Irish Easter Rising. Easter Rising: A Bloody Road to Freedom Easter Rising 1916

On Easter Sunday, March 27, a solemn ceremony was held in the center of Dublin, in which, according to TASS, about 800,000 people took part.

Commemorative events began with a moment of silence, which was attended by President Michael Higgins (Michael D. Higgins) and Acting Prime Minister Enda Kenny (Enda Kenny). In keeping with tradition, a military band played the Irish national anthem, and Air Force units made demonstration flights over downtown Dublin.

Memorial celebrations commemorate the uprising, which in April 1916 was organized by supporters of the independence of Ireland.
The uprising began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916 (hence its name), and lasted six days. The main organizers were members of the military council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) - a secret organization that operated from 1854 to 1922. The purpose of the brotherhood was to create an independent democratic republic in Ireland.

Members of the Irish Volunteers, James Connolly's Irish Citizens' Army and some other groups joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

Dublin became the center of the uprising.

Rebellion against England with the help of Germany

Preparations for the uprising lasted 2 years. Immediately after the entry of Great Britain into the First world war In the autumn of 1914, the leadership of the Irish Republican Brotherhood decided to organize an uprising before the end of the war, and to accept from Germany any help that she could offer.

The leadership of the republican forces entered into secret negotiations with the emissaries of Berlin.

The uprising was led by Patrick Henry Pearse - Irish poet, writer, teacher, lawyer, revolutionary and politician, Joseph Mary Plunkett - poet, journalist and revolutionary, Thomas McDonagh - Irish poet, playwright, educator and revolutionary, Irish Republican Eamon Kent (Edward Thomas Kent), James Connolly (James Connolly) - Irish socialist, one of the prominent Marxist theorists of his time, and several other revolutionaries.

In January 1916, political leaders decided to raise an uprising on Easter Day, April 24th.

In April 1916, British counterintelligence intercepted radio communications between Germany and the German embassy in the United States; thus, information about the impending armed uprising became known to the authorities. However, due to the inconsistency of the actions of British politicians, no serious measures were taken to prevent the uprising, and after the speech of the Republicans on April 24, the British armed forces and police were completely unprepared for the uprising.

Easter 1916 in Dublin

In the early hours of 24 April 1916, approximately 1,200 members of the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizens Army took up positions in downtown Dublin. About 400 people gathered at Liberty Hall under the command of James Connolly. The headquarters of the rebels was located in the office of the Main Post Office.

In addition, the rebel forces occupied several other buildings in the city. Meanwhile, despite weak security, the rebels failed to capture Dublin Castle, the center of British administration in Ireland.

In the first hours, the rebels did not meet serious resistance from the British police and army. However, after the Irish governor Lord Wimborne declared martial law in the country on Tuesday, the situation changed radically.

Since the rebels failed to capture either the stations or the ports, then during the week the British military command, to which all powers of authority were transferred during the period of martial law, was able to pull up reinforcements from Belfast and Curragh to Dublin. By the end of the week, the British garrison in Ireland's capital had 16,000 soldiers, supported by artillery.

Street fighting continued for several days. At the same time, the British practically did not try to storm the Main Post Office, limiting themselves to shelling the headquarters of the rebels. After several days of shelling, a fire broke out, the Republicans were forced to leave the building.

Defeat

April 29, Saturday, realizing that further resistance would entail more great sacrifices among the civilian population, Patrick Pierce issued an order for all units to surrender.

“In order to prevent further killings of the citizens of Dublin and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, now hopelessly surrounded by troops superior in numbers, the members of the Provisional Government agree to unconditional surrender. Commanders in other districts of Dublin and counties must order their troops to lay down their arms, ”the document read.

British Army Brigadier General William Lowe accepted Pierce's unconditional surrender.

Despite this, until Sunday, April 30, separate pockets of resistance remained in Dublin, which were soon crushed.
According to the British army, military losses amounted to 116 people killed and 368 wounded. Nine other people are missing. 16 policemen were killed and 29 wounded. 318 rebels and civilians were killed and 2,217 wounded. Volunteers and the IGA recorded that 64 people were killed during the fighting, the rest of the victims among the Irish were noted without division into rebels and civilians. All the police officers killed were Irish, among the soldiers killed by the Irish were 22 people. The soldiers, for whose bodies none of the relatives came, were buried in the Grengegorman military cemetery.

In order to prevent further killings of the citizens of Dublin, and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, now hopelessly surrounded by outnumbered troops, the members of the Provisional Government agree to unconditional surrender. Commanders in other Dublin districts and counties must order their troops to lay down their arms.

From Patrick Pierce's unconditional surrender order, April 29, 1916 Most of the victims, killed and wounded, were civilians. Both sides were involved in the killing of civilians: when they refused to obey orders, both the rebels and the British opened fire to kill. More civilian casualties were caused by British artillery fire and shell fragments. According to one Irish policeman, "the British saw the enemy in everyone and shot at everything that moved."

The uprising, according to contemporaries, did not find support among the population. The vast majority of the townspeople were not ready for it and did not understand which side to take. In some parts of the city, the rebels faced open hostility.
After the death of the first victims among the civilian population and the destruction of civilian houses as a result of shelling, the attitude towards the rebels worsened even more.

After the suppression of the uprising in Dublin, the command of the British units passed from W. Low to General John Maxwell.

By order of General Maxwell, a total of 3,430 men and 79 women were arrested, but most of them were soon released.

The military tribunal that began on May 2, 1916 sentenced 90 people to death. Maxwell approved this sentence for fifteen of them, including the seven leaders of the uprising. From the third to the twelfth of May, all the condemned were shot in the courtyard of the Kilmenham prison.

Photo: William Murphy (CC by-sa 2.0)
Memory of the Easter Rising of 1916

Subsequently, the graves of the executed, located in the courtyard of the former Arbor Hill military prison in Dublin, were declared a national monument, and the text of the Republican Proclamation declaring the independence of Ireland was memorized by children in schools.

To commemorate the Easter Rising in Dublin, a commemorative parade is held every year on Easter Sunday. In 1966, RTE produced a series of programs dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising.

However, already in the 1970s, against the backdrop of escalating tensions in Northern Ireland, the government canceled the annual parades in Dublin, and in 1976 completely banned the anniversary ceremony organized by the nationalist Sinn Féin party near the General Post Office building.

