Leaders Of The Irish Easter Uprising example essay topic

The 1916 Irish Easter Uprising Ever since the occupation of Ireland by the English began in 1169, Irish patriots have fought back against British rule, and the many Irish rebellions and civil wars had always been defeated. To quash further rebellion, the Act of Union was imposed in 1800, tying Ireland to the United Kingdom of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Laws discriminating against Catholics and the handling of the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-50 led to increased tension and the proposal of introducing Home Rule gained support. In 1913 there was a general strike of workers in Dublin led by James Connolly of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (I.T.G.W.U. ). This action was followed by the 1913 Lock-Out during which employers literally locked workers out of their factories. Also in 1913 John Redmond, leader of the Irish Nationalist Party, created the Irish Volunteers to counter the Ulster Volunteers, an organisation created to fight against Home Rule.

His chief-of-staff was Eoin MacNeill and his commandant was Patrick Pearse. When World War I began, Irish nationalists flocked to sign up for Britain's war effort in the hundreds of thousands. They believed they were at last making Ireland one of the small nations of Europe, and that in showing their good faith in Britain they were ensuring Home Rule be passed. However, another more extreme tradition of patriotism considered Home Rule a sell-out. Thomas J. Clarke, who had been previously gao led after being sent to England on a dynamiting mission in 1883, immigrated to America and then returned to Ireland in 1907.

In his tobacconist's shop in Dublin the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B. ), a group of patriots who wanted national independence, was being revived. He held a meeting with, among others, Patrick Pearse, Eoin MacNeill and Sean MacDermott, who had broken away with a minority of extremist Volunteers when Redmond co-operated with the war effort, and Connolly who was now the creator and commander of the Irish Citizen Army, a worker's fighting force designed to defend against police brutality. There they made the decision to rise in arms against British rule. Together they created front organisations for propaganda purposes, such as the Neutrality League and the Wolfe Tone Memorial Committee. The latter organised the funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, a supporter of the republican political party, Sinn F'ein. It is here on the 15th August 1915 that Patrick Pearse delivered his famous speech: Life springs from death: and from the graves of patriotic men and women spring living nations... they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.

It was a call for a blood sacrifice in order to free Ireland from British rule. In organising an uprising, the funeral was proof that the Volunteers could organise when secretly directed by the I.R.B. and on St. Patrick's Day (17th March), Connolly took his Citizen Army on a tour of key Dublin sites which could be used as strategic strongholds during an uprising. However, there were many difficulties in organising and executing such a rebellion and one thing the rebels needed were weapons. Sir Roger Casement had organised for a shipment of as many as 200,000 rifles to be smuggled into Ireland on a "neutral" German freighter, the Aud. But when Casement arrived in Ireland on a German submarine he was arrested immediately and the freighter was intercepted by the Royal Navy and scuttled itself. Another attempt was made to gain large quantities of arms and ammunition during the actual uprising from the arsenal at Phoenix Park known as Magazine Fort.

However this was not very successful and the rebels seized only a few rifles. Throughout the organisation of the rebellion, Eoin MacNeill, leader of the minority Volunteers had to be kept in the dark about the I.R.B.'s plans because he believed that his Irish Volunteers should only rise in arms if a British attempt to disarm them occurred. A week before Easter when he found out exactly what "manoeuvres" were planned for Easter Sunday he was appalled, however he changed his mind upon hearing that the British planned to disarm both the Citizen Army and the Volunteers and that Casement's shipment of rifles was already on its way. Indeed, Naval Intelligence had managed to decipher the German naval code and Dublin Castle knew that there were arms on the way to help an uprising planned for Easter. On the Thursday before Easter they issued an official order to disarm the rebels and arrest their leaders. However MacNeill again refused to sanction an uprising upon hearing that Casement had been arrested and the shipment of rifles lost.

He decided to call off the uprising and placed this advertisement in The Sunday Independent on Easter Saturday: Owing to the very critical position, all orders given to Irish Volunteers for tomorrow, Easter Sunday, are hereby rescinded, and no parades, marches, or other movement of Irish Volunteers will take place. Each individual Volunteer will obey this order strictly in every particular. When Dublin Castle heard that the ship contained the rebels arms had been scuttled, they assumed that no uprising could go ahead and this appeared to be confirmed when they read the above advertisement in the Sunday Independent. The decision to arrest the leaders was to go ahead, but no immediate action taken as there could be no immediate rising and as it was a Bank Holiday the next day. Confusion resulted amongst the Irish Volunteers after they read MacNeill's advertisement.

