The Bosnia War

             Remember, remember, the 13^th of October. It was the day Bosnian Serb leader Radovan  Karadžić said, “In just a couple of days, Sarajevo will be gone and there will be five hundred thousand dead, in one month Muslims will be annihilated in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.[1] Drew Renner of the Los Angeles Times describes the Bosnian War not as a civil war, but a “good old fashioned case of territorial expansion”.[2] With roughly 2.2 million displaced and over 100,000 killed, it was the most devastating conflict to hit Europe since World War II.[3] It is also estimated that between 20,000 and 50,000 Bosniak women were raped during the war.[4] Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, a violent campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Muslim and Croat population commenced. The Bosnian War began when Bosnian Serbs and what was left of the Yugoslavian Army began a day/night siege on the city of Sarajevo in April of 1992.[5] This conflict was not just a civil war but a war of aggression. First, I will argue that the splinter of U.S.-Russian relations did not occur in the Ukrainian conflict but that it began when the former U.S.S.R. condemned the NATO led bombing campaign in 1995. Second, that the world must do more to curb inaccurate portrayals of ethnic minorities by helping raise awareness of the Bosnian War.

            Nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic pushed for what he called a “Greater Serbia” and he put this belief to the test once the ground invasion of Sarajevo took place. For over three years, the citizens of Sarajevo suffered through food shortages and the average weight loss per person was more than 30 pounds.[6] More than 12,000 residents of the city perished during the 43 month siege and entire villages were destroyed.[7] Some never returned back to Bosnia after the fighting ceased. During my research on this war, I found a timeline of the events:  

1992

• Febrary 29^th- Bosnia and Herzegovina declare independence.
• April- Bosnian Serbs begin their siege of Sarajevo.

1993

• January- Bosnian deputy Prime Minister killed by Serbian forces while en route to the airport.
• Bosnian Mulsims and Croats begin fighting over the parts of Bosnia not already taken by Serbs. This amounts to about 30% of the original territory.
• The U.N. declares six safe zones for Muslims: Sarajevo, Tuzla, Bihac, Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde.

1994

• February 6^th- A mortar explodes in a crowded market in Sarajevo, 68 people are killed.
• February 28^th- NATO shoots down four Serbian aircraft over Bosnia, intervening for the first time since the war began (in fact, the first use of military power by NATO since its creation in 1949).
• March 18^th- Bosnian Muslims and Croats sign peace accords drawn up by the United States.

1995

• January 1st- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter brokers peace agreement between Bosnian Serbs and Muslims. Truce holds for about four months.
• May 24th- Serb forces refuse to remove heavy weapons from Sarajevo and as a result NATO launches an aircraft attack on Serb ammunition depot. In retaliation, Serbs begin attacking the Muslim safe zones designated by the U.N.
• July 11- Serbs seize Srebrenica, an estimated 8,000 Srebrenican men and boys are killed.
• July- Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic indicted for war crimes.
• July 25^th- Serbs seize Zepa.
• August 30^th- NATO airstrike begins against Serbs in and around Sarajevo.
• November 1- Peace talks begin in Dayton, Ohio.
• November 21- Leaders of Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia agree to a settlement.
• December 3- President Clinton gives the official order to deploy American troops to Bosnia.
• December 14^th- The Dayton Accords are signed by the Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs. 60,000 NATO troops are now allowed into the territories for peacekeeping purposes only.
• December 20^th- NATO takes over peace-keeping duties from U.N.[8]

The Bosnian Genocide in many ways can be compared to the Holocaust. In fact, in the midst World War II, the town of Kulen Vakuf witnessed a massacre of over 1,000 Muslims by Serbs in September of 1941.[9] Muslims, Serbs, and Croats all turned against each other during Hitler’s conquests in Europe and national/ethnic tension boiled over once the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Economic turmoil spread and the nation of Serbia gave in to more radical views in the beginning years of this Post-Cold War era. Carole Rogel, author of The Breakup of Yugoslavia and the War in Bosnia argues in her book that, “The persistence of nationalism is yet another reminder of the many ways that the past becomes prologue”.[10] A new study done by the U.N. also indicates that well over 90% of the war crimes committed in Bosnia were carried out by Serbian military.[11]

