The Easter Rising!!

By Nessa Briody.

What was the Easter Rising??

The Easter Rising in 1916 was a

very big event in history. When

the Act of Union started in 1801,

the British had complete control

over Ireland. They took the

Parliament that was in Ireland and

put it in England. All the Irish

M.Ps had to travel across to

London. The Irish wanted their

Parliament back.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood.

John O’Mahony and James Stephens founded the I.R.B. in 1858. Their goal was to make Ireland its own country. People from the I.R.B. otherwise known as the Fenians, had scheduled an unsuccessful rebellion in 1867.

While they were defeated they still managed to be a secret society.

They often disagreed but they still planned the Rising.

The Irish Volunteers.

In November 1913 the Irish Volunteers were formed. In July and August 1914 two ships landed in Howth and Kilcoole, full of guns and arms. When World War 1 started the Volunteers split up into two groups. John Redmond led the National Volunteers, who went to the trenches to fight with Britain to help Belgium, while Eoin MacNeill stayed with the Irish Volunteers in Ireland.

Irish Citizen Army.

James Connolly formed the Irish Citizen Army to protect workers in 1913. Slowly they became armed with guns. Since World War 1 had started, the Irish Citizen Army and the Volunteers began to get closer because they had the same goal – to get independence for Ireland. In 1916 they fought together.

Planning the Rising

The I.R.B began to plan for the Rising. Joseph Plunkett, Patrick Pearse and Eamonn Ceannt, who were later joined by Seán Mac Dermott, Thomas Clarke, Thomas Mac Donagh and James Connolly secretly wrote the plans for the rising. These men were to sign the proclamation. Easter Sunday

1916 was the date they set for the rising. The Irish Volunteers had disagreements. Eoin MacNeill did not want a rebellion unless they would win. Roger Casement went to Germany to get guns and bombs. The ship, the Aud arrived off the coast of Kerry on Holy Thursday but the British stopped the ship and the guns were sunk with the ship. When Eoin MacNeill heard of the plans for the rising he cancelled all plans. However the rising was still to go ahead

on Monday.

The buildings they took over.

The rebels took over: The GPO The Four Courts Boland's Mill South Dublin Union Jacobs Factory The Royal College of Surgeons St. Stephens Green

Monday 24th April

The Irish Volunteers, The Irish Citizen Army and Cumann na mBan gathered together at Liberty Hall.

They took over several buildings.

Pearse read the Proclamation on the GPO steps.

A green, white and orange flag was raised above the GPO.

Only 1,600 people turned up due to the confusion.

Tuesday 25th April

The country was put under martial law which means the British could shoot whoever they needed to.

The GPO was surrounded so that no supplies reached the rebels!

The British took over the Shelbourne Hotel and Trinity College so they could shoot the rebels in St. Stephens Green!

Wednesday 26th April

Today there were hardly any rebels left!

A boat called the ‘Helga’ was sent up the Liffey to bomb Liberty Hall

The British’s headquarters was Dublin Castle and the rebels could not gain control of it so that weakened their position

Thursday 27th April

England’s General Maxwell came to Ireland and took command

O’Connell was mostly on fire and everyone had to leave it

In Middle Abbey Street James Connolly had to be helped back to the GPO because he got shot in the foot

Friday 28th April

The GPO went on fire and the rebels had to get out quickly.

The Imperial Hotel and Clery’s, two of the most major buildings in Dublin collapsed.

People heard the rebels singing The Soldier’s Song and it later became our national anthem.

Saturday 29th April

Elizabeth Farrell, a female Volunteer walked through O’Connell street holding a white flag. They were surrendering!

The reason for this was because they did not have the GPO anymore and Pearse wanted to stop any more deaths

2,000 people were injured and over 400 people died.

The city was in ruins

Prison!

Most of the fighting took place in Dublin but some other places rose as well Ashbourne, Co. Meath, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford and Galway rose as well

The people of Dublin were angry with the rebels because their city was ruined and so many people had died

When the rebels were walking along the street to prison some people from Dublin started jeering them

Executions

More than 3,000 people were arrested and 90 people were sentenced to death. 15 were killed by the firing squad.

James Connolly had to be strapped to a chair before getting killed because he couldn’t stand up.

Countess Markievicz was supposed to be killed but since she was not

The Newspapers!

The Irish times: The Rising was ‘a criminal adventure’!

The Freeman’s Journal: ‘Such a reckless and barren waste of life, courage, property and the historic beauty of a capital city’

The Irish Independent: The Rising was ‘Insane and criminal’. The leaders ‘deserve little compassion’.

The peoples opinions!

The peoples opinions on the seven signatories quickly changed.

When the signatories were alive they were thought of as criminals.

After they were executed the Irish people thought they were heroes.

A sad ending

Joseph Plunkett was engaged to a woman named Grace Gifford before the rising.

Plunkett was very ill and was a big part in the rising. This meant their wedding had to be postponed.

They wanted to get married so at 1:30am Grace and Joseph became man and wife but with Plunkett in handcuffs. Before Plunkett was killed they only had ten minutes together.

Thank you for reading my project. I hope you learned a lot about the Easter

Rising and enjoyed it at the same time.

Goodbye!!