Most thought that the "manoeuvres" mentioned were only manoeuvres and nothing more anyway, so when James Connolly and Patrick Pearse decided to go ahead with the uprising 24 hours later, less than 1000 altogether showed up and another 800 or so joined over the next few days. The Easter Rebellion began at twelve noon on Easter Monday 24th April 1916. Members of the Irish Citizen Army, Fianna the Youth Organisation, the women's organisation and the minority Irish Volunteers gathered outside the I.T.G.W.U. at Liberty Hall. They then split into groups and seized key buildings and landmarks around Dublin's city centre. Rebels commanded by Edward Daly took Four Courts, headquarters of the legal profession and able to command access from Marlborough Street and the Royal Barracks; Eamonn Ceann t took the South Dublin Union workhouse, blocking British access from the Richmond Barracks and Kingsbridge Station; Michael Mallin and Countess Markiewicz took St. Stephen's Green and Jacob's Biscuit Factory to command access from the Portobello Barracks; and Eamon de Valera's group took Boland's Flour Mill which covered access routes that re- arriving from England via Kingstown were sure to travel on their way to Dublin. One group also went to Dublin Castle where they shot the men guarding the gate, and then went on to capture another lesser building.

The Castle was an excellent tactical position occupied by only 25 British soldiers; the rebels' failure to capture it was their first big mistake. Leaders of the rebellion, Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Joseph Plunkett, TheO " Reilly, Thomas Clarke and Sean MacDermott as well as 150 rebels marched down Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street), captured the General Post Office and made it their headquarters. From here Pearse read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic that he had written, and declared Ireland a free state with the words: TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND: IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN, In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. The British strategy was to create a cordon around the centre of Dublin and then slowly advance in on the rebels. On Tuesday 25th April the government declared Martial Law (temporary rule by military authorities) throughout Ireland and 5,000 additional troops arrived in Kingstown.

Soldiers began to move artillery into Trinity College which the rebels had failed to seize due to lack of numbers. By Wednesday morning the British outnumbered the rebels twenty to one. The armed fishery vessel Helga moved up the River Liffey and fired upon Liberty Hall. This move had been anticipated and the building was empty, however inaccurate gunfire caused many civilian deaths. In fact there was no attempt at all to spare civilian lives. As the rebels were not in uniform, the British troops fired upon any adult male they saw.

Sean Houston and twenty rebels tried in vain to maintain control of the Mendicity Institution but eventually surrendered after causing 100 British casualties. On Thursday 27th April another 10,000 re- had arrived from England with more artillery, rifles and machine guns while attacks continued on the GPO, Boland's Mill and South Dublin Union. James Connolly received two serious wounds while trying to establish a new stronghold outside of the GPO, and when the oil work across the road caught fire, the rebels inside had no choice but to start evacuating. By Friday the British had advanced to within a few blocks of the GPO. The leaders were concerned about not only the hopelessness of their position, but also news of more civilian deaths and casualties from fire and the British. The last battle was fought for Kings Street near Four Courts.

It took 5000 British soldiers with armoured cars and artillery 28 hours to advance 150 metre's against 200 rebels. Finally the uprising ended on Saturday 29th April when Patrick Pearse left the new rebel headquarters at Hanlon's Fish Shop and handed over his sword to Brigadier-General Lowe as a symbol of his surrender. The other garrisons slowly and reluctantly surrendered too. Many felt the surrender was premature, and those at Four Courts continued fighting into the evening. The next morning the prisoners were marched down Sackville Street to the Richmond Barracks.

When they saw their tri-colour flag still flying from the GPO they cheered. However many residents gathered and hurled abuse at the rebels, even throwing rotten vegetables and physically assaulting them. The majority of the rebels were marched to the quays for internment in Britain. One escort was told by a Dubliner "shoot the bastards!" The rising was not popular amongst the Irish people. By the end there were 300 civilian, 60 rebel and 130 British casualties. Dublin was completely destroyed, several buildings were no more than shelled-out ruins and the rubble was still smoking.

The rebellion seemed pointless and bloody, and yet they had managed to hold off the British troops for almost an entire week- people felt some pride in them. From the 2nd to the 5th of May 1916, seven rebels including Thomas Clarke and Patrick Pearse were executed. Willie Pearse was executed for no other reason than that he was Patrick's brother. Another of the executed, Volunteer John MacBride was in no way a leader; however he had fought for the Boers 16 years previously. Altogether 77 death sentences were passed, and the British were in danger of enraging the Irish public.

As Irish Parliamentary leader, John Dillon, wrote to Redmond in London, "if there were shootings of prisoners on any large scale the effect on public opinion would be disastrous". On the 8th and 9th of May five more were executed, including a man who was executed for resisting arrest. One Irishwoman wrote "it was like watching a stream of blood coming from under a closed door". Finally, on the 12th May, Sean MacDermott and James Connolly were executed. Connolly, who was dying from his wounds and unable to stand, had to be propped up in a chair so he could be shot. After the initial feeling of disgust that Dubliners felt towards the rebels, they began to show pride in them and even supporters of Home Rule felt sympathetic to the rebels.

The attitude was now that if these men were willing to die for their cause, then their cause must have been very important to them indeed. The leaders of the Irish Easter Uprising, 1916, possibly contributed more to Irish patriotism and an eventual Irish Free State by being executed than by their actions in mounting their rebellion. In the eyes of the Irish they have become heroes, even martyrs, and their sacrifice continues to be honoured to this day.

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