You’ve viewed the opening scenes of the Liam Neeson/Julia Roberts flick Michael Collins. You're read ol' Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry. And you’ve heard the chick from The Cranberries wail "It’s the same old thing/ Sin-ce 19-16—" What are they talking about?
Back at the start of the century, back in World War I days, Ireland wasn’t a free country. It was a British colony, just like America used to be. But because all the rich English aristocrats owned land here, the Irish weren’t allowed to go free the first score of times they fought for Independence.
On Easter Monday, 1916, a diverse group of rebels and idealists marched the couple hundred yards from Liberty Hall on Eden Quay to the General Post Office on O’Connell Street. After occupying the building, the gathered on the street outside as their leader, Patrick Pearse, read the Proclamation of the Republic, declaring Ireland an independent nation. The numbers of men joining the rebellion grew, and other historic or tactical buildings throughout the city- the Four Courts, Boland’s Mill, City Hall- were seized. The 2500 British troops occupying the city panicked, caught off guard.
World War I was raging on the Continent and on the sea. An exemption from the draft and promise of an eventual say in government had answered ‘The Irish Question’ for the moment, or so the British thought. An uprising was the last thing they expected. And one led by poets of low esteem? Many Irish people could not believe their Rising was sincere, either. Many damned the Rebels for the civic disruption, for setting the Irish ‘Home Rule’ political cause back decades by their violence, and for the betrayal of their sons who were fighting in the trenches of the British army. Others considered it a great excuse to go looting.
The bloody manner in which the Brits crushed the rebellion was the key factor leading to Irish Independence. If you’ve ever been in the GPO, with all its windows and lack of escape routes, it’s immediately clear that the building was not meant for a fortress. And the leaders were school teachers, union leaders, and old men, not terrorists. But the English roped them to posts in Kilmainham Jail and shot them each about eight times, then dumped the bodies in lye. There were many wrathful atrocities done, which do not merit rehashing 80 years on. Sufficient to say that the entire country was outraged, despite apologies issued and prisoners released in 1917. The whole nation joined in a bitter War of Independence, fought from 1919 to 1921 (NOTE TO TOURISTS: Do NOT order a "Black and Tan" in a real Irish pub! Trust me on this one.). Then followed a civil war between those who would compromise with the crown and those who sought complete independence. This civil war was declared over in 1923, though the violence up North suggests not all would agree the whole matter has been completely settled.
It is a fascinating story, the struggle for Independence and the realisation of a centuries-long dream arising from 1916’s ashes. It's also something that's alive, and immediate, in Dublin. My mate June works in the same GPO, these streets where I stride were the very scene of pitched gun battles, ground each inch of which was wrestled over.
I’ve really put it in too small of a nutshell, here. A good starting point, to learn the full story, is between the covers of Peter De Rosa’s book Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916.
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