It’s now 95 years since the Easter Rising of April 24, 1916. A terrible revolt that took place in Dublin and other major Irish cities, pitting nationalist Irish against loyalist English in the name of one cause: Irish Independence and the withdrawal of the British presence from the island.
This terrible confrontation, led by Patrick Pearse, Michael Collins, James Connolly, Tom Clarke, Eamon de Valera, Sean McDiarmada, Joseph Plunkett and Constance Markievicz, unfortunately ended in failure after more than 7 days of fighting.
The IRB, aided by the Citizen Army, proved to be too few in number, and too weakly armed, to hope to prevail over the British.
The event took the British by surprise, however, and it took them several days to muster the material and military resources to counter the offensive. Following the revolt, England wanted to set an example, and so executed more than 15 men who had taken part in the rebellion, including 7 government men (Tom Clarke, Patrick Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, James Connolly, Sean McDiarmada).
With over 400 dead and 2,614 wounded, the Easter Rising unleashed passions for the Irish nationalist cause, and re-galvanized the Irish around their quest for national independence… That’s why this revolt triggered the War of Independence (1919-1921).
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