Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Easter Rising in 1916 began a period of conflict and turmoil in Ireland that did not end until 1923, and even then it was not clear for some time that active conflict had ended. The period encompasses the Easter Rising and its immediate aftermath as well as the Irish War for Independence and the Irish Civil War – three discrete, if closely connected, historical events. The roots of the Easter Rising may be said to reach back to the arrival of the Normans in Ireland in 1169. In a real sense, the 1916 Rising and subsequent events are results of the centuries-long domination of the English over Ireland that began when the Normans landed. Pádraig Pearse and other leaders of the Rising certainly saw it that way. More immediately, the complex maneuvering surrounding the Third Home Rule Bill, and the Home Rule issue itself, created the environment for the 1916 Rising. The reunification of the Irish Parliamentary Party under John Redmond and Redmond's alliance with Michael Davitt in 1900 gave the supporters of a constitutional approach to Irish independence the upper hand. When the closeness of the 1910 British general election gave them the balance of power in Parliament, they extracted the Third Home Rule Bill in 1912 as the price of their support of the government. Prior to 1909, the House of Lords, strongly opposed to Home Rule for Ireland, would have been able to block Home Rule. ... log in or subscribe to read full text