With the start of peace negotiations in the 1990s, the official view of the uprising began to change again, this time in positive side. In 1996, the Prime Minister of Ireland attended the anniversary ceremony in Dublin, and in 2006 the government resumed military parades on Easter Sunday to commemorate the uprising.

In December 2014, Dublin City Council approved a proposal to create a historic route through the sites of the main events of the 1916 Easter Rising. The green-painted route will cover historical sites associated with the uprising, such as the Central Post Office and the buildings of the four courts occupied by the rebels in April 1916.

Exactly one hundred years ago, on April 24, 1916, an uprising broke out in Irish Dublin against Great Britain, which had been carrying out a colonial policy on the Green Island for many centuries. These events determined the fate of both Ireland and Britain as a whole for almost a century ahead. What preceded the Easter Rising and what results did it lead to?

A struggle spanning the ages

The British established their power over Ireland (at least over part of it) back in the 12th century. In the next few centuries, the colonization of Irish lands intensified. In the 17th century, during the English Civil War, Irish Catholics supported the English royalists, who eventually lost to the "iron-sided" Protestants led by Oliver Cromwell. It is not surprising that after the final victory in the civil war, Cromwell came to the neighboring island to suppress resistance and take revenge. His troops marched on the "Green Island" literally with fire and sword - according to various estimates, in that war Ireland lost from 15% to 80% of the population.

It is not surprising that Cromwell is still hated in Ireland, and the integration of Irish Catholics into English Protestant society did not work out in the following centuries. New anti-English uprisings, led by revolutionary organizations, broke out regularly. The 19th century was the heyday of the Fenian movement - the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, founded in the USA in 1858 on St. Patrick's Day. The brotherhood's hand even reached out to British military units in Canada, which suffered from time to time from attacks by the Fenians.

The main method of fighting the Fenians against the British in the second half of the 19th century was terrorist acts. In 1867, while trying to free comrades from a London prison, the Fenians blew up from 90 to 250 kg of gunpowder. The explosion, which was heard for 40 miles, demolished a section of the wall in the prison, but the guards warned in advance took the prisoners for a walk earlier than expected - and no one escaped. In the surrounding houses, damaged by the blast, 12 Londoners died, and even more (up to 120) were injured. Since 1883, charges of dynamite have exploded at London Underground stations - fortunately, usually without casualties. And on May 31, 1884, even the building of the Department of Criminal Investigations - the legendary Scotland Yard - flew into the air. Dynamite was planted in the restroom, hoping to destroy the archives of the police, and at the same time the head of the Special Irish Department, Inspector Littlechild, the worst enemy of the freedom fighters of Ireland. However, again, by a happy coincidence for the British, there were no casualties.

Scotland Yard after the explosion
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By the beginning of the 20th century, the question of home rule (home rule, self-government) in Ireland arose with an edge. Since 1800, Ireland has been governed by laws passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1867, even Canada became a dominion - and Ireland was still entirely dependent on London. Liberal leaders such as William Gladstone tried more than once to appease the discontented by passing a Home Rule Bill, but they lacked the votes. In 1912, the government of Henry Asquith made another attempt to introduce a bill - but the House of Lords, for obvious reasons, again blocked it, although it could no longer completely stop the progress of the bill.

Meanwhile, the confrontation between Protestants and Catholics was unfolding in Ireland itself. In Ulster, in the north of the island, Unionist Protestants (supporters of unity with Britain), not wanting to submit to the Catholic majority in the near future, in 1913 created their own armed forces rapidly growing to tens of thousands of people. The Catholics did not stand aside - this is how the Irish Volunteers appeared. Both of them actively bought weapons in Germany with donations (!). The Unionists were more successful in this, bringing tens of thousands of rifles and millions of cartridges to Ulster under cover of night. The paradox is that the Unionists, loyal to London, with British officers at the head, seriously threatened their own government with an uprising.

rebels
independent.co.uk

It seemed that things were rapidly moving towards civil war in Ireland. Almost all Irish and British people were so focused on the problem of Home Rule that they did not notice the crises in the rest of the world. But then a world war broke out - and for some time all parties were occupied with the events that had fallen on their heads, as well as with a further choice.

Great War Adjustments

Irish men faced a difficult choice: fight and die "for king and country" (i.e. the United Kingdom) or continue to fight for the freedom of their own country - Ireland? During the first six months of the war, about 50,000 Irish chose the first path, volunteering for the front. The Irish Division fought with honor at Gallipoli.

However, another part of the Irish sought to defend Ireland - but not to help England against some distant enemy, to which the Irish had not the slightest claim. And if the position of the Unionists was predictable, then the volunteer movement split. A minority demanded an immediate transfer of power into the hands of the Irish government, but the vast majority decided that there was no need to advocate arbitrariness in the current conditions. The Home Rule Bill, although passed in September 1914, was delayed until the end of the war.

Leaders of the rebellion http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

By the end of 1915, the threat of conscription hung over rural Ireland: a worldwide carnage demanded more and more more people. The Pope called his flock to peace - and Bishop Dwyer openly asked why the peasants of Connaught (the poorest Irish province) should die for Kosovo. The fact that the sons of wealthy Protestants had not yet been called up added fuel to the fire. Meanwhile, 10,000 scattered in the country of the royal Irish constables, "the eyes and ears of Dublin Castle" (where the British administration was located), recruited not in Ireland, looked like a real occupying army. Part of the Irish revolutionaries hoped for help from Germany, but the Germans, expressing support in words, were in no hurry to recognize the Irish as a true ally.

The uprising begins

Gradually, in the ranks of the fighters for the freedom of Ireland, the idea of \u200b\u200bcapturing and holding key buildings in the center of Dublin ripened - so that it would be possible, relying on the fact of owning the heart of the country, to proclaim its independence. And a few days later - with fighting to retreat from the city, if necessary. However, Dublin was bisected by the full-flowing River Liffey, which made it difficult to defend buildings on both the south and north banks at the same time.

Leadership in the Irish uprising was taken by James Connolly, a prominent socialist and head of a small Irish civilian army. Having studied the experience of his predecessors - fighters on the barricades of Paris in the 19th century and Moscow in 1905 - he decided that motivated "civilian revolutionaries" in urban battles could defeat regular troops. The streets seemed to him like mountain passes, easy to defend. However, Connolly lost sight of the fact that there are many more streets in the city. However, part of the Irish hoped that the British, shackled by the war, simply could not provide enough troops. The revolutionaries disguised their attack as the maneuvers of volunteers.

