Why was there a rising in Dublin in 1916?

In 1916 on Easter Monday there was a rising against the British. The rising was a bid for independence from Britain and was led by a secret republican organisation known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The rising failed in the short term but the long-term effects led to the establishment of an Irish Republic. In this essay I will discuss the long and short term causes of the rising including the revival of the Irish culture and the growth of republicanism among the general public.

There are many long term causes of the rising that date back hundreds of years, stemming from the year 1169 when the British started their occupation of Ireland.

From the very start there was resistance to the British, with small groups of militia launching minor attacks on the British. There followed a spate of unsuccessful rebellions. The most significant being the 1798 rebellion that led to several more rebellions in the years 1803,1848 and 1867. Unfortunately the British whose military capabilities were among the best in the world crushed all of these rebellions. The rebellions may have failed but the flame of independence was not extinguished and the example that was left led to the establishment of the Irish Republic. The revival of the Irish language and Irish culture was also a factor that led to the rising. The Irish people began to become increasingly different from the British both ideologically and culturally. The Growth of the Irish language and the Gaelic Athletic Association (Cumann Luthchléas Gael) began giving people a sense of patriotism. As a result resentment for the British began to grow and people started adopting nationalist point of views. Organisations such as the Gaelic League encouraged the Irish language in towns and cities so the revival was taking place all over Ireland. Another factor that led to the rising in 1916 was the rejection of the Home Rule Bill over many years. The Home Rule movement was started in the late 1800’s and was very popular with middle class Irish people. The Home Rule Bill would to all intents and purposes make Ireland an independent nation, as it would be ruled from Dublin but still receive instructions from Westminster. The Bill was put through parliament several times but was blocked on each occasion. Despite this the people still remained faithful to the Home Rule Bill right up until 1914 when the First World War broke out and Home Rule was ‘shelved’ for the duration of the war. When this happened the people began to look at other ways of achieving freedom including military force. Republicanism began to take hold of Irish hearts and minds.

The short-term causes of the rising include the formation of the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteer force, The Howth Gun Running, The Great Dublin Lock-out World War one and finally the actual plan to have a rising.

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The First short term effect, which set the ball rolling, was the establishment of The Irish Volunteer Force in 1913. They were set-up in response to the establishment of the Ulster Volunteer Force who were a militaristic force in the north whose purpose was to block Home Rule, which would separate Ireland from Britain and with it, the citizenship of the UK that they cherished so much. In response to this new military force, the Irish Volunteer Force was set up whose aim was to stop the UVF from disrupting the Home Rule movement.

The second major event was The Great Dublin Lock-out of 1913. This was a strike by transport workers in Dublin who wanted better wages as they were living in some of Europe’s worst slums. When one of the Lock-out’s most prominent leaders, James Larkin, was making a speech from a hotel balcony to the strikers the police made a baton charge at the crowd killing three people and wounding hundreds. After this event Larkin proposed the establishment of a militaristic force who would act as a Home Guard and would be there to defend the people, this was the Irish Citizen Army and there were many volunteers who gladly took up arms to defend their people from police brutality.

In 1914 James Larkin went to America while James Connolly arrived in Dublin from Belfast. Connolly went about reorganising the ICA and later announced that his army would be willing to strike for freedom if called upon to do so.

The next major event was the Howth Gun running which took place in 1914 and involved the smuggling of weapons into Ireland from sympathisers in Germany. It was organised by the IRB 1500 rifles and 45000 rounds of ammunition were brought into Howth and carried back to Dublin by 800 Volunteers on what seemed to be an ordinary route march. Word of the weapons reached Dublin castle and an unauthorised order was sent to intercept the IVF and a minor clash took place between the police and the IVF where three people were killed. An important thing to remember about the Howth Gun running was that the weapons were not intended for the rising as it hadn’t even been planned but it meant that the weapons were there when they would be needed.

One of the most important events that helped cause the rising was the outbreak of WWI. It was important because the British government decided to put Home Rule out of the way until after the war was over, this angered many of the Irish people and they began to turn to extremist groups such as the IRB. The start of the war gave the IRB and other republicans the support they had been in need of and in 1915 the planning of the rising was well underway and things were coming together. The war also meant that there would be a smaller number of troops in Ireland, as they would be fighting in the war. Originally the IRB intended to use the IVF as the force behind the rising but because of Eoin Mac Neills (the leader of the IVF) rejection of a violent uprising the IRB turned to the ICA who were much more suited to the task as they had no problem with using violence as had been announced by the leader James Connolly in 1914 when he reorganised the army. The rising was chosen for Easter Sunday as it was symbolic because of the events of holy week and the establishment of an Irish republic would be like the resurrection of Christ which seemed appropriate especially since the majority of the population was catholic. Dublin was chosen as the place the rising should be held as it was the capital of Ireland and if the rebels could take control of Dublin then the chances were that people would follow in their footsteps and rebel in other places which is how the IRB intended to achieve national independence. The Easter Rising had many causes. Most of which stemmed from problems of the time but even these problems stemmed from older problems and injustices towards the Irish people. The Rising was an inevitability just like the rebellions that preceded it and sooner or later the people of Ireland were going to get their freedom and the Easter rising was just the first step in a long campaign of both violence and politics that ended in victory.

Why was there a rising in Dublin in 1916?

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