            Just one of many examples of war crimes that were perpetrated is the Srebenica Massacre in July of 1995, where 8,000 or more Muslim boys and men are believed to have lost their lives. Court documents reveal that this particular genocide was executed on orders from General Mladić and his paramilitary group known as the Scorpions, along with several hundred Ukrainian and Russian volunteers.[12] Videos like this one, found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri4u_IpCvXE indicate that the victims themselves were shot military style in the head and mass graves were created in an effort to bury the undeniable atrocities of those involved. According to evidence collected by French Policeman Jean-René Ruez, Serbian forces tortured refugees and adults were forced to watch their children being slaughtered.[13] CNN’s Graham Jones also states in his article that, “In the days before the onslaught, 30,000 Muslims fleeing the advancing Serb army were crammed into the town. Within days there was not one Muslim left”.[14] This massacre stands as one of the biggest failures in U.N. peacekeeping history.

            Another war crime that took place almost regularly was the rape of innocent Muslim women. The tale of two women being held hostage by the Serbian army tells of a very frightening situation:

THE WORST moment in Ziba's life occurred when a dozen drunken Serbian militiamen stormed into the school gymnasium in which she and more than 100 other young Muslim women were being held along with their infant children. ‘They came in with guns and grenades and they screamed at us,' Ziba's friend Emira recalls. 'The Chetniks shouted at us: 'Look at how many children you can have. Now you are going to have our children. You are going to have our little Chetniks’.[15]

Events like these occurred almost daily during the war and the only reason we know this is because of the tireless work of Robert Fisk, who went to Mostar himself and gathered details of the systematic sexual assaults on Muslim women. He also later goes on to state that over a 26 day period, all but 10 of the 105 women held prisoner in the gymnasium were gang raped.[16]

            The siege of Sarajevo has become one of the most studied about events in recent times. After the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, people for the first time saw the sheer brutality of what was transpiring on their television sets. These clips included bodies of the dead being loaded into cars and just utter devastation in the communities themselves. Before the involvement of NATO combat troops, Sarajevo was subject to cruel terror as aid workers and wounded civilians being carried away from the battlefield were shot at by Serbian military.[17] Joscelyn Jurich, a photographer during the war stated, “These are images of distant suffering imprinted on my imagination, and I have seen photographers taking the same photographs, not only in Bosnia but in many places around the world. I can recognize everything. And yet I recognize nothing”.[18] The Bosnian War and the siege of Sarajevo in particular, are put forth as prime examples of the "CNN effect" - the theory that it was the television coverage of the war that ultimately roused public interest in the Bosnian crisis and pressured the U.S. to back NATO airstrikes against Serbia.[19]

            For the first time in NATO’s 45-year history, it conducted airstrikes against Serbian targets outside the besieged town of Gorazde on April 10^th, 1994.[20] Michael R. Gordon of the New York Times goes on to say, “By military standards, the airstrikes carried out today against the Serbs in Bosnia were extremely modest”.[21] Today, NATO finds itself complacent in an ever changing world but on this day it proved with extreme heroism and determination to protect U.N. peacekeepers; along with the 65,000 civilians trapped in Gorazde. Russia can squawk all it wants about how this mission was wrong but at the end of the day, lives were saved. Yes, lives were lost during the war but you cannot help but to think how many more would have perished had it not been for these airstrikes. From 1991 to 1995 the United States had been reluctant to act in Bosnia. But after Srebrenica, President Bill Clinton knew that although the American people would not like it, the United States could no longer avoid involvement.[22] To this day, NATO still maintains a military headquarters in Sarajevo that complements the work of the E.U. mission and assists, in defense reform and counter terrorism methods.^[23] 

            So, does peacekeeping really work? Analysis indicates that if a U.N. mission intervenes in an ongoing conflict, it needs to show superior size and equipment, as well as the willingness to fight, if necessary.[24] Under the aforementioned logic, forces should have been sent to the areas where major clashes were taking place. However, the given mandate of UNPROFOR did not specifically include direct intervention in military battles.[25] The 1994 Rwandan Genocide in Central Africa where approximately 800,000 men, women, and children were murdered by Hutu extremists should have been a wakeup call for the U.N. to step up their peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia.[26] Without sufficient preparedness or the know-how to approach complex political situations, the world will never be free of violence and more conflicts will occur as a result of our inaction. A fine line must be walked, like a circus performer on a tight rope.

