'An unrealistic venture, doomed from the start'. Comment on this view of the Easter Rising in 1916.

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‘An unrealistic venture, doomed from the start’. Comment on this view of the Easter Rising in 1916.

The 1916 Rebellion can quite safely be summarised as a short-term failure, with no immediate impact on the succouring of Irish politics. It achieved only the downfall of individuals such as James Connelly and Tom Clarke, and only remained particularly prominent in future times as a symbolic event of nationalistic martyrdom. In conception, there was very little planning involved. It was arguably badly timed, and involved too many points of awkwardness, most notably the fact that it only consisted of 1,600 men and woman fighting on the rebellion’s side. Because of this, it certainly lost its claim to be a ‘national rising’, and was never seriously capable of success.

 Despite all, there are some who hold the view that the Easter Rising of 1916 did have some important repercussions. Although the Rebellion itself was rather feeble, it did have passionate roots. In earlier years, many important figures had united in an effort to solve the ‘Irish Question’ – the two most prominent of these being Eoin MacNeill and John Redmond. MacNeill managed to call to arms 11,000 men strong under his leadership, and they became known as the ‘Irish Volunteers’. Redmond, on the other hand, had an even greater following – the ‘National Volunteers’ which consisting of 180, 000 men. Their general aim was to gain power in Ireland and, with the support of the Irish people, proclaim an independent Irish Republic.  Some, most notably MacNeill, were against an immediate ‘premature’ uprising, and believed that their forces were not yet strong enough to realistically tackle the British Military. MacNeill himself, the Volunteers’ Chief of Staff, even conceded that to take such action too early would be a ‘waste of life’. He preferred to keep the members of the Volunteers in reserve as a counterforce in later negotiations with the British.

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However, many members of the ‘Irish Volunteers’ were already ready and willing to take flight and call for an immediate revolution. The most notable among these were Tom Clarke, Sean MacDermott, James Connolly, and significantly, Patrick Pearse. The latter is often heralded as the most prominent figure in the Easter Rising. Pearse was often quick to remind others of the nobility of violent revolution, likening the Irish situation to Christ’s Sacrifice and the virtues of ‘blood sacrifice’. Indeed, he once had written: ‘Bloodshed is a cleansing and sanctifying thing… there are many things more horrible than bloodshed, and slavery is one ...

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