unwin, 1977,ISBN 0049410040, pp. 14-17^ Mansergh, Nicholas, The Irish Question 1840-1921, George Allen & Unwin, 1978,ISBN 0049010220 p. 244^ MacDonagh, Oliver, Ireland: The Union and its aftermath, pp. 72-74^ Feeney, Brian, Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years, O'Brien Press, 2002,ISBN 0862786959 p. 22^ Feeney, Brian, Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years, p. 37^"Those who set the stage". The 1916 Rising: Personalities and Perspectives. National Library of Ireland.http://www.nli.ie/1916/pdf/3.pdf. Retrieved 7 December 2009. ^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, pp. 7-8^ Macardle, The Irish Republic, pp. 90-92^ Townshend, Easter 1916, p. 49^ Townshend, Easter 1916, pp. 59-60^ Caulfield, Max, The Easter Rebellion, p. 18^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, p. 16^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, p. 13^ Townshend, Easter 1916, p. 92^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, pp. 16, 19^ Townshend, Easter 1916, p. 94^ Macardle, The Irish Republic, p. 119^ Townshend, Easter 1916, p. 104^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, p. 105^ McNally and Dennis, Easter Rising 1916: Birth of the Irish Republic, p. 30^ Eoin Neeson, Myths from Easter 1916, p. ?^ Michael Tierney, Eoin MacNeill, pp. 199, 214^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 138^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 79^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, pp. 81-87^ McNally, Michael and Dennis, Peter, Easter Rising 1916: Birth of the Irish Republic, p. 39^ McNally, Michael and Dennis, Peter, Easter Rising 1916: Birth of the Irish Republic, p. 40^Castles of Ireland: Part II - Dublin Castle at irelandforvisitors.com^ McNally, Michael and Dennis, Peter, Easter Rising 1916: Birth of the Irish Republic, p. 41^ Caulfield, Max, The Easter Rebellion, pp. 48-50^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, pp. 84-85^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, pp. 87-90^ Caulfield, Max, the Easter Rebellion, pp. 54-55^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, pp. 192, 195^ Caulfield, Max, The Easter Rebellion, p. 69^ Agony at Easter:The 1916 Irish Uprising, Thomas M. Coffey, pages 38, 44, 155^ Foy and Barton, pp. 197-198^ Caulfield, Max, The Easter Rebellion, pp. 76-80^"Statement by Jospeh Sweeney CURIOUS JOURNEY: An Oral History of Ireland’s Unfinished Revolution". BBC.http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/witnesses/wh02.shtml. Retrieved 2009-10-18. ^BBC News ^abcdefghijklmnopqr Boyle, John F.The Irish Rebellion of 1916: a brief history of the revolt and its suppression (Chapter IV: Outbreaks in the Country). BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009. Pages 127-152.^ Foy and Barton, The Easter Rising, page 325^ Townshend, Easter 1916, page 273^The Green Dragon No 4, Autumn 1997^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising pp. 153-159^ Townshend, Charles, Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion p. 297 ^ab The Impact of the 1916 Rising: Among the Nations, Edited by Ruán O’Donnell, Irish Academic Press Dublin 2008, ISBN 978 0 7165 2965, pg. 195-96^1916 Easter Rising - Newspaper archive — from theBBC History website^ The Irish Republic, Dorothy Macardle, Victor Gollancz London 1937 (Hard Cover), pg.191^ Agony at Easter: The 1916 Irish Uprising, Thomas M. Coffey, Pelican, Harmondsworth 1971, pg.259-60^ Among his many books was his account of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904—5 and another on Japan’s occupation of Korea. In 1931 McKenzie became one of the earliest official biographers of Lord Beaverbrook. In 1916 he was a war correspondent for Canadian newspapers and War Illustrated, a British propaganda publication.