The
THE 1916 EASTER RISING
Background to the Easter Rising 1916
Easter Rising ( Irish: Eiri Amach na Casca ) was a rebellion staged in Ireland in Easter Week
1916. The Rising was an attempt by Irish republicans to win independence from Britain. It was the most significant uprising in Ireland since the the rebellion of 1798.
Organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising lasted from Easter Monday, 24th April to the 30th of April 1916. Members of the Irish Volunteers, led by schollteacher and barrister Patrick Pearse, joined the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly, along with 200 members of Cumann na mBan, seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic independent of Britain. There were some actions in other parts of Ireland, but except for the attack on the RIC barracks at Ashbourne, County Meath, they were minor. The Rising was suppressed after six days of fighting, and its leaders were court - martialled and executed, but it succeeded in bringing physical force republicanism back to the forefront of Irish politics. In the 1918 General Election, the last all - island election held in Ireland, to the British Parliament, Republicans won 73 seats out of 105. on a policy of abstentionism from Westminster and Irish Independence. This came less than two years after the Rising. In January 1919, the elected members of Sinn Fein who were not still in prison at the time, including survivors of the Rising, convened the first Dail and established the Irish Republic. The British Government refused to accept the legitimacy of the newly declared nation, leading to the Irish War of Independence.
Since the Act of Union 1800 that joined Ireland and Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, opposition to the union had taken two forms: parliamentary constitutionalism and physical force.
Daniel O' Connell, who founded the Repeal Association in 1840, pursued repeal of the Act in the British House of Commons and through mass meetings. The young Irelanders were active members of the repeal movement, but broke with O' Connell in 1846 and established the Irish Confederation, and its leaders, William Smith O' Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher and John Blake Dillon, led the Young Irelanders Rebellion of 1848. The Fenians staged another revolt in 1867. Though defeated, they continued as a secret, oath-bound society. In 1873, a Fenian convention was held in Dublin, and adopted the name Irish Republican Brotherhood, and a constitution. It passed two resolutions: that the central committee of the IRB constituted itself to act as the government of the Irish Republic, and that the Head Centre (chairman)
of the IRB would be president of the Republic, until such time as the Irish people freely elected its own government.
The Home Rule League and Charles Stewart Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party succeeded in having a large number of members elected to Westminster where, through the tactic of obstructionism and by virtue of holding the balance of power, they succeeded in have three Home Rule bills introduced. Parnell's objectives, however, went beyond that of limited Home Rule. This became clear when in a speech in January 1885, he said " No man has a right to fix the boundary of a march of a nation "
Organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising lasted from Easter Monday, 24th April to the 30th of April 1916. Members of the Irish Volunteers, led by schollteacher and barrister Patrick Pearse, joined the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly, along with 200 members of Cumann na mBan, seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic independent of Britain. There were some actions in other parts of Ireland, but except for the attack on the RIC barracks at Ashbourne, County Meath, they were minor. The Rising was suppressed after six days of fighting, and its leaders were court - martialled and executed, but it succeeded in bringing physical force republicanism back to the forefront of Irish politics. In the 1918 General Election, the last all - island election held in Ireland, to the British Parliament, Republicans won 73 seats out of 105. on a policy of abstentionism from Westminster and Irish Independence. This came less than two years after the Rising. In January 1919, the elected members of Sinn Fein who were not still in prison at the time, including survivors of the Rising, convened the first Dail and established the Irish Republic. The British Government refused to accept the legitimacy of the newly declared nation, leading to the Irish War of Independence.
Since the Act of Union 1800 that joined Ireland and Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, opposition to the union had taken two forms: parliamentary constitutionalism and physical force.
Daniel O' Connell, who founded the Repeal Association in 1840, pursued repeal of the Act in the British House of Commons and through mass meetings. The young Irelanders were active members of the repeal movement, but broke with O' Connell in 1846 and established the Irish Confederation, and its leaders, William Smith O' Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher and John Blake Dillon, led the Young Irelanders Rebellion of 1848. The Fenians staged another revolt in 1867. Though defeated, they continued as a secret, oath-bound society. In 1873, a Fenian convention was held in Dublin, and adopted the name Irish Republican Brotherhood, and a constitution. It passed two resolutions: that the central committee of the IRB constituted itself to act as the government of the Irish Republic, and that the Head Centre (chairman)
of the IRB would be president of the Republic, until such time as the Irish people freely elected its own government.
The Home Rule League and Charles Stewart Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party succeeded in having a large number of members elected to Westminster where, through the tactic of obstructionism and by virtue of holding the balance of power, they succeeded in have three Home Rule bills introduced. Parnell's objectives, however, went beyond that of limited Home Rule. This became clear when in a speech in January 1885, he said " No man has a right to fix the boundary of a march of a nation "
Charles Stewart Parnell
The first Home Rule Bill of 1886 was defeated in the House of Commons. The second Home Rule Bill of 1893 was passed by the Commons but rejected by the House of Lords. The third Home Rule Bill of 1912 was again rejected by the Lords, but under the new Parliament Act ( passed by H.H Asquith with the support of John Redmond who became IPP leader on the death of Parnell ) would become law after two years. Redmond, unlike Parnell, saw Home Rule as an end in itself.
Ulster Unionists, led by Sir Edward Carson, and both the Tories and Lords were opposed to home rule, seeing it as a threat to their interests. The Unionists formed the Ulster Volunteer Force on the 13th January 1913, prepared violently to resist the imposition of home rule, and threats of force were made by Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law and other members of his party. This led to the formation of the Irish Volunteers, a force dedicated to defending home rule, on the 25th November 1913. The Home Rule Act received Royal Assent on the 18th September 1914, but excluded an as yet undefined area in the Province of Ulster. The Bill was then suspended unti after the War with Germany, which had broken out a month previously, causing the Irish Volunteers to split, a majority under John Redmond, called the National Volunteers supporting the Allied and British war effort.
meanwhile, the IRB reorganised by Thomas Clarke, and Sean MacDermott, continued to plan, not for limited home rule under the British Crown, but for an idependent Irish Republic.
Ulster Unionists, led by Sir Edward Carson, and both the Tories and Lords were opposed to home rule, seeing it as a threat to their interests. The Unionists formed the Ulster Volunteer Force on the 13th January 1913, prepared violently to resist the imposition of home rule, and threats of force were made by Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law and other members of his party. This led to the formation of the Irish Volunteers, a force dedicated to defending home rule, on the 25th November 1913. The Home Rule Act received Royal Assent on the 18th September 1914, but excluded an as yet undefined area in the Province of Ulster. The Bill was then suspended unti after the War with Germany, which had broken out a month previously, causing the Irish Volunteers to split, a majority under John Redmond, called the National Volunteers supporting the Allied and British war effort.
meanwhile, the IRB reorganised by Thomas Clarke, and Sean MacDermott, continued to plan, not for limited home rule under the British Crown, but for an idependent Irish Republic.
Thomas Clarke Sean MacDermott