            The involvement of NATO to end the Bosnian War also had a significant impact on U.S. - Russian relations. Gorbachev’s decision to allow elections within a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratization that eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day, 1991.[27] Tensions simmered while families across the world celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ. This relatively small period of peace lasted only until 1992. Growing distrust between the American and Russian sides reached a climax in September of 1995 when NATO again conducted an airstrike without giving Russia prior notification.[28] This move was widely interpreted by Russians that NATO and the United States had completely taken over operations in Bosnia.[29] There was not a strong pro-western or pro-Serb attitude taking place in Russia, but more of a tendency to favor Russia’s choice in determining its role in the conflict.[30]

            Therefore, I will argue that Russian-U.S. diplomatic ties did not become strained during the Ukrainian conflict beginning in early 2014, but that it began in 1992 with the start of the Bosnian War. Facts and evidence will now be submitted for your interpretation. The first piece of hard evidence I have to present is a New York Times article written by Frederick Bonnart in April of 1994, when the war was at its peak:

            

            Necessary discussions had taken place long ago at the United Nations, where Russia, together with the other members of the Security Council, had passed Resolution 836, mandating Secretary-General Butros Butros Ghali to authorize air support for UN forces in Bosnia when required. No NATO nation was consulted before the recent air strike. The Russians are well aware of this. Moscow's move could signal a fundamental change in Russia's relationship with the West. As it becomes increasingly evident that Western assistance will not solve the country's problems, Russian leaders may see in the current situation an opportunity to regain great-power status.[31]

It is almost comedic at how accurate this excerpt is. If you look at what is going on in world headlines today, you will know exactly what I am talking about. Apart from American obstacles with the Russians, whose support for the Serbs is rooted in their shared Orthodox Christian heritage, difficulties persisted on both sides over how best to stop the Bosnian War.[32] Many comparisons can be made between the wars in Bosnia and Ukraine. Moderator of Radio Slobodna Evropa, Omer Karaberg interviewed the former Serbian Ambassador to Ukraine, Dusan Lazic in which he stated:

Karaberg: Do you, Mister Lazic, believe that Putin would be happy if Ukraine was structured as B&H, with eastern Ukraine serving as some sort of the Serb Republic?

Lazic: I do not know Russian ambitions... Ukraine is a country that holds the biggest territory in Europe -- not including Russia -- that is not only European, but a Eurasian country. That must not be overlooked. Also, Ukraine has population of 45 million. Finally, Ukraine was one of the most developed parts of the Soviet Union. Regardless that it is not keeping up with today’s technological advances, it represents a great force. If division of Ukraine was allowed, it would open a number of issues…. That is why I believe it is necessary to do everything to keep Ukraine from splitting as a country.[33]

          
           The only differences between Ukraine and Bosnia are the events of mass genocide, war crimes, and the scales to which each conflict was fought. Bosnian Serbs led the oppositional voice against weapon exports to Ukraine where fighting in the east threatens to dismantle the country.[34] After Bosnian arms producer Unis Group recently won a 5 million euro ($5.66 million) contract to provide Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, Russia called on the Bosnian government to nix the deal.[35] This just goes to show how close the relationship between Russia and Bosnia has grown in recent years.