From the very beginning of things a The rebels did not go according to plan. The German transport with weapons, which the organizers of the uprising hoped for, was intercepted by two British sloops and driven into the harbor of Cork. Meanwhile, documents about the planned British preemptive strike leaked from Dublin Castle. The leaders of the Irish organizations were to be arrested, the most important buildings in the city were to be occupied by army patrols, and the inhabitants of Dublin were to be locked in their homes "until further notice." These documents hit the newspapers the very next day - and caused a long-awaited outburst of indignation for the revolutionaries.

However, the conspirators, seeking to coordinate the actions of the detachments inside and outside Dublin, issued two orders at once. The first order canceled on Sunday, April 23, all parades and processions in Dublin, the second - scheduled the start of the operation for Monday noon. As a result, chaos reigned on the ground, and Easter Sunday, according to the descriptions of eyewitnesses, was a day of sad inaction, despite the readiness of many fighters.

The next day, mixed groups of volunteers, often not fully armed and unaware of what lay ahead of them, nevertheless occupied some of their intended targets. The rebel weapons were a real zoo - from modern 7.7- and 9-mm rifles to Mausers of the 1871 model and single-shot Martini carbines, not counting revolvers and pistols.

Dublin Post Office after the fighting http://www.irishtimes.com/

The rebels began by seizing administrative buildings. About 400 fighters ended up in the Dublin Main Post Office and on the street next to it, another 120 - in the building of four courts. The Bank of Ireland and a number of other premises were also taken. Since the post office was clearly visible from afar, two flags of the new republic were hung on it: a green-white-orange tricolor and a flag with the traditional golden harp of Ireland on a green field. For the first time in 700 years, the flag of a free Ireland flew over Dublin. There, at the post office, Patrick Pierce, one of the leaders of the rebels, proclaimed the independence of the republic and the creation of the Provisional Government.

Meanwhile, around noon, 30 rebels attacked Dublin Castle. Having shot an unarmed policeman - the only one who stood guard over the castle, the fighters threw a grenade at half a dozen calmly eating soldiers. Although it did not explode, the defenders, led by Major Price, prudently retreated. The attackers did the same.

"Thin Red Line" shows the cordons of the British. The thick line is a "wedge" strike that cut the rebel positions (red circles) in two

Perhaps the rebels expected an immediate and tough British response - therefore, in some cases they behaved too cautiously. But, ironically, by Monday afternoon, the Crown forces had only 400 soldiers immediately ready - out of more than 2,000. However, the British soon set off in shock. Martial law was introduced in Dublin for the first time since the 18th century. According to this law, any man caught in the house from which the fire was fired could be considered a rebel. And three captured under a hot hand were really shot.

By railway soldiers were arriving for the British, plus a few 18-pounder guns and machine guns. And already on Wednesday an infantry brigade sent from England arrived. Now the superiority of the British in forces was overwhelming.

However, on the Northumberland Road, the battalion, marching in a column of four, with officers in front, came under fire from a small group of rebels - and the soldiers, having lost officers, huddled in a motionless target. Only a few hours later, with the arrival of fresh reinforcements, the British were able to advance further. A frontal attack on Mount Street also led to heavy losses - over 200 soldiers and officers killed and wounded. The soldiers did not take Lewis machine guns with them, so for a long time they could not realize the advantage in firepower. But the rebels also made a mistake, for some reason they did not send reinforcements to their advanced posts.

An improvised armored car based on a boiler and a truck chassis from the Guinness brewery
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Then the British still tried to push the machine guns forward - but failed. But they exhausted the rebels with round-the-clock sniper fire and improvised armored cars rolling back and forth. Hopes that the British would not destroy their own property did not come true. Instead of bayonet attacks, which the defenders expected, the British slowly squeezed the ring around the buildings captured by the Irish, "flooding" them with machine gun and cannon fire. Sometimes there were violent hand-to-hand fights. King Street was so well fortified that the British, even with the help of armored cars, had to make their way step by step, in the end - fighting inside the buildings.

Defeat equals victory

On April 29, the rebels decided to lay down their arms. Eamon de Valera, commander of the 3rd Battalion of Volunteers, was one of the last to surrender - and turned out to be the only notable rebel commander who was not executed. 16 leaders of the uprising were shot.

Dublin street after the uprising
www.rte.ie

The British lost 17 officers and 86 lower ranks killed, 46 officers and 311 lower ranks wounded, 9 people were missing. The losses of the rebels were about half that. During the same week of fighting, one division on the Western Front lost over 500 people only killed. Most civilians died - about 260. 3430 Irish were arrested, but almost half were soon released.

The Easter Rising became a watershed in relations between Ireland and Britain. The Commission of Inquiry stated that the administration of Ireland was "abnormal in quiet times and nearly inoperable in times of crisis". It became clear that it was impossible to live like this any longer - but the building of the British Empire had already cracked, and during the war they did not have time to repair it. Or they couldn't. De Valera in 1921 was elected president of the Irish Free State (Dominion of Britain). In 1959 (!) he was again elected president. One of the participants in the distant uprising remained in office until 1973 - unexpectedly becoming the oldest head of state in the world.

Sources and literature:

http://irishmedals.org/
http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/
http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/
http://www.paulobrienauthor.ie/
Bonner, David. Executive Measures, Terrorism and National Security: Have the Rules of the Game Changed? Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007.
Emancipation, Famine & Religion: Ireland under the Union, 1815–1870. http://multitext.ucc.ie/
Townshend Charles. Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion. Penguin UK, 2015.
Chernov Svetozar. Baker Street and environs. Forum, 2007

The results of 1915 on the fronts of the First World War for the Entente, and in particular for Britain, could not even be called comforting.

The new year didn't get off to a good start. On the ninth of January, the evacuation of the last military units from the Gallipoli peninsula was completed: the operation, which cost Britain almost one hundred and twenty thousand losses in killed, wounded and missing, ended in nothing. In Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), a detachment under the command of Fenton Aimler, who was going to help General Charles Townsend, besieged in the city of Kut el-Amara, was defeated and was forced to retreat. Left without help and supplies, Townsend's corps was starving, and things were going to surrender, which followed on April 29: we note, looking ahead, that on the same day the leader of the Easter Rising, Patrick Henry Pierce, ordered the rebels to capitulate.

