Honhonhon Bonjour my darling! Baguette here! I was assigned to you for the ask event! ♥ Let's start hard with some (recent-ish) History! What can you tell us about the Easter Rising and figures like Éamon de Valera and/or James Connolly? I've read a bit on the subject myself which is why I'm curious- How is that event taught in irish schools? (Now I'm getting rambly, I'll let you work your magic! ♥ @champagne-embassy )
Hello Baguette/ @champagne-embassy! Thank you for your lovely question! And oh boy I’ve been waiting to write about some history for a while now so buckle in kids.
(I should also mention now that I’m not gonna go into extreme detail, otherwise we’d be here all day. But I tried my best to condense it to the most important points for simplicity’s sake, just to make sure we’re all on the same page)
Okay, So in order to understand why the Rising took place and the events leading up to it, we have to go back a few centuries and a bit more into earlier Irish history…
Around the 12th-13th centuries, Britain had slowly gained control over the island of Ireland. There had been many rebellions before (Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen being notable figures during the 1798 rebellion) but were all mostly unsuccessful. By 1801, Under the Act of Union, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom and was governed from Westminster in London, with the government in Dublin being abolished.
By the early 1900s, there were two main political groups in Ireland, Nationalists and Unionists. Unionists wanted to maintain the Union with Britain, while nationalists wanted Ireland to govern themselves with a parliament in Dublin.
Nationalists were also divided between those who support Home Rule (led by John Redmond) which would give them power to deal with internal Irish affairs while parliament in London dealt with external affairs such as trade and military.
Republicans on the other hand, wanted a full republic free from British rule.The IRB, or Irish Republican Brotherhood, wished to establish a republic using physical force.
Unionists were opposed to the idea of Home Rule because they thought it would ruin industries in cities such as Belfast, and that Protestants (majority living in Ulster) would be discriminated against by Catholics. The Ulster Volunteers, organised under the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force), was formed to enforce this idea in 1912. Within a year, the Irish Volunteers were formed in retaliation and declared that they would secure the rights of the whole people of Ireland. (The organisation then later became known as the Irish Republican Army, or IRA, during the War of Independence)
As you mentioned in your question, James Connolly was an important figure during this time. He was a socialist leader and the founder of the Irish Citizen Army, an organisation set up to protect workers from the police during the 1913 Lockout. He later led both the IRB and ICA as Commandant of the Dublin Brigade.
(James Connolly, 1868-1916.) (x)
When talking about the Rising though, the first person that comes to mind would have to be Pádraig Pearse, as he was one of the main leaders in charge of organising the Rising. He was a member of the Irish Volunteers and later joined the IRB. He was inspired by the mythological legends of Irish heroes like Cú Chulainn and republican figures like Wolfe Tone who had fought and died for Irish freedom, and believed that blood sacrifice was the only way for Ireland to gain its freedom. He was strong in his ideals, believing that "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.“
(Pádraig Pearse, 1879-1916) (x)
In 1914, the Home Rule Bill was brought in by the Liberal Party, but was later postponed when World War I broke out in Europe. The Irish volunteers were split, with one side joining the British to fight the war in Europe, and the other side believed that now was the perfect time to strike as “England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity”
The IRB planned the Rising, setting up a Military Council to organise it. Roger Casement was sent to Germany to receive arm that would aid them. ‘The Aud’ set sail for Ireland, but was captured off the coast of Kerry on 20th April 1916.
The Military Council hoped that Eoin MacNeill’s Irish Volunteers would join them in their effort in the Rising, though he was largely kept in the dark about the Council’s plans for a rebellion. So in order to convince him, they forged a letter called the ‘Castle Document’ that stated that the British authorities were planning on arresting leaders. There had been planned ‘authorized man oeuvres’ for the Volunteers, but they were cancelled just days before the Rising when he found out it was a forgery.
