THE REASON FOR THE RISING

APART FROM STATING THE OBVIOUS ' THAT IRISH PEOPLE WANTED THEIR OWN COUNTRY AND HAD SUFFERED ENOUGH UNDER BRITISH RULE ' THERE WERE REASONS FOR A RISING TO TAKE PLACE IN 1916. WE JUST HAVE TO JUMP BACK TWO YEARS. 1914. IT WAS IN THIS YEAR THAT A HOME RULE BILL WAS GRANTED. HOME RULE HAD BEEN SOMETHING SOME OF THE GREAT NAMES OF IRISH HISTORY HAD BEEN CHASING FOR YEARS. IN POWER WHEN FIRST SUCH A BILL WAS MENTIONED WAS THE LIBERAL PARTY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF GLADSTONE. HE WAS A MAN THAT HAD A SYMPATHETIC VIEW TOWARDS THE IRISH AND THEIR PLIGHT. HE WAS ALSO A SMART POLITICIAN. A GROUP OF IRISH FORMED THEIR OWN PARTY WITHIN THE COMMONS CALLED ' THE IRISH NATIONALIST PARTY '. THEY WERE LEAD BY CHARLES STEWART PARNELL.( PICTURED BELOW ) MOST OF THE TIME WHEN ANY VOTING WITHIN THE COMMONS WAS A CLOSE RUN THING THE NATIONALIST IRISH PARTY HELD THE KEY TO THE RESULT OF THE VOTE AND COULD STRIKE UP DEALS TO SIDE WITH ONE PARTY OR THE OTHER. GLADSTONE AND HIS APPROACH TOWARDS IRELAND AND ITS PEOPLE MEANT THAT HE WAS FAVOURITE COME MOST VOTES. BACK IN IRELAND AT THIS SAME TIME PEASANTS BEGAN BOYCOTTS AND NO RENT CAMPAIGNS. BUT PARNELL'S GOAL WAS HOME RULE. ( THAT WAS A SELF- GOVERNING IRELAND, NOT AS SUCH FULLY INDEPENDENT OF BRITIAN ) BUT OVERALL LEADERSHIP IN THE COMMONS CHANGED. TWO HOME RULES BILLS HAD BEEN PASSED BY THE BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS. ( 1886 AND 1893 ) BOTH WERE VETOED BY THE HOUSE OF LORDS BY A CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY. IN 1890 THE HOME RULE MOVEMENT WAS WEAKENED, AGAIN BY THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY, WHEN THEY MADE PUBLIC THE AFFAIR BETWEEN CHARLES STEWART PARNELL AND KITTY O'SHEA. IT WAS 1906 WHEN THE LIBERALS RETURNED TO POWER IN BRITIAN. WHEN THE LIBERALS CAME INTO CONFLICT WITH THE HOUSE OF LORDS, THEY BOUGHT IRISH NATIONALIST SUPPORT WITH THE PROMISE OF HOME RULE. ( 1911 ) AS A RESULT OF THE IRISH NATIONALIST'S SUPPORT THE LIBERALS WON THE STRUGGLE AND THE PARLIAMENT ACT OF 1911 BROKE THE POWER OF THE LORDS. THIS ALSO REMOVED THE LAST OBJECT TO HOME RULE. DESPITE OPPOSITION FROM CONSERVATIVES , PROTESTANT PEOPLE OF ULSTER AND SOME MILITARY PEOPLE, A HOME RULE ACT FINALLY BECAME LAW IN 1914.

THE IRISH NATIONALIST PARTY WAS IN 1914 LEAD BY JOHN REDMOND. ( PICTURED BELOW ) PARNELL RESIGNED AS A RESULT OF THE KITTY O'SHEA AFFAIR. BUT DOUBTS BEGAN TO CREEP IN ABOUT BRITISH INTENTIONS WHEN THE HOME RULE BILL WAS SUSPENDED BECAUSE OF THE WAR THAT WAS BREAKING OUT IN EUROPE. THE BILL HAD HAD A FAIR SHARE OF CONTROVERSY FROM 1911 UP UNTIL 1914 AND THIS CONVINCED MANY IMPATIENT IRISHMEN THAT THE BRITISH WOULD NOT CARRY OUT ITS POLICY IN THE FACE OF DETERMINED OPPOSITION. OPPOSING THE HOME RULE BILL MOST OF ALL WAS THE PROTESTANTS OF ULSTER. WHEN IN 1911 A HOME RULE BILL WAS INTRODUCED BY THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, H.H. ASQUIT, ULSTER FOUND A VOICE IN A MAN NAMED EDWARD CARSON, AN MP, A LEADER WHO THREATENED CIVIL WAR AND USED THE SLOGAN ' ULSTER WILL FIGHT AND ULSTER WILL BE RIGHT '. ULSTER FELT THEY WERE ON THEIR OWN. BUT THIS WAS ENCOURAGED BY THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY. THEY PLAYED ON THE FEARS OF THE PROTESTANTS OF ULSTER. BUT THEY NOW WENT FURTHER AND BACKED THE PEOPLE OF ULSTER'S RIGHT TO USE FORCE IN OPPOSING HOME RULE. WHEN CARSON THEN FOUNDED A PARAMILITARY ORGANIZATION, THE ULSTER VOLUNTEERS, CONSERVATIVE MONEY AND ARMS HELPED TO MAKE IT A FORMIDABLE SECTARIAN ARMY.

THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT UNDER ASQUITH DONE NOTHING ABOUT THE NEW VOLUNTEER ARMY OF ULSTER. PLUS HE IGNORED SUPPORT FOR THE ULSTERMEN FROM WITHIN THE BRITISH ARMY. IN MARCH 1914 BRIGADIER-GENERAL HUBERT GOUGH AND FIFTY-SEVEN OF HIS CAVALARY OFFICERS AT THE CURRAGH CAMP ANNOUNCED THAT, IF ORDERED TO TAKE MILITARY ACTION AGAINST ULSTER, THEY WOULD REFUSE. THIS ' MUTINY AT THE CURRAGH ' WENT UNPUNISHED. A MONTH LATER, 20,000 RIFLES AND THREE MILLION ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION FROM GERMANY WERE RUN INTO THE NORTH AND DISTRIBUTED OUT TO THE ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE. AGAIN NOTHING WAS DONE ABOUT THIS.

THE HOME RULE CONTROVERSY AND THE FOUNDING OF THE ULSTER VOLUNTEERS DID HAVE AN EFFECT ON IRISH NATIONALISTS. IN NOVEMBER 1913 THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS CAME INTO EXISTANCE. FOUNDED BY EOIN MACNEILL. ( PICTURED BELOW ) THE VOLUNTEERS BECAME A SELF-DEFENCE FORCE IN REACTION TO THE ULSTER VOLUNTEERS, BUT SOON WOULD BECOME MORE IDENTIFIED WITH REVOLUTIONARY REPUBLICANISM. ( THE IRISH CITIZENS ARMY, WHICH WOULD SOON BECOME THE IRISH VOLUNTEER'S PARTENER IN THE RISING, ORIGINATED FROM A CRISIS OF A DIFFERENT KIND. THE LABOUR DISPUTES OF 1913, DURING WHICH TIME DEMONSTRATORS HAD BEEN BRUTALLY BEATEN BY THE POLICE ) THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS HAD RUN GUNS INTO THE COUNTRY IN 1914. NOT ON THE SAME SCALE AS THE ULSTER VOLUNTEERS. AUTHORITIES TRIED TO STOP THEM BEEN DISTRIBUTED BUT FAILED TO DO SO. THIS AGAIN ANGERED THE NATIONALISTS. THE AUTHORITIES IGNORED GUNS IN THE NORTH AND TRIED TO PREVENT THEM, IN THE SOUTH, FROM HAVING WEAPONS.

THE FIRST WORLD WAR BROKE OUT IN BETWEEN ALL THIS. JOHN REDMOND ENCOURAGED IRISH PEOPLE TO FIGHT FOR THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE WAR. HIS THINKING WAS THAT IF IT WAS SEEN THAT IRISH PEOPLE WERE SHOWING LOYALITY TO THE CROWN THAT IT WOULD ALL BUT ASSURE HOME RULE FOR A UNITED IRELAND. THE WAR BROUGHT JOBS AND FAMILIES DID GET BENEFITS AFFORDED TO WIVES WHOS HUSBANDS WENT AWAY TO FIGHT. TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE EASTER RISING THE DIRECTOR OF MILITARY INTELLIGENCE IN IRELAND SENT A REPORT STATING ' THE MASS OF THE PEOPLE ARE SOUND AND LOYAL AS REGARDS THE WAR, AND THE COUNTRY IS IN A PROSPEROUS STATE '.

THE ATTITUDE OF THE IRISH PEOPLE WAS ALSO RECOGNIZED BY EOIN MACNEILL. FOR ANY KIND OF REVOLUTION TO STAND A CHANCE THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY NEEDED NOT TO BE IN A HAPPY FRAME OF MIND WITH THE CROWN / BRITISH. THERE HAD TO BE TOTAL WIDESPREAD DISCONTENT. SO A SPLIT IN THE REPUBLICAN'S OPINIONS BEGAN. THOSE WHO THOUGHT A RISING WAS NOT THE RIGHT IDEA. AND THOSE FOR THE RISING. COMING INTO FOLD NOW WERE MEMBERS OF THE IRB ( IRISH REPUBLICAN BROTHERHOOD ). MEN LIKE MACDERMOTT, PEARSE, CLARKE AND PLUNKETT. THEY HAD ALWAYS BEEN AROUND. BUT EXERCISED A SORT OF UNSEEN INFLUENCE WITHIN MOST NATIONALIST ORGANIZATIONS. THE IRB BELIEVED THE BRITISH WOULD SOON START TO ARREST ALL NATIONALIST LEADERS. HENCE THEY THOUGHT IT RIGHT TO LAUNCH A RISING BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE. AT THE SAME TIME THERE WAS A LOT OF TAUNTING GOING ON BY JAMES CONNOLLY DIRECTED TOWARDS THE VOLUNTEERS AND THEIR INACTIVITY. HE THREATENED TO LEAD HIS OWN CITIZENS ARMY INTO ACTION WITHOUT THE OTHER VOLUNTEERS.

CONSEQUENTLY, PEARSE AND THE IRB FACTION MADE UP THEIR MINDS TO EXPLOIT IN FULL THE MANOEUVRES OF THE VOLUNTEERS SCHEDULED FOR EASTER SUNDAY, 1916, USING THE OCCASION TO START AN INSURRECTION, WITH OR WITHOUT MACNEILLS CONSENT. THUS WE HAD THE RISING OF EASTER MONDAY 1916.