On the Western Front, from the end of February, the German offensive near Verdun began, which grew into one of the largest battles of the First World War.

In the Atlantic, the submarine war continued, which posed a serious threat to maritime communications. Only on April 18, the ultimatum of Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, soon accepted by Germany, gave almost a year's respite to the merchant ships of the Allies.

However, in the empire itself, things were quite calm. The only Boer rebellion in a year and a half happened in the distant South Africa, did not receive much support from the local population and was suppressed to a large extent by the Boers themselves, many of whom fought against British troops not so long ago.

And here is some unexpected news. Riot. Armed performances are not somewhere in the colonies, but in the Kingdom itself. Rebels control Dublin and declare independence. There is information about their support from Germany.

British soldiers behind a barrel barricade

To begin with, this news could come as a surprise only to a very unenlightened eye.

Relations between Ireland and Britain go back many centuries, and for the vast majority of that time they were far from cloudless. Back in 1171, the Lordship of Ireland was formed, occupying a relatively small part of the island, but claiming the whole. The Lord of Ireland turned out to be, as you might guess, the English king. And already in 1315, a serious attempt was made to get rid of English power in alliance with the Scots, which ended in 1318 with a defeat in the battle of the Foghart Hills.

In 1541, instead of a lordship, the kingdom of Ireland was proclaimed. The English king becomes the king of Ireland again. At the same time, the Reformation was taking place in England, adding religious overtones to national strife. The Irish, unlike the British, remain Catholics.

In 1641, there is a major uprising that lasted almost nine years and was finally crushed by Oliver Cromwell with his usual cruelty. The population of the island has almost halved in ten years, and most of the land ownership is transferred to the Protestant colonists arriving on the island.

A century and a half later, in 1798, the next major uprising takes place, also suppressed by English forces. Two years after the suppression of the uprising, the English Parliament passes an act of union. The Kingdom of Ireland becomes part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The King of the United Kingdom, of course, remains the King of England. Despite the proud name, Ireland was in fact a colony, its parliament was abolished, its resources were exported to the mother country with completely insufficient compensation. From that moment on, emigration became a noticeable phenomenon, which lasted more than a century and a half.

In 1845, an epidemic of blight caused a famine in Ireland that lasted four years. The British government tried to take measures against the famine, but they, as often happens, were both insufficient and too late. Epidemics of typhus and cholera were added to the famine, emigration increased tenfold. It is believed that during the famine, Ireland lost more than one and a half million people. It is noteworthy that all this time Ireland remained a food exporter, and meat exports even increased.

After the famine, emigration continued, albeit on a smaller scale, and Ireland's population continued to decline. If in 1841 there were 8.178 million people living in Ireland, then in 1901 the census showed only 4.459 million. But in other countries, primarily in the USA, the Irish diaspora expanded and grew stronger, while maintaining numerous ties with their homeland. And if in Ireland itself the ideas of independence covered fairly wide circles of the population, they were no less popular abroad: emigrants and their direct descendants were not going to forget why and to whom they ended up overseas. Numerous organizations were created with the goal of supporting the independence movement or even direct action against the British authorities. The most famous was the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood (IRB), which raised several uprisings in 1867 and, after their defeat, switched to terrorist practice. Its members adopted the name of the Fenians in honor of the characters of ancient Celtic legends. In Ireland itself, there were both cultural nationalist organizations, such as the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association, and armed groups created under the slogans of "ensuring the safety and support of the rights of the people of Ireland": "Irish Volunteers", "Irish Citizen Army" and others. It is believed that they were the direct predecessors of the infamous "Irish Republican Army".

The political struggle did not stop: supporters of independence tried to achieve the adoption of the bill on home rule (self-government, "home rule") in the English Parliament, but the law was twice failed, and the third consideration was postponed due to the outbreak of war.

With such ambiguous historical baggage, Ireland as part of the United Kingdom entered the First World War.

Immediately after the start of the war, the IRB council decided that the time had come. It was decided to raise an uprising in any case until the end of the war and in doing so use any help Germany would agree to provide. The preparation is entrusted to Thomas James Clark, a former member of the Fenian brotherhood, who spent fifteen years in prison for the attempted bombing of London Bridge in 1883, and Sean McDermott, an active nationalist, newspaper editor " Irish freedom". A retired British diplomat Roger Casement is sent to Germany in a roundabout way through Norway and conducts a series of negotiations about supporting the upcoming uprising with weapons and military specialists.

In the meantime, immediately after the start of the war, the Irish Volunteers, the main fighting force of the proposed rebellion, disagreed. Most came out in support of Britain until the end of the war, and many went to the front. A smaller part remained true to the idea of rebellion at the first convenient moment and began to actively prepare.

Rebel banner

The headquarters of the alleged uprising were:

Patrick Henry Pierce, poet and playwright, member of the IRB and the Gaelic League;
Joseph Mary Plunkett, poet and journalist, one of the founders of the Irish Esperanto League;
Thomas McDonagh, poet, playwright and educator, founder of the Irish Review (Irish Review) and one of the founders of the Irish Theater on Hardwick Street.

Somewhat later, Eamon Kent, an Irish teacher and founder of the Dublin Bagpipe Club, joined.

It was these people, as well as Thomas Clarke, Sean McDermott and the leader of the Irish Citizens' Army, James Connolly, a labor activist and theorist of Marxism, who signed the Proclamation establishing the Irish Republic, the text of which was read to the volunteers on April 24 at the beginning of the uprising.

Proclamation establishing the Republic of Ireland

The preparations for the uprising were not thorough or logical. Among the Irish leaders there was no unity on most issues: when to revolt, under what conditions to revolt, not to mention whether it is necessary to revolt at all. There were not enough weapons. There was a shortage, and this is putting it mildly, of military specialists. Many men capable of bearing arms were quite far from Ireland: in the trenches on the Continent. As the target date, April 23, approached, there was no clarity. Casement managed to knock out a transport of weapons from the German government: 20,000 rifles, ten machine guns and a million rounds of ammunition were sent on the Liebau, disguised as the Norwegian ship Aud Norge. On April 20, the ship arrived at Tralee Bay in County Kerry in the southwest of Ireland and did not find anyone there who could receive the cargo, since the date of the meeting of the ship was postponed by two days, unfortunately, without finding a way to notify the ship about this. On April 21, the ship was discovered by the patrol ship Bluebell, escorted to the port of Cork in the county of the same name (according to other sources, to Queenstown, present-day Cove) and scuttled there by the crew. It is curious that the rifles that made up the cargo of the ship were Russian three-rulers captured by Germany near Tannenberg. Now examples of these rifles can be seen in several British and Irish museums.

