The 1916 Easter Rising (Ireland history)

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The 1916 Easter Rising

The Easter Rebellion, was an armed uprising of Irish nationalists against the rule of Great Britain in Ireland. The uprising occurred on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, and centred mainly in Dublin. The chief objectives were the attainment of political freedom and the establishment of an Irish republic. Centuries of discontent, marked by numerous rebellions, preceded the uprising. The new crisis began to develop in September 1914, following the outbreak of World War I, when the British government suspended the recently enacted Home Rule Bill, which guaranteed a measure of political autonomy to Ireland. Suspension of the bill stimulated the growth of the Citizen Army, an illegal force of Dublin citizens organised by the labour leader Jim Larkin (died 1948) and the socialist James Connolly (1870-1916); of the Irish Volunteers, a national defence body; and of the extremist Sinn Féin. The uprising was planned by leaders of these organisations, among whom were the British consular agent Sir Roger David Casement, the educator Padhraic Pearse (1879-1916), and the poet Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916).

Hostilities began about noon on April 24, when about 2000 men led by Pearse seized control of the Dublin post office and other strategic points within the city. Shortly after these initial successes, the leaders of the rebellion proclaimed the Independence of Ireland and announced the establishment of a provisional government of the Irish Republic. Additional positions were occupied by the rebels during the night, and by the morning of April 25 they controlled a considerable part of Dublin. The counteroffensive by British forces began on Tuesday with the arrival of reinforcements. Martial law was proclaimed throughout Ireland. Bitter street fighting developed in Dublin, during which the strengthened British forces steadily dislodged the Irish from their positions. By the morning of April 29, the post office building, site of the rebel headquarters, was under violent attack. Recognising the futility of further resistance, Pearse surrendered unconditionally in the afternoon of April 29.

The British immediately brought the leaders of the uprising to trial before a field court-martial. Fifteen of the group, including Pearse, Connolly, and MacDonagh, were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad. Four others, including the American-born Eamon de Valera, received death sentences that were later commuted to life imprisonment, although de Valera and some others were granted amnesty the next year. Casement was convicted of treason and hanged. Many others prominently connected with the rebellion were sentenced to long prison terms. The uprising was the first of a series of events that culminated in the establishment of the Irish Free State (predecessor of the Republic of Ireland) in 1921. Casualties were about 440 British troops and an estimated 75 Irish . Property damage included the destruction of about 200 buildings in Dublin.

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Sinn Féin

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Throughout history, the island of Ireland has been regarded as a single national unit. Prior to the Norman invasion from England in 1169, the Irish had their own system of law, culture and language and their own political and social structures. Following the invasion, the island continued to be governed as a single political unit, as a colony of Britain, until 1921.

At various times over the next 800 years Irish men and women resisted British rule and attempted to assert Irish independence. Between the years 1916 and 1921 Irish nationalists waged a combined political and military campaign against British occupation. In 1920 partition (dividing Ireland into two sections - the 26 and Six Counties) was imposed by a British Act of Parliament. The consent of the Irish people was never sought nor freely given.

Unionist Rule

Throughout the 19th Century and until partition in the 20th Century the British Government provided its colonial rule in Ireland with a cover of 'democracy'. In the changed conditions of a partitioned Ireland it now used the wishes of Irish Unionists in North East Ireland as justification for its continued occupation.

Within the Six-County statelet the British government fostered political division between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants through a system of political, social and economic privilege. The in-built manufactured unionist majority meant continuous government by the Unionist party. Today the unionist community represent some one in five of the Irish nation.

For nationalists, life under Stormont rule meant institutionalised discrimination, electoral gerrymandering and human rights abuses and sectarian pogroms instanced by a sectarian state. Indeed patterns of discrimination which existed at this time remain today with nationalists still 2.5 times more likely to be unemployed.

Civil Rights

Organised discontent began to emerge in the late 1960s, leading to the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. Their moderate demands were:-

• One person, one vote;

• An end to the gerrymandered local government boundaries;

• An end to discrimination in the allocation of housing;

• An end to discrimination in employment;

• The repeal of the repressive Special Powers Act.

These demands were viewed by the unionist majority as a threat to their privileged position. But the violent reaction of the state shocked the world as television cameras relayed scenes of unprovoked attacks on civil rights marches and demonstrations.

As widespread political unrest spread, on August 14th 1969, British soldiers were deployed into Belfast and Derry. Within a relatively short period came the introduction of curfews in nationalist areas, internment without trial and the murder by British Paratroopers of 14 unarmed civilians in Derry on Bloody Sunday in 1972. Within weeks of this massacre the British Government abolished its local assembly, Stormont, and resumed direct rule.

History of the conflict, 1968-1992
1968-1969:

Inspired by the student protests in France and the civil rights campaign in the United States, the Civil Rights Movement takes to the streets, rejecting the sectarian structure of the Six-County state and campaigning for equal rights for all. They are beaten off the streets by the RUC and unionist mobs backed up by the RUC reserve, the B-Specials. British troops are deployed allegedly to keep the peace but effectively to back up the RUC.