Even though they had few weapons and men, the IRB decided to go ahead with the Rising on Easter Monday, April 24th 1916. 1200 men and women from the Irish Volunteers, Citizen Army and women’s group, Cumann na mBan took over key buildings across Dublin. Some of the occupied buildings were the GPO (led by Pearse and Connolly, as well as Clarke, MacDiarmada, and Plunkett), St Stephen’s Green, Four Courts, Jacob’s Factory and Boland’s Mills (led by Éamon De Valera). Pearse stood outside the GPO and read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.
The British were caught off guard by the rebellion, but soon they had 1600 men in the city and the rebels were defeated after less than a week of fighting as the British army outnumbered them in weapons and troops, as well as being more well-organised. They sent a gunboat. ‘The Helga’ down the river Liffey and caused the destruction of key buildings, like Liberty Hall. By Saturday April 29th, Pearse and the other leaders had no choice but to surrender unconditionally.
(a map of Dublin outlining the key buildings and events that occured during the Easter Rising) (x)
(It should also be known that even though most of the action took place in Dublin, groups of Volunteers went ahead with attacks across the country, and included a few small victories in places like Ashbourne, Co. Meath, where a group of around 60 men seized the RIC barracks, and in Co. Wexford, where Volunteers took over the town of Enniscorthy.)
As a result of the Rising, 16 people, including the Seven Signatories, we executed at Kilmainham Gaol between 3rd-12th May (Connolly was executed tied to a chair as he had been injured during the fighting, Joseph Plunkett married his fiancee Grace Gifford in his cell just hours before his execution) Roger Casement was also hung in London for treason.
A total of approximately 485 people died during the rebellion, with around 54% being civilian casualties. £3 million worth of damages was also caused because of fighting on both sides. The British impose martial law and internment on 2000 people.
(Sackville Street, Dublin, after the Easter Rising) (x)
The Easter Rising was known as the ‘Sinn Féin Rising’ at the time, though they had nothing to do with it at all. Though because of this, along with their opposition of the British government’s decision to impose conscription, they rose in popularity and later went on to win the majority in the 1918 election (Éamon De Valera became the leader of Sinn Féin, as well as the Irish Volunteers)
Even though they didn’t have much support from the public during the Rising, it wasn’t until after the executions took place that their cause began to gain more sympathy and many started to question and oppose British rule over Ireland. So, even though the Rising itself was an overall failure, it was the catalyst for the events that would follow that would eventually lead to the fight for independence.
NOW as you can tell, that is a Lot to take in, but it is one of the most important events in modern Irish history, as the War of Independence (1919-1921) soon followed (I could do an entirely different post on that, and as you mentioned Éamon De Valera, he plays a pivotal role during this time)
This becomes even more relevant to us in in recent years, as we commemorated the centenary of the Easter Rising just last year!
(Irish Army marching in the Easter Sunday parade in Dublin, 2016) (x)
An array of events across to commemorate the events during the Rising took place all over the country. Since you also mentioned how this historical event is taught in schools, I can only speak for myself/my own school, but as far as I know (or as I can remember), we were taught the very basic facts of it in primary school around 4th-6th class (10-12 years old), but then went into more detail in secondary school at Junior Certificate Level, and then even more detail in Leaving Certificate (though by the time students reach Leaving Cert level, history can be chosen as an optional subject to keep on). Like I said, since last year was the 100 year anniversary of it taking place, it played quite a significant role in what we were taught in school around this time. The leaders of the Rising are generally seen as heroes, and are seen as important figures in modern Irish history to this day.
That’s all I have to say about this topic for now, if you have anymore questions regarding Irish history (or just Ireland in general), feel free to drop an ask in the ask box and I’ll try and get around to it as soon as possible! And as always, if you think that I missed a key point or made any errors, or simply want to add on to what is already here, feel free to do so!
(I’ll also take this opportunity to thank @aphaskevent for organising this wonderful event, I had a ton of fun researching and writing about these kinds of topics!) (also i’m sorry for being late oops thank you for your patience Sia xX)