HMS Bluebell, the minesweeper that held up the Liebau transport carrying weapons for the insurgents

Roger Casement himself arrived in Ireland on the German submarine U-19 on April 21 and, unable to go anywhere due to illness, was arrested almost on the same day on charges of treason, espionage and sabotage.

The founder and formal leader of the Irish Volunteers, historian Eon MacNeil, believed that in order to succeed, it was necessary to first enlist mass popular support. But the headquarters of the uprising simply put him before the fact. Within a week, McNeil changed his attitude to the uprising twice, and in the end, having learned about the seizure of a transport with weapons, he issued an order to the Irish Volunteers: all events scheduled for Sunday, April 23, are canceled, everyone must stay at home. This order, however, did not cancel the uprising, which turned out to be postponed to Monday, but the volunteers were pretty confused, as a result of which the overwhelming majority of them did not take part in the uprising.

On the morning of April 24, in the center of Dublin, about one thousand six hundred armed people began to occupy key points in the city. The post office fell first. A green banner was raised over the post office, the Proclamation on the Establishment of the Irish Republic was read out and the headquarters of the uprising was organized in it. In addition to the post office, the building of the Four Courts was occupied - the seat of the Supreme Court itself, the High Court, the Dublin District and the Central Criminal Courts; a biscuit factory, Dublin City Hall, a shelter for the poor, Boland's Mill and St. Stephen's Green City Park. An attempt to take Dublin Castle and Trinity College failed, despite, as they say, extremely weak security. On Monday, the first skirmishes with British troops took place: it seems that the British could not realize that the rebels were serious, and suffered losses, simply coming under fire while trying to understand what was happening.

Volunteers at the post office

It should be noted that, despite the information available to the authorities about the preparation of the uprising, about the seizure of a transport with weapons, the arrest of Casement, all these rather formidable signs were not taken seriously so much that on the day the uprising began, most of the officers went to the races, and some of the soldiers left the barracks for country exercises without taking ammunition.

On Monday, three policemen were killed, as well as several civilians who tried to stop the rebels.

Martial law has been declared in Ireland since Tuesday. Brigadier General William Low, arriving in Dublin on Tuesday morning with a detachment of 1269 people, recaptured the city hall building. Troops and artillery were drawn up to the city, the Helga ship, a fishing boat converted into a patrol boat and armed with two three-inch guns, approached the Liffey River. On the morning of Wednesday, April 26, artillery shelling of the main positions of the rebels and attempts to storm positions in the area of Mount Street, a shelter for the poor and Notre King Street near the Four Courts began. All of them were repulsed by the rebels with great tenacity and casualties on the part of the British troops.

Field kitchen of the rebels. At the cauldron is Countess Markevich, the leader of the Women's League. Sentenced to life imprisonment

The blockade of the city and artillery shelling forced the leadership of the uprising to admit the hopelessness of their situation. On Saturday afternoon, Patrick Pierce signed the instrument of surrender accepted by Brigadier General Lowe. The following is the text of the document: “In order to prevent further killings of the citizens of Dublin and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, now hopelessly surrounded by troops superior in numbers, the members of the Provisional Government agree to unconditional surrender. Commanders in other Dublin districts and counties are to order their troops to lay down their arms."

Destruction in the post office building after artillery shelling

Outside Dublin, most sections of the Irish Volunteers obeyed McNeil's orders and did not participate in the demonstrations. There were some disturbances in several places; in Ashbourne (County Meath), police barracks and two villages were captured, after which the rebels camped and remained until the surrender.

The loss of the British troops amounted to 116 people killed and 368 wounded, nine people were missing. Sixteen policemen died, twenty-nine were injured. Insurgents and civilians, for the most part, they were not separated from each other when counting, 18 people were killed and 2217 were injured. Most of these losses are attributed post factum to civilians.

After the surrender, as expected, followed by trials and executions. From the third to the twelfth of May, 15 people were shot, among whom were all seven signers of the Proclamation. About 1,500 people were sent to camps in England and Wales. On August 3, Roger Casement was hanged at Pentonville Prison, despite the intercession of a number of cultural figures, including Conan Doyle and Bernard Shaw.

Despite the fact that at first the Dubliners, on the whole, reacted rather coolly to the rebels, over time, and largely under the impression of repression, their opinion changed. And if the captured rebels, the Dubliners saw off curses: which is actually quite understandable, they staged an uprising in the middle of a war in which, by the way, their fellow citizens are fighting; they killed a bunch of people, smashed half the city - then after a few months the general mood turned out to be more on the side of the rebels.

A number of unpopular measures taken by the British authorities, in particular an attempt to introduce a conscription service in Ireland, which led to the so-called conscription crisis of 1918, aggravated the situation, and on January 21, 1919, 73 Irish MPs of the English parliament declared themselves an Irish parliament, and Ireland an independent republic. The Irish War of Independence began, during which it was possible to achieve a significant part of the goals proclaimed by the leaders of the Easter Rising.

Now the day of the beginning of the uprising is considered a national holiday in Ireland; annual solemn ceremonies and military parades are held in Dublin. The ceremonies are attended by officials, including the president and prime minister.

The Easter Rising (Irl. Éirí Amach na Cásca, Eng. Easter Rising) is an uprising raised by the leaders of the Irish independence movement on Easter 1916 (from April 24 to 30), during the First World War.