1969:

Republicanism splits amid differing attitudes towards the deteriorating situation in the Six Counties. One section was in the process of abandoning the demand for complete British withdrawal from Ireland and went on to become Sinn Féin The Workers Party (the remnants of which were recently subsumed into the Labour Party). Sinn Féin emerges as a party of resistance of the nationalist people in the Six Counties and becomes the leading advocate of British withdrawal and a 32 County socialist republic. While the IRA, in response to the Battle of the Bogside in Derry, unionist pogroms in Belfast and the introduction of internment without trial, goes on the offensive.
1971:

The British Government introduces internment without trial, rounding up hundreds of nationalists (and a handful of loyalists) in dawn raids. The Civil Rights Movement launches a civil disobedience campaign, including a rent and rates strike.

1972:

After the massacre by British Army paratroopers of 14 Civil Rights marchers in Derry on what becomes known as 'Bloody Sunday', the IRA intensifies the war against the crown forces in the Six Counties. British Government introduces direct rule. Truce between British Army and IRA. Republican leaders (including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness) are flown to London by the British Government for talks with Secretary of State William Whitelaw. British Army breaks truce and invades Free Derry and 'no go' areas in Belfast.

1973 - 1976:

1974: Power-sharing "Sunningdale Executive" is brought down by Ulster Workers' Council strike supported by unionist politicians and enforced by loyalist paramilitaries.

1974: IRA Volunteer Michael Gaughan dies on hunger strike in an English Prison.

1975: New truce between IRA and British Army leads to 'Truce Monitoring Centres' liaising between republicans and British Government officials. There is a heightened campaign by loyalist death squads. Constitutional Convention to discuss future government of the Six Counties meets but is collapsed by the Ulster Unionist Party the following year.

1976:

Truce between IRA and British Army breaks down. The British Government unilaterally withdraws the political status won by republican prisoners and introduces a "criminalisation policy" to remove the embarrassing acknowledgement to the world that the conflict is a political struggle. This leads to the blanket protest, where republican freedom fighters refuse to wear prison uniform. IRA Volunteer Frank Stagg dies on hunger strike in an English Prison.

1978:

European Court of Human Rights rules that interrogation techniques used on internees in 1971 amounted to "inhuman and degrading" treatment.

1980 - 1981:

The prison protest against criminalisation is taken to a new level in 1980 and 1981, with the hunger strikes for the restoration of political status. Ten prisoners, led by Bobby Sands, protest to the death in 1981. The prisoners win their demands in the wake of the hunger strike.

1982 - 1983:

As the IRA's campaign to secure a British withdrawal continues, Sinn Féin emerges as a real political force in the 1980s, attempting to build mass support for its demand for self-determination for the Irish people. The result is substantial electoral progress, including the election of Gerry Adams as MP for West Belfast in 1983. This same year 38 republican prisoners escape from the H-Blocks.

1984 - 1992:

The party's successes, despite repression and censorship, place it centre-stage and thwart British Government efforts to impose an internal partitionist solution in the Six Counties. Having always pursued a durable peace settlement based on national self-determination, the party redefines its peace strategy in key documents, including Scenario for Peace (1987) and Towards a Lasting Peace in Ireland (1992). The pursuit of that strategy lays the groundwork for the efforts to achieve lasting peace.

1980/81 Hunger Strikes:

In the 1980's there were two hunger strikes. The first began in October 1980 and ended in December 1980 without loss of life. There were ten prisoners on hunger strike, seven in the H-Blocks and three women in Armagh jail. The second hunger strike began in March 1981, five years after the British government withdrew political status from the prisoners. The second hunger strike claimed the lives of ten republican prisoners:

Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Tom McElwee, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty and Michael Devine.

During the hunger strike Bobby Sands was elected MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, Kieran Doherty was elected TD for Cavan/Monaghan and Paddy Agnew TD for Louth. These election results, the tens of thousands of people on the streets across Ireland in support of the prisoners demands, the deaths inside the prison and the determination of the prisoners in the H-Blocks and Armagh, defeated the British government's attempts to criminalise the republican struggle.

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On Easter Monday, April 18, 1949, by the terms of the Republic of Ireland Bill approved by the Dáil in November 1948, Éire became the Republic of Ireland, formally free of allegiance to the British crown and the Commonwealth of Nations. In the following month, the British Parliament approved a bill continuing the status of Northern Ireland as a part of Great Britain and extending to citizens of the republic resident in Britain the same rights as British citizens. Similar legal provision was made by the Éire government in respect of British citizens resident in Éire. The republic became a member of the United Nations on December 14, 1955, when the General Assembly approved the admission of 4 communist and 12 non-communist nations.

