So, the promised musings on the Easter Rising. I see it as one big PR screw-up by the British. The British planned on giving the Irish Home Rule (whether that would have turned out as in the North of Ireland is anyone's guess) before WWI broke out. In 1914, the Military Council of the IRB met and decided not to plan a rising unless either England planned on using conscription in Ireland or if, a year after the war, Ireland still did not have home rule. Around Christmastime of 1915, rumors started leaking out that the British government was planning on instituting the draft in Ireland, which caused a lot of resentment. As Peader Kearney wrote,

"'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky
Than at Suvla or Sud el Bar.
(...)
'Twas England bade our wild geese go
That small nations might be free.
But their lonely graves lie by Suvla's waves
On the shores of the grey North Sea."

The IRB began planning the Easter Rising about this time. Guns were to be sent from Germany, and they were to arrive on Good Friday or Holy Saturday. However, they were captured at Tralee, along with Sir Roger Casement who was hanged as a traitor by the British. The Rising had been planned for Easter Sunday but in all the chaos moved to Monday. The Rising was more or less confined to Dublin, though there was a small rebellion in Cork. The Rising went off on Easter Monday, with rebels occupying much of the center of Dublin. One week later, they had been dislodged, with about 1500 total casualties, maybe 500 civilian (caused mainly by British shelling of the city center). During the Rising, the people of Dublin were generally apathetic and even booed Pearse when he read the Poblacht na hEireann from the steps of the GPO on Easter Monday.

The aftermath is what's particularly interesting. About 3000 were arrested, though the Irish Volunteers numbered about 1000 then and the Citizen Army about 250. I have no idea where the other 1750 arrestees came from. 90 of the leaders (and people the British didn't like --see Willie Pearse and John MacBride) were condemned to death and 15 actually shot after closed courts-martial. One, James Connolly, had been shot in the leg and couldn't stand to face the firing squad. So he was tied upright to a chair.

This was a stupid move by the British. I think they probably had to execute Padraic Pearse and Tom Clarke, but not so much for the rest. With almost 2000 prisoners sent to Ireland, a lot of families lost a son (or daughter) who was only peripherally involved in the cause. When the rebels came back, they were able to get a lot more support from the countryside, and only three years later, the War for Irish Independence begins.

The British would probably have lost Ireland eventually as the world changed, but had they not contemplated conscription in Ireland in 1916 and had they realised the public mood in Ireland against the rebels, they could have held on to the island for a little longer. And by turning the "rebels of '16" into martyrs, they did the IRB a great service. When Sinn Fein and the IRB went out to recruit in 1917 and 1918, they were able to enlist far more men than ever before. They also were able to get guns and money from American Irish, who had not necessarily supported the republican movement before 1916.