The main events (the capture and defense of a number of key buildings) took place in Dublin, there were also skirmishes of a smaller scale in other counties. The uprising was quickly defeated, as the organizers counted too much on the secret help of Germany. A German naval transport with weapons for the rebels was intercepted by the British fleet, and Sir Casement, hurrying to Dublin to report the interception of transport and postpone the uprising, was captured by the British secret service. Not having received the promised weapons, the most active part of the conspirators, in spite of everything, bravely began an armed uprising. (Subsequently, the fighters for the independence of Ireland took into account this negative experience and counted more on their own strength than on overseas assistance, which during the war years suggested betrayal, and not patriotism.) The teacher and poet who proclaimed himself in Dublin the head of the Irish state, the leader of the "Irish Volunteers ”Patrick Pierce was captured and shot (May 3) by the verdict of the tribunal, like his brother William and 14 other leaders of the uprising (who adhered to the left views of the commander of the Civil Army, James Connolly, McBride, McDonagh, etc.). Sir Roger Casement was stripped of his knighthood and hanged for treason in London.

But the struggle for freedom and independence from Britain did not stop. If at the beginning of the uprising, a significant majority of the Irish did not support the rebels and considered them traitors, then the courageous resistance, and then the quick execution of the leaders of the uprising, contributed to the fact that they and their followers began to be considered martyrs and attracted the sympathy of a significant part of society.

In September 1919, the British Cabinet decided to consider a proposal whereby Ireland might have its own king, provided that he should be a member of the British royal family. This proposal was originally put forward by Walter Long in 1918. Further tension in Anglo-Irish relations led to the Irish Civil War of 1922-1923, which led to the division of Ireland and the declaration of independence of the 26 southern counties of the island.

Easter Rising (Irl. Éirí Amach na Cásca, English Easter Rising) - an uprising raised by the leaders of the Irish independence movement on Easter 1916 (from 24 to 30 April), during the First World War.
Throughout the centuries of British dominance in Ireland, the Irish liberation movement was built on the basic principle that the agony of Britain is a chance for Ireland. With the entry of Britain into the First World War, a split began in the IRB. Some felt that the moment had come for a new uprising: the empire was stuck in the worst war in the history of mankind for a long time, millions had already died, millions were yet to die in this bloody massacre, the economic situation was rapidly deteriorating, and confidence in the government was also rapidly falling, throughout In Ireland, one after another, new and new recruiting sets are passing, which by no means add to the popularity of the authorities. From the point of view of others, on the contrary, the country was not ready for an uprising, too many Irish went to fight in France, and in relation to them it would be a kind of betrayal ...
Proclamation for the beginning of the Easter Rising

The goal was to declare the independence of Ireland from Britain. Some of the leaders of the uprising also wanted to place Joachim, Prince of Prussia, a representative of the German Empire at war with the British, on the royal throne of Ireland, although in the end the Irish Republic was proclaimed by the rebels. At the same time, one of the leaders of the uprising, Sir Roger Casement, maintained contacts with the German government and counted on the military support of the Central Powers, as well as the help of the Irish in German captivity.
Irish rebel leaders

Among the opponents of the uprising was Owen McNeill (Owen McNeill), head of staff of the Irish Volunteers (ID). His main argument was the lack of the necessary number of weapons in the hands of potential freedom fighters. He believed that as long as Britain did not try to forcibly disarm them or, conversely, draw them into hostilities on the continent, it was inappropriate for the Irish Volunteers to enter into open confrontation.
In the end Pierce and the other leaders of the Volunteers, together with Connolly and his Irish Citizen Army, decided to mount an insurrection on Sunday 23 April 1916, under the guise of long-planned ID maneuvers for that day. McNeill was not privy to their plans. He was only informed on Thursday, and at the first moment he agreed, his decision influenced by the hopeful news of the arrival of a transport of weapons from Germany for the rebels. But when, following the good news, came the discouraging news of Sir Casement's arrest and the loss of all precious cargo.
Sir Roger Casement

German weapons intercepted by the British for the Irish rebels

McNeill, by his order, canceled the maneuvers and, in an address to Volunteers throughout the country, declared that there would be no uprising. But it was already too late.
With the exception of Plunkett, who was in the hospital, the rest of the War Council (Pierce, Connolly, Clairk, McDiarmud, Kent, and McDonagh) met at Liberty Hall on the first day of Easter to discuss the situation after the loss of a shipment of weapons (weapons intended for the rebels went to the bottom at Donts Rock), the arrest of Casement and Sean McDermot. They decided not to cancel the uprising, but to postpone it until Monday afternoon in order to contact most of the volunteers across the country and report that the Rebellion had begun. Most of the IRA members, about 1,000 Irish Volunteers and many members of the Women's League (led by Countess Markevitch), gathered outside Liberty Hall at noon on Easter Monday.
Field kitchen during the Easter Rising. Women sit in a room peeling potatoes and boiling them in a large pot on the stove. Countess Markevich, leader of the "Women's League", stirs the brew in a saucepan. The Countess was sentenced to life imprisonment.

They took out of the premises all the weapons, ammunition, homemade bombs and grenades that were stored there. At noon, they left the building to occupy their predetermined targets. Liberty Hall was empty, but the British, believing the building to be a rebel stronghold, shelled it on Wednesday.

Fireplace in Liberty Hall, Dublin. Here the soldiers found documents containing evidence of Sinn Féin's terrorist plans in London to organize bacteriological warfare.

British troops occupied Professor Hayes' house. This professor developed typhoid bacilli to infect military and police milk.

Leaving Liberty Hall, the rebels broke up into detachments and moved to pre-planned objects to be captured. Pierce and Connolly, absolutely clearly realizing what a hopeless business they started, at the head of their supporters marched along the main street of Dublin (Sackville Street - for loyal citizens, O Connel Street - for true patriots), reached the Post Office (General Post Office, GPO ) and barricaded themselves there.
The Post Office building before the Easter Rising

Post office on Sackville Street, which became the headquarters of the rebels.

Then they sent to Liberty Hall for a flag; after a while the bundle was delivered. Wrapped in brown paper was a green flag with a gold harp and the words "Irish Republic" in gold, and another, tricolor, green-white-orange.