^ The Impact of the 1916 Rising: Among the Nations, Edited by Ruán O’Donnell, Irish Academic Press Dublin 2008, ISBN 978 0 7165 2965, pg. 196-97^ The Impact of the 1916 Rising: Among the Nations, Edited by Ruán O’Donnell, Irish Academic Press Dublin 2008, ISBN 978 0 7165 2965, pg. 196-97^ Under the Starry Plough, Frank Robbins, Academy Press (Dublin 1977),ISBN 0906187001, pg. 127^ The Easter Rising, Brian Barton & Micheal Foy, Sutton Publishing Ltd. Gloucestershire, UK, ISBN 10: 0750934336, pg.206^ The Impact of the 1916 Rising: Among the Nations, Edited by Ruán O’Donnell, Irish Academic Press Dublin 2008, ISBN 978 0 7165 2965, pg. 197^ The Easter Rising, Brian Barton & Micheal Foy, Sutton Publishing Ltd. Gloucestershire, UK, ISBN 10: 0750934336^ Foy & Barton cited in John Clarke Diary, National Library of Ireland, MS 10485^ The Easter Rising, Brian Barton & Micheal Foy, Sutton Publishing Ltd. Gloucestershire, UK, ISBN 10: 0750934336, pg.203-9^ The Impact of the 1916 Rising: Among the Nations, Edited by Ruán O’Donnell, Irish Academic Press Dublin 2008, ISBN 978 0 7165 2965, pg. 198^J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, page 27^ Robert Kee The Green Flag: Ourselves Alone^RTÉ: 1966 News Items Relating to the 1916 Easter Rising Commemorations^ O'Brien, Conor Cruise, States of Ireland Hutchinson, 1972ISBN 0 09 113100 6, pp. 88, 99^ Deane, Seamus, Wherever Green is Read, in Ní Dhonnchadha and Dorgan, Revising the Rising, Field Day, Derry, 1991ISBN 0 946755 25 6, p. 91^ Foster, Roy F., Modern Ireland 1600–1972, Penguin 1989ISBN 978-0140132502, p. 484^ Irish Times, 22 April 1976^ Irish times, 26 April 1976^Reconstructing the Easter Rising, Colin Murphy, The Village, 16 February 2006^ Irish Times, 22 October 2005^"In pictures: Easter Rising commemorations". BBC News. 16 April 2006.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4914362.stm. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
[edit] Bibliography
Bell, J. Bowyer, The Secret Army: The IRAISBN 1-85371-813-0 Caulfield, Max, The Easter Rebellion, Dublin 1916ISBN 1-57098-042-XCoogan, Tim Pat, 1916: The Easter RisingISBN 0-304-35902-5Coogan, Tim Pat, The IRA (Fully Revised & Updated), HarperCollins, London, 2000,ISBN 0 00 653155 5 De Rosa, Peter. Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916. Fawcett Columbine, New York. 1990.ISBN 0-449-90682-5 Foy, Michael and Barton, Brian, The Easter RisingISBN 0-7509-2616-3Greaves, C. Desmond, The Life and Times of James ConnollyKee, Robert, The Green FlagISBN 0-14-029165-2Kostick, Conor & Collins, Lorcan, The Easter Rising, A Guide to Dublin in 1916ISBN 0-86278-638-XLyons, F.S.L., Ireland Since the FamineISBN 0-00-633200-5 Martin, F.X. (ed.), Leaders and Men of the Easter Rising, Dublin 1916Macardle, Dorothy, The Irish Republic McNally, Michael and Dennis, Peter, Easter Rising 1916: Birth of the Irish Republic (2007), Osprey Publishing,ISBN 9781846030673 Murphy, John A., Ireland In the Twentieth Century Neeson, Eoin, Myths from Easter 1916, Aubane Historical Society, Cork, 2007,ISBN 978 1 903497 34 0 Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970 Purdon, Edward, The 1916 Rising Townshend, Charles, Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion The Memoirs of John M. Regan, a Catholic Officer in