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Ireland, the Easter Rising of 1916 and Its Experiment with Radical Republicanism, The Exposition Volume 1 | Issue 2 Article 2 4-29-2013 Baptism by Fire: Ireland, The aE ster Rising of 1916 and Its Experiment with Radical Republicanism Travis K. Becker State University of New York College at Buffalo, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/exposition Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Becker, Travis K. (2013) "Baptism by Fire: Ireland, The Easter Rising of 1916 and Its Experiment with Radical Republicanism," The Exposition: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 2. Available at: http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/exposition/vol1/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History and Social Studies Education at Digital Commons at Buffalo tS ate. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Exposition by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons at Buffalo tS ate. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Becker: Baptism by Fire: Ireland, The Easter Rising of 1916 and Its Expe As the one hundredth anniversary of the Easter Uprising of 1916 rapidly approaches, this defining moment in Irish history will receive renewed scholarly attention. Beginning on the 24 th of April, Irish Volunteers stood up for their right to self-govern and fought to the death to secure sovereignty for the Irish people. With the British Empire embroiled in World War One, it was perhaps the most opportune time to press for their rights, not in the halls of Parliament but on the streets of Dublin. After a botched start and numerous setbacks, the Irish Volunteers faced the daunting task of holding back one of the best militaries in the world. Confronted with an unsupportive populace, lack of a concrete plan and insufficient manpower, the leaders of the Rising were in an unwinnable situation. Six days later, the Rising officially ended with scores dead and many more wounded. British authorities’ draconian retribution measures turned popular opinion from openly hostile toward the rebels into idolizing them as martyrs. The Rising left the streets of Dublin looking like a scene from the battlefields of France—its implications reverberating for many years. Political upheaval resulted in a “changing of the guard” from the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party to the more radical Sinn Féin party which preached the need for Irish sovereignty. Women’s rights were dramatically improved and the electorate in general increased as the right to vote was extended to more people than ever before. The Easter Rising of 1916 led to a revival in Irish Nationalism, changing the very nature of relations between Ireland and Great Britain. The Easter Rising of 1916 was not a spontaneous happening. Measures taken by both English and Irish authorities all but ensured an armed insurrection. Beginning in 1914, Irish nationalists began stockpiling weapons, claiming the need to arm themselves for national defense. London allowed paramilitary groups such as the Irish Volunteers to accumulate arms, except in one instance when civilians protesting the seizure were fired upon by British troops. This bloodletting underscored the problems developing just underneath the surface of Anglo-Irish relations. For many years, Irish Nationalists had fought in Parliament for the right to rule their own land. One popular piece of legislation, the Government of Ireland Act, was considered and ultimately passed. The Government of Ireland Act of 1914—more commonly known as the Home-Rule bill—was enacted by Parliament in 1914, just prior to the outbreak of World War One. The Home-Rule Act granted Ireland the right to establish a legislative body to make domestic decisions; foreign policy decisions as well as ultimate veto power would continue to reside with London. 1 This highly popular piece of legislation, especially 1 Paul Guinn, British Strategy and Politics 1914 to 1918 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), 35-36. Published by Digital Commons at Buffalo State, 2013 1 The Exposition, Vol. 1, Iss. 2 [2013], Art. 2 among Irish Catholics who constituted the majority in the twenty-six southern counties, was postponed due to wartime necessity. 