Easter Rising

An armed insurrection in Dublin from 24 to 29 April 1916, when Irish republicans proclaimed an independent republic and fought British rule.

Irish Republican Brotherhood: A secret oath-bound organization that pursued an independent Irish republic through revolutionary action. Its military council planned the Rising and recruited key organizers.
Irish nationalism: A political movement seeking Irish self-government, independence, or national unity. The Rising was a revolutionary expression of Irish nationalist aims.
Patrick Pearse: An Irish teacher, writer, and republican who became a principal leader of the 1916 Rising. He read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic outside the General Post Office.
Proclamation of the Irish Republic: A declaration issued by the insurgents on 24 April 1916, proclaiming Ireland an independent republic. Read at the uprising’s opening, it stated the political goal the rebels fought for.
Four Courts: A complex of Irish courts on Dublin’s River Liffey, occupied by insurgents in 1916. Its occupation anchored rebel resistance on the north side of the city.
Irish Volunteers: An Irish nationalist militia founded in 1913 to defend and advance Irish self-government. The insurgents drew most of their forces from this divided militia.
Home Rule crisis: The political conflict over granting Ireland self-government within the United Kingdom before the First World War. The crisis left nationalists divided over constitutional change and armed resistance.
Thomas MacDonagh: An Irish poet, teacher, and revolutionary who commanded rebel forces at Jacob’s Biscuit Factory. He was one of the seven signatories of the Proclamation.
Easter Rising executions: The British military executions of fifteen leaders of the 1916 Rising in May 1916. The executions intensified public opposition to British rule after the rebellion’s defeat.
Jacob’s Biscuit Factory: A large Dublin factory occupied by rebel forces during the Easter Rising. Thomas MacDonagh’s command there formed one of the uprising’s principal positions.

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