            Nearly 15 years have passed since the Dayton Peace Accords ended the war in Bosnia. Afterwards, the international community embarked on one of the most ambitious and expensive state building projects in history.[36] It committed thousands of troops and spent more than $15 billion to stabilize, reconstruct, and develop the country’s economic infrastructure.[37] According to The Associated Press, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro said that they had raised about $395 million at an international donors conference in Sarajevo to help house 74,000 people who have been living as refugees for more than two decades after fleeing their homes during the wars in the former Yugoslavia.[38] The E.U. donated around $303 million, while the United States and others committed roughly $92 million.[39]

            Refugee needs also had to be accommodated right here in the United States. One such example of this is the University of Sarajevo, which opened up a campus in Chicago. Six years after the outbreak of the Bosnian war--during which half the faculty were killed, wounded or forced to flee--the university reached out to students whose studies were interrupted.[40] Roughly 10,000 Bosnian refugees have settled in the Chicago area, making it the largest Bosnian community in America.[41] Some Bosnian families experienced ‘culture shock’, coined by Kalervo Oberg in 1960; it refers to the potentially confusing and disorienting experience when one enters a new culture.[42] Other countries have not been so welcoming to Bosnian and Muslim refugees however. Germany for instance, has put increasing pressure on some 320,000 predominantly Muslim Bosnian war refugees to return home by cutting social security payments.[43] In the eyes of many Berliners, their nation in contrast to the United States is not a land strengthened by large waves of immigration.[44]

Still, there is a lot more we could be doing to help displaced refugees leftover from the Bosnian War and others like it. To accomplish this task we must look to our history and resources to help guide us into making the right decision, and not what is a “cost benefit” strategy but ultimately what is fair. After examining many aspects of this conflict, it is safe to conclude that the Bosnian War was not a civil war, but a brutal and violent campaign intended to wipe out the Muslim-Croat population. My very intention was not just to prove this, but to raise awareness of the growing epidemic of war. My second, and perhaps most important intention was to show that the United States and Russian disagreements over how best to solve a conflict did not originate in Ukraine, but in Bosnia itself. While politicians on both sides of the aisle bickered over what to do; 8,000 Muslims were being shipped off by buses to be murdered in Srebrenica alone. We cannot prevent wars if we are part of the problem, thus it is unsolvable.

Bibliography

---

[1] Florence Hartmann. "A statement at the seventh biennial meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars". Helsinki Charter No. 109-110. Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. Sarajevo, July, 2007.

[2] Drew Renner. “Bosnian War.” The Los Angeles Times, October 05, 1993. < http://articles.latimes.com/1993-10-05/local/me-42280_1_serb-slovenia-bosnian-war>

[3] “Bosnia war dead figure announced.” BBC News, June 21, 2007. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6228152.stm>

[4] Alexandra Stiglmayer. Mass Rape: the War against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994), p. 85.

[5] Jon W. Western. “U.S. Policy and Human Rights in Bosnia: The Transformation of Strategic Interests.” Mount Holyoke College. <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~jwestern/ps62/bosnia.htm> Western argues that American policy towards Bosnia did not shift until three and a half years into the conflict; Bosnia was not a vital interest.

[6] “Bosnian War (1992-1995): Major Causes of the War.” Mt. Holyoke College. <https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~bonne20s/causes.html>

[7] Ibid

[8] “Bosnian War (1992-1995): Chronology and Major Events.” Mt. Holyoke College. <https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~bonne20s/majorbattlesmaps.html>

[9] Steven L. Burg and Paul Shoup. The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina : Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention (Armonk: Routledge, 1999), p. 38.

[10] Carole Rogel. The Breakup of Yugoslavia and the War in Bosnia (Westport: Greenwoord, 2004), p. ix. Mentioned in the preface of this novel are Randall M. Miller’s Series Foreword and how the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe helped spur on the Bosnian War.

[11] James E. Waller. Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 276-277.

[12] Norman M. Naimark. Memories of Mass Repression: Narrating Life Stories in the Aftermath of Atrocity (Piscataway: Transaction Publishers, 2011), p. 3.

[13] Graham Jones. “Srebenica: A triumph of evil.” CNN, April 10, 2007. <http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/22/warcrimes.srebrenica/>

[14] Ibid

[15] Robert Fisk. “Bosnia War Crimes…” The Independent, February 08, 1993. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bosnia-war-crimes-the-rapes-went-on-day-and-night-robert-fisk-in-mostar-gathers-detailed-evidence-of-the-systematic-sexual-assaults-on-muslim-women-by-serbian-white-eagle-gunmen-1471656.html>

[16] Ibid

[17] 2013. Sarajevo. Part 1: Ground Zero. New York, N.Y.: Films Media Group.

