Easter Rising

In Irish history, a republican insurrection against the British government that began on Easter Monday, April 1916, in Dublin. The rising was organized by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), led by Patrick Pearse, along with sections of the Irish Volunteers and James Connolly's socialist Irish Citizen Army. Although a military failure, it played a central role in shifting nationalist opinion from allegiance to the constitutional Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) to separatist republicanism.

Arms from Germany intended for the IRB were intercepted, but the rising proceeded regardless with the seizure of the Post Office and other buildings in Dublin by 1,500 volunteers. The rebellion was crushed by the British Army within five days, both sides suffering major losses: 250 civilians, 64 rebels, and 132 members of the crown forces were killed and around 2,600 injured. Pearse, Connolly, and about a dozen rebel leaders were subsequently executed in Kilmainham Jail. Others, including the future Taoiseach (prime minister) Éamon de Valera, were spared due to US public opinion, and were given amnesty in June 1917.