They both hovered over the Post Office as, at 12:04 p.m., Pierce read the Declaration to a bewildered crowd of onlookers that had gathered in the square in front of the building:
"Irish and Irish!
In the name of the Lord and the departed generations..."
Rebel group that took over the Post Office

When Pierce had finished, a beaming Connolly grabbed his arm and shook him vigorously. The crowd responded with languid applause and discordant cheers; on the whole, Pierce's statement on behalf of the Provisional Government of the newly established Republic was received without enthusiasm. No cheers, nothing reminiscent of the excitement that went through the crowd in France before the storming of the Bastille.
Two volunteers in the Post Office building during the uprising

The Irish, who had gathered on a day off in front of the Post Office, simply listened, shrugged their shoulders in bewilderment, chuckled, looked around, waiting for the police... Young people handed out copies of the Declaration to everyone, one copy was placed at the foot of Nelson's column. Gradually, onlookers began to disperse, someone came closer to Nelson, someone's attention was attracted by unusual flags on the roof of the Post Office (green - on the left, above the corner of Princes Street, tricolor - on the right, above the corner of Henry Street), someone was generally bored with everything this action, they just turned around and wandered about their business ...
The destroyed Post Office, where the rebels settled. The troops were forced to use artillery, May 1916.

A detachment of the British military, who appeared some time later on Sackville Street and tried to nip the rebellion in the bud, was driven back by the fire of the insurgents.
The post office building after the defeat of the uprising

The army command chose the Post Office as its main target, none of the other fortifications of the rebels was subjected to attacks and bombardments of such power. As a result of the shelling, the entire Sackville Street area adjacent to the Post Office was destroyed, and a fire started in the building itself.
Damage at the Post Office

A crowd of onlookers near the ruins of the Post Office after the suppression of the uprising

Sackville Street, after the fall of the Easter Rising.

Devastation on Sackville Street, May 1916

About 2,500 British soldiers were stationed in Dublin, and on the day of the uprising, Monday, the officers went on the run, for example, and in the whole city there were only about 400 soldiers under arms guarding four barracks. The British military turned out to be completely unprepared for the uprising, and their reaction on the first day was generally uncoordinated.
Spears used by the rebels

The first delegation sent against the insurgents, cavalrymen, who were instructed by the commander to ride along Sackville Street directly towards the GPO, were shot in cold blood, four were killed, then a column of infantry returning from the exercises, with guns, but without cartridges, was caught - five killed. In the afternoon, British reinforcements began to arrive in the city, collected from wherever they could, the first came from Athlone and Ulster, on Wednesday two infantry brigades sent by sea appeared, pleasantly surprised that the inhabitants of Dublin greeted them enthusiastically, brought tea, cakes, biscuits, even chocolate and fruit, "so you could have breakfast ten times if you wanted."
A barrel barricade set up by British soldiers during the Easter Rising

One of the rebel groups attacked Magezin Fort in Phoenix Park and disarmed the guards in order to seize weapons and want to blow up the building as a signal that the uprising had begun. They planted explosives but failed to get hold of the weapon.
Another group, from the fighters of the Civil Army, entered Dublin Castle without resistance. But instead of taking this strategic point and a symbol of British rule, the fighters left the castle as undefended as it was before their arrival, but captured the neighboring candy factory. What made them do this is unknown, perhaps the absence of any serious rebuff and the ease with which they managed to penetrate the stronghold, they regarded it as a trap, although they shot the sentry policeman and soldiers in the guardhouse. The rebels occupied Dublin City Hall and adjacent buildings. They were also unable to capture Trinity College, which was located in the center of the city and was defended by only a handful of armed students.
One of the leaders of the Rebellion Eamon de Valera

Another detachment of the Citizen Army under the leadership of Michael Mullin and a group of women and Boy Scouts from the Warriors of Ireland under the command of Countess Markevich occupied St. Stephens Green and the College of Surgery (St. Stephens Green Park, College of Surgeons). Lawns, flower beds, fountains - all this contrasted sharply with what was happening ... The rebels, in order not to attract attention to themselves, entered the park in small groups of two or three people through eight different entrances. After the walking public was removed from the park, the Civil Army soldiers began digging trenches, and the detachment of Countess Markevich organized a medical aid station for the wounded (which were expected in large numbers).
Countess Markevich

Edward Dale's men, under the command of Lieutenant Joseph McGuinness, seized the Four Courts building, the stronghold of Irish justice and jurisprudence. The rebels in the amount of twenty people approached the entrance from Chancery Place, demanded the keys from the policeman on duty there and took control of the building.
Building of 4 Courts

The 1st Battalion of the Dublin Brigade, led by Commander Edward Daly, occupied the building and adjacent streets on the north bank of the River Liffey, a mile west of the Post Office.
Commander Edward Dale.

It was a strategically important part of the city, since it was possible to control all movements between the military barracks in the west of the city and the Post Office from here.
Rebels on a makeshift barricade at 4 Courts, assembled from furniture, May 1916.

An impromptu barricade near the building of the 4 Courts

The 1st Battalion was involved in the most brutal battle of the Rebellion. The first exchange of fire took place on Monday afternoon, when the volunteers got the better of the English Lancers escorting trucks loaded with ammunition.
A detachment of cavalrymen in the area of 4 ships. 1916

On Wednesday, the Volunteers captured two enemy points in the area between the prison and the barracks. By Thursday, the area was tightly surrounded by the South Staffordshire and Sherwood regiments. A fierce battle took place on the north end of King Street, where many civilians died.
The building of the 4 Courts during the uprising. 1916

They held him for six days, after which they managed to get out of the encirclement and escape.
The building of the 4 Courts after the fighting during the uprising

On April 24, 1916, the 4th Dublin Battalion of the Irish Volunteers, under the leadership of Eamonn Kent, captured several buildings in the South Dublin Union area, a distillery on Marrowbone Lane, Watkin's Brewery located two miles from the post office and held them for Eamonn Kent's right-hand man was Cathal Brugha, who was badly wounded in street fighting and later became famous during the Revolutionary War.,
The place was built as a labor camp in the middle of the nineteenth century; in 1916 it housed a hospital with about 3,200 beds, with a large staff of doctors, nurses and auxiliary workers. Under the circumstances, his choice to use the building as a citadel was unacceptable. Nurse Margaret Keogh was accidentally shot during the battle. Having received news of the surrender of the defenders of the Post Office, the headquarters of the rebels, Thomas McDonagh, who held the Jacobs confectionery factory, made his way to South Dublin Union to Eamonn Kennt, and, having come to the conclusion that the situation was hopeless, they made a joint decision to surrender. Eamonn Kennt was sentenced by a military tribunal to On May 8, 1916, he was executed and executed by firing squad at Kilmainham Gaol.
Commander Kennt

Deputy Commander Catal Bruga

There were at least two incidents, at Jacobs and Stephen Green, in which insurgents shot and killed civilians who tried to attack them or dismantle their barricades.
The only significant action on the first day of the uprising took place in South Dublin, where a picket of the Royal Irish Regiment collided with an outpost of Eamonn Kent in the northwest corner of South Dublin. The British troops, having suffered some casualties, managed to regroup and make several attacks on the positions before being able to break in and force the small band of rebels to surrender. However, this part of the city as a whole remained in the hands of the rebels.
Three men from the unarmed London police in Dublin were killed on the first day of the uprising and were removed from the streets by the commissioner. Partly as a result of the withdrawal from the streets of the police, a wave of robberies has risen in the city center, especially in the area of \u200b\u200bO "Connell Street. A total of 425 people were arrested after the uprising for looting.
Searching for valuables in the ruins after the Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, May 1916.