the RIC and RUC, 1909–48, Joost Augusteijn, editor, Witnessed Rising,ISBN 978-1-84682-069-4. Clayton, Xander: AUD, Plymouth 2007. Eberspächer, Cord/Wiechmann, Gerhard: "Erfolg Revolution kann Krieg entscheiden". Der Einsatz von S.M.H. LIBAU im irischen Osteraufstand 1916 ("Success revolution may decide war". The use of S.M.H. LIBAU in the Irish Easter rising 1916), in: Schiff & Zeit, Nr. 67, Frühjahr 2008, S. 2-16. Edited by Ruán O’Donnell, The Impact of the 1916 Rising: Among the Nations, Irish Academic Press Dublin 2008, ISBN 978 0 7165 2965
[edit] External links
The 1916 Rising - an Online Exhibition.National Library of IrelandEssay on the Rising, byGarret FitzGeraldSpecial 90th Anniversary supplement fromThe Irish TimesEaster Rising 50th Anniversary audio & video footage fromRTÉ (Irish public television)Primary and secondary sources relating to the Easter Rising (Sources database,National Library of Ireland)Easter Rising site and walking tour of 1916 DublinNews articles and letters to the editor in "The Age", 27 April 1916Press comments 1916-1996The 1916 Rising by Norman Teeling a ten-painting suite acquired byAn Post for permanent display at theGeneral Post Office (Dublin)A photograph of the surrender of Pearse to General Lowe
[show]v • d • e
Easter Rising
Signatories of theProclamation of the Republic
(executed after the Rising)Patrick Pearse ·Tom Clarke ·Thomas MacDonagh ·Joseph Mary Plunkett ·Éamonn Ceannt ·Seán Mac Diarmada ·James Connolly
Also executed for their role in the RisingNed Daly ·Willie Pearse ·Michael O'Hanrahan ·John MacBride ·Michael Mallin ·Conn Colbert ·Seán Heuston ·Thomas Kent ·Roger Casement
Other Irish figuresÉamon de Valera ·Constance Markiewicz ·The O'Rahilly ·Eoin MacNeill ·Eamon Bulfin ·Cathal Brugha ·Richard Mulcahy ·Liam Mellows ·Seán MacEntee ·Tomás Mac Curtain ·Thomas Ashe ·Martin Savage ·Francis Sheehy-Skeffington ·Helena Moloney
British figuresJohn Maxwell ·Lord Wimborne ·Augustine Birrell ·Matthew Nathan ·W. H. M. Lowe
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising"
Categories:History of Ireland 1801-1922 |Irish rebellions |Wars involving Ireland |Conflicts in 1916 |History of County Dublin |1916 in Ireland |Easter Rising
Hidden categories:Articles containing Irish language text |Articles lacking in-text citations from January 2009 |All articles lacking in-text citations |All articles with unsourced statements |Articles with unsourced statements from January 2009 |Accuracy disputes from May 2010 |All accuracy disputes
Views
ArticleDiscussionEdit this pageHistory
Personal tools
Try BetaLog in / create account

Navigation
Main pageContentsFeatured contentCurrent eventsRandom article
Search

Interaction
About WikipediaCommunity portalRecent changesContact WikipediaDonate to WikipediaHelp
Toolbox
What links hereRelated changesUpload fileSpecial pagesPermanent linkCite this page
Print/export
Create a bookDownload as PDFPrintable version
Languages
БеларускаяБеларуская (тарашкев?ца)BosanskiBrezhonegCatalà?eskyCymraegDanskDeutschEspañolEsperantoEuskaraFrançaisGaeilgeGalego???HrvatskiÍslenskaItaliano?????Nederlands日本語?Norsk (bokmål)??Norsk (nynorsk)?PolskiPortuguêsРусскийSimple EnglishСрпски / SrpskiSrpskohrvatski / СрпскохрватскиSuomiSvenskaTürkçe中文


This page was last modified on 8 May 2010 at 14:35.
Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. SeeTerms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of theWikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Contact usPrivacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimers