The unnoticed IRB, led by Padraig Pearse, were fed up of being regarded as a low priority by the British government, and decided to make themselves heard in early 1916. On April 24th, Padraig Pearse led 1200 volunteers and attempted to occupy a number of places around central Dublin. According to the diary of a man called Alfred Fannin, who lived nearby, they tried to “occupy all the railway stations – some successfully, others not - the GPO, Jacob’s factory and St. Stephens green”. On the first day of the rising, Pearse told his men, ”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”, proclaiming the Irish Republic as a “Sovereign Independent State”. Padraig even considered that they might even have to die for their cause. Apart from Pearse’s close followers, most Catholics thought the rising to be a waste of time and a nuisance at first, although they all felt unfairly treated and discriminated against. They found the Easter rising a small event, yet troublesome. Alfred Fannin, whose diary I quoted from earlier, does not seem to consider the event such a huge event in Irish history as it is considered by most at the present time, he just thinks it to be an inconvenience stopping the local residents from carrying out their daily routines. The Unionists, also, thought it to be a pain originally. They were very annoyed at the Nationalists for triggering violence in such an important part of the war with Germany, and were strongly against the uprising. It made them hate the nationalists even more than they already did, and they were afraid that if the IRB were successful in their plight to free Ireland that they would face failure and would be forced out of their homes or even killed.
Then came a huge event, which changed the views of a great deal of Irish citizens. The IRB surrendered on Saturday 29th April 1916, and were captured in the majority by British troops. Instead of being kept hostage as prisoners of war, the volunteers were shot dead. Many Nationalists thought this to be highly extreme action, unjustifiable by the British. The Nationalists were enraged by the action taken, and went from neither supporting nor acting against the rising to considering it a great event in Irish history, believing the IRB volunteers to be martyrs for their freedom. The Nationalists views towards the Unionists and British became more extreme, with Sinn Fein obtaining 76 seats in parliament out of 111 in December 1918. The fact that the Sinn Feiners received a huge majority of the available seats meant that they did not go to London and formed their own parliament in Dublin a month after the election, and also meant that the Irish never obtained the Home rule bill. In the long term, the Nationalist dislike of the Unionists and Britain has increased, and the gap between the views of the two groups has widened further and further, with the groups splitting into sub-groups. The Easter Rising probably spared the extinction of unionists in the country, as if the Home Rule bill had been passed, then the unionists would almost certainly have been forced out of Ireland or even killed. It led to a four year civil war and hundreds of soldiers and civilians dead on both sides, and a partitioning of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. The Unionists, although less shaped in views by the event than their Nationalist counterparts, also felt a degree of sympathy and support for the Republicans. Despite their compassion for their opposites, they were angry at Sinn Fein for not traveling to Westminster to Parliament. This was another factor leading to the civil war. In the long term, both parties have felt much more bitterness towards each other, and the Easter rising has not helped them to integrate and understand each other’s views. The rising led to the civil war, the formation by Michael Collins of the IRA, and even more discrimination against Nationalists, with the Unionists handed bigger, better jobs, houses and the increase in the Unionist percentage of the police force. All in all, the Easter Rising helped the Nationalists to get their opinions heard, helping them in the short term, yet hindering their long-term freedom and fight for equal rights.
The deployment of British troops in 1916 was inevitable. Many events led up to the employment of troops in Ireland, the majority of them accumulating as small factors building up to the event. The main factor that triggered the violence in Ireland primarily was, inadvertently, the mainly Catholic civil rights movement in 1968, originally wishing to use peaceful, non-violent methods to share their views and achieve their aims. The movement wanted equal rights between Protestants and Catholics, and didn’t want Catholics to be discriminated against. The Catholics had lesser rights, poorer housing and lower-paid jobs than the Protestant loyalists, so the civil rights group organized peaceful sit-ins and marches. Examples of the discrimination against the Nationalists are countless in number. Two thirds of post war houses went to protestants, votes were rigged in favour of the Protestants, the more property you owned, the more votes you were allocated, universities were built in Protestant towns, 85 % of policemen were Protestants and the main employer in Belfast employed only 400 Catholics out of 10 000 workers.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary broke up one of the marches, leading to the withdrawal of the Nationalist MPs from parliament in protest. In January 1969 a civil rights group marched to Belfast, but were trapped by a group of militant loyalists. The RUC did nothing to protect them. It was later discovered that the group that ambushed the protesters were off duty policemen. This led to the loyalists invading the bogside, an almost fully Catholic area. The loyalists smashed and looted many Catholic shops, and basically wreaked havoc around this part of Northern Ireland. The extreme unionist Ian Paisley narrowly suffered defeat to the hands of the middle-of-the-road unionist Terence O’Neill, who resigned after a great deal more violence in 1969, and bombs disguised as IRA ones, in fact loyalist ones. James Chichester-Clark, O’Neill’s cousin, shared similar views to his predecessor and became Prime Minister. The first death occurred just after this, after a riot in Dungiven.
The Battle of the Bogside took place on the 12th August, after a Londonderry Apprentice Boys march through the Catholic Bogside. Preparing for trouble, the Catholics barricaded the end of the town, and, although the march was peaceful, it ended in the two groups throwing missiles at each other. The battle carried on for 48 hours.
The Catholics welcomed the actual deployment of troops, yet the Protestants were against it. Although this may sound surprising, the Catholics were being discriminated against and the British troops were being deployed as an impartial force. The Catholics considered the troops as protection from violence, although the IRA were extremely annoyed at the British presence and vowed to purge them at all costs.
The Protestants, on the other hand, were not as enthusiastic about the presence of the troops. They saw the presence of the troops as a scheme against their freedom. They were also mad at the British troops for undermining them, and for not taking their side. They considered the troops a hindrance against the progress they were making in Catholic areas of Northern Ireland.
Later, a new attitude was developed towards the British. The Catholics thought the troops were on the Unionists side, so turned against them, with girls found to be dating British men tarred and feathered. The IRA split into two groups, which led to even more conflict in views within groups and sub-groups.
The Protestants, however, started to consider the troops to be on their side, and saw them as a protection against the nationalists as the IRA grew in support. The Protestants needed protection. This led to the Unionists rights increasing even further, and to the formation of the Democratic Unionist party.
In the long term, violence is still common in Northern Ireland, and British troops are still present, but violence is much less frequent. On both sides, extreme views are still shared, and hatred, bitterness and resentment is still high, yet peaceful methods are used in the majority. The deployment of troops, unintentionally triggered by the civil rights movement, was a major hindrance to the Protestant Unionists, but possibly saved the lives of many Catholics. On the other hand, the Easter rising, a huge event in Irish history, changed the shape of Ireland forever.
