Our Uprisings

It was early in 1914 that the Carsonite Volunteers, along with the help of British sympathizers in high places, ran a big cargo of arms ashore at Larne. Immediately the British Government prohibited the importation of arms into Ireland, lest the Nationalists should secure weapons too. The Irish Volunteers thus organized an illegal shipment of arms to Howth from the Continent for a rising had been planned for that Easter Sunday. But on Easter Monday, shortly after noon, the Irish Republic was proclaimed in Dublin, and the insurgent Tricolour suddenly broke upon startled eyes flying from the flagstaff above the General Post Office in the very heart of the Irish capital.

The Easter Monday Rising, however, had no such military prospects of success. There was always, of course, the chance that a German success on the Western Front would break through England's defenses and so allow substantial help to be sent before the Rising was crushed, but this proved a vain hope. On the morning of Easter Monday, April 24th 1916, the Dublin battalions paraded, bearing full arms and one days rations. Shortly after noon, the General Post Office, the Four Courts, three of the railway terminal, along with other important points circling the center of Dublin were rushed and occupied. The Proclamation of the Irish Republic was proudly published on large placards:

Poblacht na hEireann

The Provisional Government of the Irish Republic

"To the People of Ireland ....."

Irishmen and Irishwomen! In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives the old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag, and strikes for her freedom …….

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible……In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to National freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent Sate, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations ……

The Republic guarantees civil and religious liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past ……

We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, whose blessing we invoke upon our arms…… In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline, and by the readiness of its children, to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.

Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government

Thomas J Clarke

Sean MacDiarmada

Thomas MacDonagh

P H Pearse

Eamon Ceannt

James Connolly

Joseph Plunkett

On the first day of the Rising there was little fighting . The British were wholly unprepared since they had believed that the Volunteers had abandoned the project, the British authorities were taken by surprise and could not immediately muster sufficient forces to attack the insurgents before they had "dug themselves in". It was on Tuesday that a British force of some 4500 men attacked the rebel strongholds and secured the Castle. A cordon was then drawn around the north of the city, some of the rebel outposts being attacked and broken with rifle or artillery.

Meanwhile, large reinforcements were being hurried into Ireland. On the Thursday the encircling forces pressed closer and penetrated to the central scene of operations. Liberty Hall had been shattered by gunfire from the river, and now shells ignited great buildings in O’Connell Street. The lines of communication between the insurgent strongholds were broken, and the British Forces, concentrated on reducing Headquarters, the General Post Office, over which the Republican flag still flew.

In County Galway Liam Mellows led a large body of insurgents on Galway city where a gunboat in Galway Bay dispersed them by shellfire. At Athenry, the insurgent camp was surrounded and dispersed when the hopelessness of resistance became clear.

On Friday, a terrific bombardment had set the center of Dublin city wholly ablaze. Churches, banks, and business places along with other buildings were aflame and collapsing. The death toll among the non-combatants was appalling. Commandant Daly had destroyed the Linen Hall Barracks but was now surrounded at the Four Courts. Countess Markievicz, after being driven out of trenches in Stephens Green, was defending the College of Surgeons. Commandant McDonagh was surrounded in Jacobs factory. Commandant de Valera, whose men had so tenaciously resisted the advance from the south, was now holding Bolands Mills, while Commandant Ceannt held part of the South Dublin Union. On Saturday at 2pm Pearse surrendered to Sir John Maxwell unconditionally. And so the Rising ended, the outstanding forces laying down arms on the Sunday.

All the signatories of the Republican declaration were put to death.