2 John Redmond did perhaps more than the leaders of the Rising to incite armed insurrection against the crown. One thing must be made perfectly clear: John Redmond was unequivocally against the uprising. Redmond was the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), sometimes known as the Irish Nationalist Party. The IPP represented the Irish people in the halls of Parliament; the IPP was the chief supporter and advocate of the Home-Rule movement. When hostilities erupted in Europe in 1914, Redmond, in his infamous “Woodenbridge” speech, pledged support for the war effort in the hopes that doing so would ultimately improve relations between England and Ireland, which might one day lead to a sovereign Ireland. Redmond believed he could speak for the whole of Ireland; he could not have been more incorrect. Back in Ireland, despite war fever gripping the country—as it had done in nearly every belligerent nation—the citizens were split about offering their support to a country which had long been their oppressor. One Dubliner, James Stephens, who would provide a lucid and telling account of the Easter Rising two years later, condemned Redmond for his support of the war effort: On the day of the declaration of war between England and Germany he [Redmond] took the Irish case, weighty with eight centuries of history and tradition, and he threw it out of the window. He pledged Ireland to a particular course of action, and he had no authority to give this pledge…He swore Ireland to loyalty as if he had Ireland in his pocket, and could answer for her. 3 Mr. Stephens even went so far as stating that Redmond was responsible for the whole uprising by pledging Irish support for the war. The decision led to a split in the paramilitary force, the Irish Volunteers, which had long been loyal to Redmond. Approximately 12,000 or six percent of the Volunteers split away and formed their own force, retaining the name Irish Volunteers—the dissenters would form the backbone of the Rising. The forces that remained loyal to the IPP would be forever known as the Irish National Volunteers whose members would go on to serve with distinction in numerous battles throughout the course of the war. 4 Revolutionaries took advantage of the split in the ranks of the Redmond loyalists. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, a longtime champion of Irish nationalism, convened a military council whose leaders included Patrick Pearse 2 David Fitzpatrick, The Two Irelands: 1912-1939 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), preface. 3 James Stephens, Insurrection in Dublin (Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire England: Colin Smythe Ltd., 1978), 74. 4 Terence Denman, Ireland’s Unknown Soldiers: The 16 th (Irish) Division in the Great War 1914- 1918 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1992), 33. http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/exposition/vol1/iss2/2 2 Becker: Baptism by Fire: Ireland, The Easter Rising of 1916 and Its Expe and James Connolly. The council put into motion a plan for a joint insurrection between the Volunteers and forces loyal to Connolly known as the Irish Citizen Army. In an article penned on April 30, 1916, in the New York Times , the day following the suppression of the Rising, the author argues that the Rising occurred at a critical time in Irish history. British military forces, having been deployed overseas fighting in France, were in no position to suppress an uprising in Ireland. 5 The author believed the timing was perfect to press for Irish independence . The feeling that England was vulnerable during wartime was certainly prevalent throughout not only Ireland but also troubled members of Parliament. Mathew Nathan, undersecretary to British Chief Secretary Augustine Birrell, was acutely aware of the fragile political and civil situation in Ireland. Nathans understood that to take action to disarm the Volunteers would result in the “alienation of the great bulk of the Irish People, which was not in [favor] of these people.” 6 While it undoubtedly was a cause of concern for the British government, members of Parliament were not as concerned with the undercurrents in Ireland as they were with the recruitment of the Irish and retaining the loyalty of the IPP. Roger Casement emerged to become a thorn in the side of the British. Sir Roger Casement was formally an official in the British government but his beliefs radicalized upon joining the Gallic League. 7 Casement became intimately involved during the early stages of the Rising when he travelled to Berlin and negotiated a weapons deal with Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1916. According to an article published on May 23, 1916, in the New York Times , the Germans agreed to an invasion of the British mainland to prevent troops from being sent to Ireland. 8 The title of the article—“Sinn Féiners Easy Dupes”— seems appropriate, the rebels were indeed duped. The promise of a massive German landing on the coast of England seems to be highly questionable. Considering the Battle of Jutland was a little over one month away, the notion that a German fleet capable of transporting thousands of infantry and providing them with support would be able to defeat Admiral Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet is highly improbable. The Kaiser did in fact send a submarine, The Aud , filled with weapons to Ireland. Before it could make landfall and deliver its cargo to the Volunteers, a British naval patrol spotted the ship and its captain, Karl Spindler, was forced to scuttle his ship to 5 “Ireland’s Sudden Revolt: Prominent Irish Americans Here Diagnose the Dublin Outbreak and the Causes Leading Up to it,” New York Times (1857-1922), May 23, 1916.
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