[18] Joscelyn Jurich. REMEMBERING TO REMEMBER: Three Photojournalism Icons of the Bosnian War (Rochester: Visual Studies Workshop, 2011), pp. 35-42.

[19] Ibid

[20] Michael R. Gordon. “CONFLICT IN THE BALKANS: NATO; Modest Air Operation in Bosnia Crosses a Major Political Frontier.” New York Times, April 11, 1994. <http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/11/world/conflict-balkans-nato-modest-air-operation-bosnia-crosses-major-political.html>

[21] Ibid

[22] Richard Holbrooke. “Was Bosnia Worth It?” The Washington Post, July 19, 2005. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/18/AR2005071801329.html>

[23] North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “Peace support operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” <http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_52122.htm>

[24] Stefano Costalli. “Does Peacekeeping Work? A Disintegrated Analysis of Deployment and Violence Reduction in the Bosnian War.” British Journal of Political Science 44.2, Cambridge University Press, April, 2014: 357-380.

[25] Ibid

[26] United Human Rights Council, “Genocide in Rwanda” <http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm>

[27] U.S. Department of State. “The Collapse of the Soviet Union.” October 31, 2013. <https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/collapse-soviet-union>

[28] Richard Sobel and Eric Shiraev. Russian Decision-making Regarding Bosnia: Indifferent Public and Feuding Elites (Maryland: Lexington Books, 2003), p. 5. Sobel and Shiraev go into great detail about how the Russian people perceive the West as trying to weaken their economy, de-industrialize their nation, and once and for all bring it to its knees.

[29] Ibid

[30] Ibid, p. 9.

[31] Frederick Bonnart. “Bosnia: An Emerging Russian View Might Want War to Go On.” New York Times, April 20, 1994. <http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/20/opinion/20iht-edfred.html>

[32] Roger Cohen. “U.S. Clashes With Russia Over Bosnia.” New York Times, May 18, 1994. <http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/18/world/us-clashes-with-russia-over-bosnia.html>

[33] “Ukraine Conflict and Bosnian War: Similarities.” Narrated by Omer Karaberg. Radio Slobodna Evropa, March 06, 2015. <http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/content/ukraine-conflict-and-bih-similarities/26886015.html>

[34] Danilo Krstanovic. “Bosnia says ‘nyet’ to weapons deal with Ukraine.” Reuters, February 12, 2015. <http://rt.com/news/231595-bosnia-ukraine-weapons-deal/>

[35] Ibid

[36] Jon Western and Patrice McMahon. “Opinion: Bosnia’s tough choices.” Global Post, May 30, 2010. <http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/100416/sarajevo-bosnia-national-elections>

[37] Ibid

[38] The Associated Press. “Balkan States Raise Money for Refugees.” New York Times, April 25, 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/world/europe/balkan-states-raise-money-for-refugees.html?ref=topics&_r=0>

[39] Ibid

[40] Jeffrey Bils. “Bosnian College Gets City Branch.” The Chicago Tribune, November 18, 1998. <http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-11-18/news/9811180088_1_bosnian-refugees-bosnian-war-loyola-officials>

[41] Ibid

[42] Reed Coughlan and Judith Owens-Manley. Bosnian Refugees in America: New Communities, New Cultures (New York City: Springer, 2006), p. 99. Coughlan and Owens discuss the effects of migration to America from the war ravaged nation of Bosnia. Some families were quick to adjust and others were not, due to the small numbers of Bosnians living in the United States.