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With economic stability came a new measure of political stability and a decline in traditional anti-British feeling. As early as 1957 Prime Minister Costello, who regarded the terrorist activities of the IRA as damaging to relations with Great Britain and tending to prolong the partition of Ireland, had called for forceful action against the organisation. Costello was defeated for reelection, but early in 1958 his successor, De Valera, publicly agreed that unity could not be achieved by force. In June 1959, De Valera, at the age of 77, was elected president, and Seán Francis Lemass (1899-1971), deputy prime minister, became prime minister. Opposition to IRA activity, plus a decline in the active membership, led to the announcement in February 1962 that the group had abandoned violence. Nevertheless, Ireland continued to suffer occasional acts of terrorism. In 1966 Prime Minister Lemass resigned. The Fianna Fáil won the ensuing elections, and John Mary Lynch became prime minister. To reduce unemployment and increase exports, he tried to build up industry in order.

An increase of violence between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland was followed by IRA terrorist activity in the Irish Republic. In 1971 the Dáil banned the purchase or holding of arms for use outside Ireland. In 1972 the government required the surrender of all firearms.

Also in early 1972 Ireland signed a treaty joining the European Community, effective January 1, 1973, a move favored by 83 percent of the voters; and, by referendum, ended the special constitutional status of the Roman Catholic church.

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Although inflation and an unfavourable balance of trade remained difficult problems, Ireland made significant strides toward economic stability through the 1950s and '60s. In 1964 the government completed a five-year plan of economic development, which exceeded its goals. A feature of the program was the offer of tax incentives to foreign investors.

Partly as a result of such programs, the rate of economic growth increased from about 1 percent per year in the 1950s to more than 4.5 percent in the late 1960s. It was officially reported in 1964 that more than 200 factories had begun production since 1955, most of them with foreign participation. A second plan began that year with a goal by 1970 of a net increase of 50 percent in the gross national product over the 1960 level. The improving economic circumstances were regarded as the main cause of a decline in emigration, ending a population decline that had continued unabated for more than a century.

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Hoping to strengthen his party, Lynch called elections in February 1973. A coalition of the Fine Gael and Labour parties gained a slim majority, however, and Fine Gael leader Liam Cosgrave became prime minister. Fianna Fáil returned to power in a government headed by Lynch in 1977, in 1979 Lynch was replaced by Charles Haughey (1925- ).

In the late 1970s and early '80s the Irish government faced increased domestic terrorism by extremist Irish nationalists. Ireland also had a high rate of inflation and suffered some economic dislocation from membership in the European Community. Amid rising unemployment, elections were held in 1981, and the coalition government was led briefly by Garret FitzGerald (1926- ), head of Fine Gael. Inconclusive elections in February 1982 returned Haughey to power, but another election, in late 1982, brought FitzGerald back. In 1985 FitzGerald signed a pact with Great Britain giving the Irish Republic a consultative role in governing Northern Ireland. The collapse of the FitzGerald government in January 1987 led to new elections one month later. Haughey won a single-vote majority in the Dáil Éireann and became prime minister once again. FitzGerald subsequently resigned as Fine Gael leader. After inconclusive elections in June 1989, Haughey formed a new coalition government. In November 1990, Mary Robinson (1944- ), a feminist lawyer who ran with Labour and Workers' party backing, became the first woman ever to win election as president of Ireland. Haughey resigned as prime minister and leader of Fianna Fáil in early 1992, amid allegations of scandal; his former finance minister, Albert Reynolds (1932- ), was chosen to replace him. In June, Irish voters ratified a treaty strengthening political and monetary integration within the European Community.

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In January 1919 the Sinn Féin members of Parliament assembled in Dublin as the Dáil Éireann, or national assembly. Proclaiming the independence of Ireland, the Dáil forthwith formed a government, with Eamon De Valera as president. There followed guerrilla attacks by Irish insurgents, later called the Irish Republican Army (IRA), on British forces, particularly the Royal Irish Constabulary, called the Black and Tans; and the British instituted vigorous reprisals. In the course of the war, the British Parliament enacted, in December 1920, a Home Rule Bill, providing separate parliaments for six counties of Ulster Province and for the remainder of Ireland. By the terms of the bill, Great Britain retained effective control of Irish affairs. The people of Northern Ireland, as the six counties in Ulster Province were known, ratified the legislation in May 1921 and elected a parliament. Although the rest of Ireland also elected a parliament in May, the Sinn Feiners, constituting an overwhelming majority outside of Ulster, refused to recognise the other provisions of the Home Rule Bill. The warfare against the British continued until July 10, 1921, when a truce was arranged. Subsequent negotiations led to the signing, in December 1921, of a peace treaty by representatives of the second Dáil Éireann and the British government. By the terms of the treaty, all of Ireland except the six counties constituting Northern Ireland was to receive dominion status identical with that of Canada. After considerable debate, in which the opposition, led by De Valera, objected strenuously to a provision that virtually guaranteed a separate government in Northern Ireland and to an article that required members of the Dáil to swear allegiance to the British sovereign, the Dáil ratified the treaty on January 15, 1922, by a vote of 64 to 57. Ratification brought into being the Irish Free State, with Arthur Griffith as president and Michael Collins, who was another prominent member of Sinn Féin, as chairman of the provisional government.