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 24th, 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 99th
anniversary of this historical event. It has shown England that it cannot rule
Ireland on its own terms.
Bibliography
[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