[43] “Germany Expels First Of What May Be Many Bosnian Refugees.” The Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1997. <http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-03-14/news/9703140153_1_bosnian-refugees-war-refugees-germany>

[44] Ibid

The Easter Rising Rebellion

Easter Rising

            A public opinion poll taken in Ireland outside the Northern half of the country, on the eve of the Dublin Easter Rising in 1916 would have shown most men and women in favor of Home Rule, some content with the status quo, and only a small minority thinking in terms of armed insurrection.[1] Nationalist sentiment against the British Crown was much stronger among Irish emigrants living in the United States, especially those whom had been driven off the island due to the Great Famine.[2] For Great Britain, this conflict couldn’t have come at a worse time. Europe was already heavily engaged in a battle for their lives during World War I and so they needed to squash this resistance before it got too out of hand. Ireland thirst for independence and they felt like they were being dealt a bad hand in this political poker game. So because of British rule, an armed rebellion was mounted by dissident Irish Republicans during Easter Week in Northern Ireland 1916. It was the most significant uprising against London since 1798.[3] This historical event contributed to the birth of modern Ireland as we know it today and helped set the seeds for a future Irish War of Independence.

            The Acts of Union 1800 legislation united Great Britain and Ireland into one government called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, ending with the abolishment of the Irish Parliament.[4] Many Irish nationalists opposed such action, viewing it as outright exploitation by another colonial foreign power.[5] Ireland rallied around the idea of a purely Gaelic nation culturally separate from Great Britain, and so this led to the creation of the Sinn Féin League.[6] Irish Catholicism led the way for this perceived notion of independence. Protestants rejected these ideas. The Irish Republican Brotherhood or I.R.B. wanted to advance its own interests and last but not least; there was the formation of the Irish Citizen Army. The Irish Citizen Army was formed by trade unionists and as a result of their dispute with the British government, they along with other Irish Volunteers decided to take back their nation in what would later be called Easter Rising.[7]

            The Supreme Council of the IRB convened in September of 1914 just a month after Great Britain had declared war on Germany and a perfect opportunity had presented itself in the form of an alliance. At this meeting, the adopted plan was to mount an open rebellion and to accept any assistance from Germany.[8] Also present at the meeting were the Irish Volunteers, led by Patrick Pearse, as well as Joseph Plunkett (Director of Military Operations). During my research, I discovered that Plunkett had actually travelled to Germany to hatch a plan with the ambassador that involved the landing of German forces in Western Ireland with the help of Irish Volunteers subverting British attention in Dublin during the rising.[9] Then in 1916, James Connolly (head of the I.C.A.) met with I.R.B. leaders and decided to combine their forces.

            The build up to Easter Week was a tumultuous process, as it required coordination between local defense units and secrecy with the Irish Volunteers. Edward Malins, a prominent author of many books on Easter Rising once stated that “With over 100,000 Irishmen serving with forces of the Crown, it was not surprising that English politicians underestimated the passions of a new generation”.[10] Patrick Pearse, leader of the Irish Volunteers also said, “These Irishmen had grown up re-baptized in the Fenian faith”.[11] This unconscious mistake contributed to the events proceeding Easter Rising and would came back to haunt British lawmakers for years to come. Author of 1916: The Easter Rising, Tim P. Coogan states that the “1916 Rising was born out of the Conservative and Unionist parties’ illegal defiance of the democratically expressed wish of the Irish electorate for home rule”.[12] This new generation had become disillusioned with the British Empire and its “wish-y wash” way of promising reform, by never delivering on its obligations.

            Pearse then issued orders in April to commence a series of parades by the Volunteers for Easter Sunday. By catching the British off guard and making them think it was just a routine ceremony, the Irish rebels would mount the rebellion. Another important development taking place was the shipment of German weaponry that was about to land at County Kerry, stowed away on board the Aud.[13] Also known as the SS Castro, it travelled under the cover name Aud to deal arms to the Irish Volunteers but was ultimately sunk by its German crew once it became entangled by Royal Navy vessels after they failed to rendezvous at the drop point.[14] These series of blunders postponed Easter Rising by only one day and this meant that there would be far less numbers of Volunteers showing up for the rebellion. British Naval Intelligence was widely aware of the shipment through intercepted radio messages and by the time London had phoned its Dublin counterparts to arrest the Irish leaders, it was too late. The order had been given to commence Easter Rising.[15]

            On early Monday morning April 24^th, 1916 about 1,200 Irish Volunteers along with the Citizen Army took up strong points in Dublin’s city center. It was decided by James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, and other volunteers that the General Post Office be the rebel headquarters. The Irish insurgents proclaimed an Irish Republic with Pearse as President and Connolly as Commander in Chief and throughout this week of siege, 16,000 British troops with naval and artillery rained down a barrage of fire upon Dublin.[16] The military campaign of the Irish rebels was organized by seven members of the Military Council and the Rising went on for almost a week. Constant gun battles took place in city streets and British government offices.[17] It could have been a successful rebellion against British authority but the military plan was lacking and this was most evident in the bloody skirmishes that occurred soon thereafter.

