What were the consequences of the 1916 Easter rising

In this essay I will outline the consequences of the 1916 Easter rising all short term long term and immediate. The rising was a symptom of the failure of Home Rule. This led to increased support for militant nationalism. Sinn Fein gained a rise in support. The Dail Eireann was set up and the war of independence was an indirect consequence to the rising. The British government proposed the 26 county free state and it was accepted. There became a nationalist minority in Ulster. The Easter rising left a legacy of anti British feeling. This encouraged generations to continue the fight against British occupation.

The big immediate consequence of the Easter rising was the execution of the leaders. This had a huge impact in Ireland. Within four days of the rising Thomas Clarke, Padraig Pearse and Thomas Mc Donagh were executed by firing squad on May the third. Then up to May the twelfth a further twelve leaders were shot including James Connolly. The last rebel to be executed was Roger Casement by hanging on August the third. Overall seventy-five were sentenced to death, and two thousand to imprisonment. This turned public opinion in Ireland against the British government.

This created a new wave of anti-British feeling. Nationalist opinion in Ireland was radically changing. Militant Nationalists began to attract sympathy. There were a number of short-term consequences of the rising. A small little known party called Sinn Fein formed in 1905 began to get noticed. They had gained a reputation that associated them with Militant Nationalism. Sinn Fein’s main aim was to gain total independence for a thirty-two county republic from Britain. Support for the home rule party was in rapid decline. Nationalist people no longer saw home rule as an option and saw it as too little too late.

The loyal support of the home rule party became depressed that home rule further away than when initially granted in 1914. Home rules greatest opponents had now become government ministers. Which made it seem more and more likely Ulster would be separated from home rule. The main reasons for this swing in support to militant nationalism were the harsh treatment by the British government to the leaders of the rising in 1916, the failure to implement home rule in 1914. The main reason more people began to support Sinn Fein was in 1918 when the British government tried to implement conscription to Ireland.

Sinn Fein led a huge campaign against this. As Irish support for the war dropped due to anti- British feeling. Even though the IPP was also against this Sinn Fein got the credit. In the 1918 general election won seventy-three seats to the IPP’s seven. Home rule was now dead. The shape of Irish Politics had been transformed for the rest of the century. This then led to Sinn Fein MPs setting up their own illegal government in Dublin the Dail Eireann. Sinn Fein MPs had carried out their election Promises and refused to take up their seat in Westminster.

They set up their own Dail courts, police service and collected taxes. The Irish Volunteers and IRB became the IRA the Dail’s army. Then on the twenty second of January 1919 the IRA attacked two policemen in the RIC. This started the Ira’s war of independence. The IRA learned from the past they simply could not defeat Britain in another rising. They now had adapted more successful tactics guerrilla warfare. It was to be the Republican strategy for the rest of the century. The war of independence became a war of retaliation. When the British government sent in the black and Tans as a response.

Launching brutal retaliatory attacks on civilians. This war was crippling for a British government trying to rebuild its economy after the First World War. David Lloyd George was under pressure from the British public to do something. The Easter rising had many long-term consequences such as British Prime Minister Lloyd George having to begin compromising with Republicans. His answer was partition. The government of Ireland act 1920 was wrote up. Providing home rule for North and South, with a parliament in Dublin and Belfast. Ulster Unionists reluctantly accepted realising they had to reach a compromise.

Nationalists rejected the government of Ireland act. Home Rule was no longer acceptable. However as the war of independence raged on it became apparent Ireland could not defeat Britain and Britain could not cope with guerrilla warfare. Both sides came to a truce in 1921. Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith attended a conference in London to discuss Ireland’s future. The British government Proposed a twenty-six county free state. The delegates agreed they felt it was a stepping-stone to independence. They therefore signed the Anglo -Celt treaty in December 1921.

When the treaty was brought back to the Dail it caused a bitter split erupting in civil war. There was ongoing bitterness in Irish politics, ongoing support for militant nationalism. The Real IRA continues to live on, nationalist persecution in Ulster and continued anti-British feeling. I have concluded that the Easter Rising was one of the most important episodes in Irish history. The legacy of which continues to live on. The rising made Britain realise that it had to compromise and Ulster Unionists they could not continue to have it their own way.