Easter Rising

1. Background

1.1 Home Rule

The third attempt to gain Home-Rule finally succeeded in 1912 and caused enmity by Ulster-Unionists. Lord Edward Carson founded the Ulster Volunteer Force in order to defend the Unionist interest. Parallel to this development the Irish Volunteers were formed in 1913 by Eoin Macneill. In 1914, the Home-Rule Bill was passed in Parliament, yet it was suspended until the end of the First World War.

1.2 Preparation for the Rising

On the one hand, the First World War put a temporary end to the Irish agitation for independence yet it also meant the final failure of achieving independence by parliamentary means. Radical elements within the Republican movement, especially leading figures from the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) such as Padraig Pearce, saw England’s difficulty as Ireland’s opportunity. They wanted to liberate Ireland by force and not by constitutional talks. Pearce was joined by Socialist James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army. Together they seized the leadership of the Irish Volunteers and founded a circle within the leadership which excluded Eoin Macneill. They started to plan the upcoming rising and ensured internal as well as external support. In order to ensure the success of the rising, Roger Casement was sent to Germany to negotiate for weapons and troops. With American money Casement bought 20.000 rifles, 10 machine guns and sufficient ammunition. These were supposed to arrive in Ireland by 23. April, Easter Sunday, 1916.

2. The Rising

However, the ship arrived two days early, was captured by the British and then brought to Cork where the captain dumped the load to ensure that it did not fall into the wrong hands. In the meantime Eoin Macneill became aware of the plans and gave a countermanding order to cancel the mobilization of the Irish Volunteers. The Rising got underway on 24. April 1916 with 1600 volunteers which was only a fraction of the planned man power and yet they caught the British by surprise. They seized the control of key buildings within Dublin and minor actions got underway in other cities such as Cork and Galway. In the captured General Post Office in Dublin, Pearce proclaimed the first Irish Republic and set the tone for what was to come in the future. The Irish Republic lasted for only a week; it was reduced to rubble by British artillery, a fact that James Connolly never thought possible because he thought that Capitalists would not shell their own buildings. The leaders of the Rising were arrested and brought to Kilmainham Gaol and shot there. In some cases the execution was executed under inhumane conditions. James Connolly was one example: He had been severely wounded during the fighting and as he was thus unable to stand up, he had to be tied to a chair in order to be shot.

3. Consequences of the Rising

Initially the reaction to the Rising had been hostile because it counteracted the British war effort and it had laid Dublin into ruins, but this changed due to the extremely severe measures of the British Governor Sir John Maxwell. The leaders became national saints; the proclamation of an Irish Republic fuelled the hearts and minds of the Irish with a spirit of resistance and freedom, which subsequently lead to the War of Independence.

Sources

Maurer, Michael. Kleine Geschichte Irlands Stuttgart:Reclam,2009.

English, Richard. Irish Freedom The History of Nationalism in Ireland. Oxford: Macmillan,2006