            If civilians did not accept the rebellion as just, they were simply warded off with rifle butts to the face from some Irishmen.[18] There are even records of some people trying to dismantle barricades that were set up by the rebels. Not many gunshots were fired the first day of fighting and the British Army seemed uncoordinated during the battle on Mount Street where British Volunteer Training servicemen came across rebel positions; four of them were killed before reaching the Bush Barracks.[19] Most of the fighting took place in urban areas and dramatically escalated as the week proceeded forward. Snipers became a commodity for taking out rebel outposts. By Friday reinforcements had arrived and the British forces, roughly five times the size of the Irish fighters, launched a final assault on the post office. On Saturday, the rebels were forced to surrender with a white flag thrown up by Pearse as he stumbled out of the headquarters with other Volunteers.[20]

            The indiscriminate killing of civilians by British Army Regulars is highly controversial to this day and it made martyrs out of the Irish leaders, and their cause. The General Post Office was the only rebel outpost to be physically taken that week. The surrender document issued by Pearse 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.[21]

After the rising, General John Maxwell was made temporary governor of Ireland and there were several Irish rebellions not long after Easter Week in other cities that were put down by the British.[22] Pearse is also quoted saying, “Believe that we too love freedom and desire it. To us it is more desirable than anything in the world. If you strike us down now, we shall rise again and renew the fight. You cannot conquer Ireland”.[23]

Once the revolt was over, the British response was to execute all perpetrators for treason against the Crown. The diary of British Sergeant Samuel Lomas states that Pearse whistled on his way to one such firing squad.[24] Charles Blackader, the British officer who chaired Pearse's court-martial said, “I have just done one of the hardest tasks I have ever had to do. I had to condemn to death one of the finest characters I have ever come across”.[25] The fifteen Irish Leaders of the rebellion faced court martialing and were either hanged or shot over a nine-day period in May, including William Pearse (Patrick’s brother). In total: 3,430 men and 79 women were arrested. One Volunteer commander had escaped however, Earmon DeValera. The British did not want to execute an Irish-American for fear of alienating the United States.[26]

The 1916 Easter Rising on Monday commanded headlines all over the world. In the New York Times, it made the front page fourteen days in a row and read, “Irish revolt spreads west and south; whole island now under martial law”.^[27] Another newspaper article stated that “Dublin still cut off. Troops have not yet regained possession of the capital”.^[28] Until recently, witness accounts of the Rising had been sealed off from the public but the Irish military finally gave in and released all the documents they had in 2001. The most interesting one I came across was Capt. E. Gerrard of the 5th Division British Army recalling the executions of the 1916 Irish ringleaders, “Three refused to have their eyes bandaged…they died like lions. The rifles of the firing party were waving like a field of corn. All the men were cut to ribbons at a range of about 10 yards”.^[29] The Irish Volunteers knew that Easter Rising was a lost cause so they settled for a symbolic act instead.[30] Not long after the executions, the Republican Party Sinn Fein won a landslide victory in the 1918 elections.[31]

In conclusion, this rebellion would singlehandedly mark the beginning of the era dubbed “The Troubles”. People living in Dublin and Belfast no longer wanted to be known as just another British colony. Easter Rising provided this escape from occupation which gave rise to a national sentiment that has never really left Ireland. For over sixty more years, newer groups like the Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) came together using more sophisticated attacks against the British government, fighting for what they believe is the right to a free independent state separate in culture and identity from Great Britain. Easter Rising marked a period of significant upheaval vs. British rule. It was a moral victory for Ireland but a military win for the British government and Ireland isn’t the only nation asking for independence. If you haven’t already seen the news, so is Scotland. Today, the people of Ireland regard Plunkett and Pearse as heroes and parades are going on as we speak to mark the 99^th anniversary of this historical event. It has shown England that it cannot rule Ireland on its own terms.