The "gunboat", converted from the fishing vessel "Helga", equipped with cannons and climbed up the Liffey, also participated in the suppression; they note the qualifications of the gunners who laid the shells along the mortar trajectory directly into the GPO building. The post office, engulfed in fire, had to be abandoned. On Saturday afternoon, Pierce and Connolly formally capitulated, a few commanders held out until Sunday, the last snipers and activists until Thursday.
Ruined Post Office

Both sides did not show miracles of strategic thinking: some Irish garrisons sat all week in prescribed positions, never having a chance to open fire, and the British army suffered heavy losses trying to pass the crossroads defended by 19 rebels - almost half of their total losses.
British improvised armored car "Guinness", built to suppress the Easter Rising in Dublin, April 1916

Another detachment of the Citizen Army under the leadership of Michael Mullin and a group of women and Boy Scouts from the Warriors of Ireland under the command of Countess Markevich occupied St. Stephens Green and the College of Surgery (St. Stephens Green Park, College of Surgeons).
Fighting in the streets of Dublin

Lawns, flower beds, fountains - all this contrasted sharply with what was happening ... The rebels, in order not to attract attention to themselves, entered the park in small groups of two or three people through eight different entrances. After the walking public was removed from the park, the Civil Army soldiers began digging trenches, and the detachment of Countess Markevich organized a medical aid station for the wounded (which were expected in large numbers).
British medical officers in Dublin

To reinforce the defenses of the park, Mullin posted several shooters in nearby buildings, a very commendable foresight, but for one thing: for unknown reasons, he ignored the Shelburne Hotel, a kind of dominating height on the north side of St. Stephen's Green. What the rebels did not occupy on the first day of the uprising, the British occupied on the second. A hundred shooters were stationed in the building and began to conduct aimed fire at the rebels in the park. After a three-hour battle, Michael Mullin gave the order to retreat to the College of Surgery.
A destroyed tram used by the rebels as a barricade

Very soon the predictions of the opponents of the uprising began to be justified. The authorities recovered from the shock caused by the actions of the rebels and tried to bring the situation under control. The rebels were to be opposed by the Royal Irish Constabulary and the regular British Army.
Martial law in and around Dublin

Failures with Dublin Castle and Trinity College greatly complicated the position of the rebels, limiting the possibility of interaction and communication between individual groups, and mobility, which was so necessary when fighting in urban conditions, was lost. The lack of support for the Dublin uprising in other parts of the country led to the fact that in a matter of hours powerful reinforcements were drawn to Dublin, and if the balance of forces on Monday was about 3:1, then by Wednesday it was 10:1, naturally not in favor of the rebels.
British administration announcement in Dublin

Twenty thousand British soldiers surrounded the city. However, both the police and the army met with an unexpected and fierce rebuff. The freedom fighters fought with true Irish determination and courage: on Wednesday, on the Mount Street Bridge, De Valera with twelve fighters repelled attacks by two battalions of the British army for nine hours.
Devastation in Princes Street, Dublin. Cars, bicycles, etc. were withdrawn from warehouses and used in the construction of barricades

The main events (the capture and defense of a number of key buildings) took place in Dublin, there were also skirmishes of a smaller scale in other counties. In Galway, a group of insurgents tried to capture the center of the city, but was scattered by artillery fire from a gunboat; several detachments successfully operated in rural areas.
Clearing the ruins after the Easter Rising

The last rebels laid down their arms the following Sunday. The rebellion was unpopular with the Irish, and great was the outrage at the killing and devastation caused by its organizers; when the participants sentenced to exile were led through the city to the harbor to be sent to Wales, the Dubliners threw stones at the escorted participants in the uprising, spat and knocked over the chamber pots, shouted "shoot them a little!".
Arrested volunteers are escorted to prison

The uprising was put down after seven days of fighting. The educator and poet, the leader of the Irish Volunteers, Patrick Pierce, who proclaimed himself in Dublin as the head of the Irish state, was captured and shot (May 3) by the verdict of the tribunal, like his brother William and 14 other leaders of the uprising (left-wing commander of the Civil Army James Connolly, McBride, McDonagh, etc.).
Commandant Sean McLachlin, one of the leaders of the rebellion. Killed during the suppression of the rebellion

Sir Roger Casement was stripped of his knighthood and hanged for treason in London.
One of the leaders of the Irish Republican Party (Sinn Fein), Michael Collins was arrested at his home in Dublin

The British government decided that only the leaders would be punished, and in ten days 15 were shot.
Easter Rising Ireland. A room in Dublin Castle where some Sinn Féin leaders were shot. Photography 1920

Connolly lost a leg and was shot in a chair.
Irish trade union leader James Connolly

Countess Markevitch was arrested outside the Royal College of Surgery

Countess Markovic in temporary prison

A group of prisoners at Richmond Barracks

Wounded volunteers at Dublin Castle

Joseph Plunkett with his brothers in custody

However, the massacre of the leaders of the uprising made martyrs out of them, then followed the story of an attempt to legalize conscription into the British army, met with strong opposition from citizens, and in the next elections the nationalists achieved great success. The Easter Rising is considered a prologue to the Anglo-Irish War of 1920-22.
Panorama of ruined Dublin

Destruction in Dublin

British patrols on the streets of Dublin

British soldiers on the ruins of the "Public Chamber" on Bridge Street in Dublin, burned by militants, May 1916.

British soldiers in Dublin searching for weapons and ammunition caches after the Easter Rising
British soldiers searching cars

Ulster Volunteer Corps

The funeral of nine British soldiers killed during the uprising.

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