Bibliography

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[1] A.P. Ryan. “The Easter Rising, 1916.” History Today Vol. 16, Issue 4. April 1966.

[2] 1

[3] Charles Townshend. “Soldiers Are We: Women in the Irish Rising”, History Today Vol. 56 Issue 4. April 2006.

[4] Professor Alan Macinnes. “Acts of Union: The creation of the United Kingdom”. British Broadcasting Corporation, February 17, 2011. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/acts_of_union_01.shtml>

[5] Oliver MacDonagh. Ireland: The Union and its aftermath (Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1977), pp. 14-17.

[6] Brian Feeney. Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years (Ireland: O’Brien Press, 2002), p. 22.

[7] Charles Townshend. Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion (Maryland: Ivan R. Dee, 2011), p. 49.

[8] Max Caulfield. The Easter Rebellion (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1995), p. 18.

[9] Michael McNally and Peter Dennis. Easter Rising 1916: Birth of the Irish Republic (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2007), p. 30.

[10] Edward Malins. “Yeats and the Easter Rising.” The Massachusetts Review Vol. 2, No. 2. 1966.

[11] 10

[12] Tim P. Coogan. 1916: The Easter Rising (London: W&N, 2005), pp. 2-10.

[13] Michael Tierney. Eoin MacNeill (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 199 & 214.

[14] H.B.C. Pollard. Secret Societies of Ireland, Their Rise and Progress (1922) (Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2003), p. 147.

[15] Leon Ó Broin. Dublin Castle and the 1916 Rising (United Kingdom: Helicon, 1966), p. 138.

[16] Dorney, John. “The Easter Rising”. The Irish Story, April 2011. <http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/04/22/the-easter-rising-%E2%80%93-a-brief-overview/#.VSVdvPnF83l>

[17] Francis X. Martin. Leaders and Men of the Easter Rising: Dublin 1916 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967), p. 105.

[18] Fearghal McGarry. The Rising, Ireland: Easter 1916 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 142-143.

[19] Paul O’Brien. Blood on the Streets: 1916 and the Battle for Mount Street Bridge (Cork: Mercier Press, 2008), pp. 22-23.

[20] Thomas M. Coffey. Agony at Easter: the 1916 Irish Uprising (Toronto: The Macmillan Co., 1969), pp. 244-247.

[21] “Dublin may seek surrender letter.” BBC News, January, 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4594388.stm>

[22] Fearghal McGarry. The Rising, Ireland: Easter 1916 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 203-204.

[23] Notes for Revolutionaries Vol 2, Foilseacháin an Ghlór Gafa, Nova Print, Belfast, 2006, p. 65.

[24] James O’Shea. “Patrick Pearse whistled on his way to execution.” Irish Central News, April 29, 2015. <http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/Patrick-Pearse-whistled-on-his-way-to-his-execution-says-British-diary.html>

[25] Frank M. Flanagan. “Patrick H. Pearse.” Internet Journal of Philosophy, Minerva 1, November 1997.  

[26] Oliver MacDonagh. Ireland (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1968), pp. 328-334.

[27] Sheila Langan. “The 1916 Easter Rising made the front page of the New York Times 14 days in a row.” Irish Central News, April 11, 2015. <http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/The-1916-Easter-Rising-made-the-front-page-of-the-New-York-Times-14-days-in-a-row.html>

[28] 27

[29] Patrick Counihan. “Witness accounts of 1916 Rising and War of Independence unveiled.” Irish Central News, August 7, 2012. <http://www.irishcentral.com/news/witness-accounts-of-1916-rising-and-war-of-independence-unveiled-165250256-237520421.html>

[30] Denis Cummings. “On This Day: Birth of the Irish Republic Declared in Easter Rising” Dulcenia Media, April 24, 2011. <http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/March-April-08/On-this-Day--Irish-Nationalists-Begin-Easter-Rising.html>

[31] 30