0:00:09 > 0:00:11"Look up, look up,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15"arise from the death dust where you have long been lying.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20"And let the light of liberty visit your eyes and touch your souls.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24"Let your ears drink in the blessed words,
0:00:24 > 0:00:27"liberty, fraternity and equality,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31"which are soon to ring from pole to pole."
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Easter Monday, April 1916.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52A small band of rebels, including poets and teachers,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56actors and workers, gathers in Dublin intent on liberating
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Ireland from 700 years of British rule.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05EXPLOSIONS
0:01:06 > 0:01:09Against the might of the British Empire,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12the poorly armed rebels stand little chance.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Yet the decision is made to proceed,
0:01:15 > 0:01:18even if it brings failure or death.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Outside Dublin's General Post Office,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35rebel leader Padraig Pearse reads
0:01:35 > 0:01:40a proclamation, declaring the birth of an independent Irish Republic.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44"Irishmen and Irishwomen...
0:01:44 > 0:01:47"Ireland strikes for her freedom."
0:01:49 > 0:01:52In that document in 1916,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54we have a very radical, a very liberal
0:01:54 > 0:01:56and very far-reaching affirmation
0:01:56 > 0:01:59of the equality of men and women.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03"We declare the right of the people of Ireland
0:02:03 > 0:02:05"to the ownership of Ireland."
0:02:07 > 0:02:10This is a document that just exudes radicalism.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16"The Irish Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty,
0:02:16 > 0:02:20"equal rights and equal opportunities to all."
0:02:20 > 0:02:22I think everything about the Rising
0:02:22 > 0:02:26and the writing around it is futuristic, it's future driven.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29"To pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33"cherishing all of the children of the nation equally."
0:02:34 > 0:02:38In reality, the proclamation was read to a disinterested small
0:02:38 > 0:02:41group of people, but symbolically it takes on enormous power
0:02:41 > 0:02:43and ensures that this rebellion
0:02:43 > 0:02:47will become a defining event in Irish history.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54The Irish Rebellion of 1916 would fundamentally change
0:02:54 > 0:02:57the course of Irish history.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59While its vision, enshrined in the proclamation
0:02:59 > 0:03:03of the Irish Republic, will inspire freedom movements
0:03:03 > 0:03:07throughout the world to rise against their colonial masters.
0:03:31 > 0:03:37The ideals of the proclamation of 1916 arise from a turbulent history.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39For over 800 years,
0:03:39 > 0:03:44the relationship between Ireland and her closest neighbour, Britain,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46is contested and troubled.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Centuries of British conquest leave the native Irish dispossessed.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01A strategy of plantation established a new dominant class
0:04:01 > 0:04:04of Protestant settlers loyal to the English crown -
0:04:04 > 0:04:07most significantly in Ulster, in Ireland's North.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15The mostly Catholic Irish rise sporadically in rebellion.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Each time, their rebellions are suppressed.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36In Ireland, you have a very unequal society
0:04:36 > 0:04:40where the feeling of injustice about the inequality is exacerbated
0:04:40 > 0:04:44by the idea it's been founded on conquest and expropriation.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57But in Europe, a revolution of science and philosophy has begun
0:04:57 > 0:05:01that will create a yearning for liberty and equality
0:05:01 > 0:05:04that will in time reverberate throughout the world.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10If you look at the proclamation of 1916,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12some of the core ideas in it
0:05:12 > 0:05:16represent the authors of the proclamation
0:05:16 > 0:05:21looking back to a series of different moments in the past.
0:05:21 > 0:05:27They've got a set of ideas about universal principles
0:05:27 > 0:05:31that comes out of a kind of political activation
0:05:31 > 0:05:33of some philosophical ideas
0:05:33 > 0:05:36that were being developed in the 17th century.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Part of what we call the Enlightenment.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41The idea that there are certain things
0:05:41 > 0:05:43which everyone should share in.
0:05:44 > 0:05:50Equal rights, equal liberties, equal opportunities.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55The emphasis they place on happiness
0:05:55 > 0:05:57certainly seems to echo the words
0:05:57 > 0:06:00of the American Declaration of Independence.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Among the clearest voices of the Enlightenment
0:06:09 > 0:06:11is that of Thomas Jefferson.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Seven years before the American Revolution
0:06:14 > 0:06:16puts an end to British rule in America,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18he writes the Declaration of Independence.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23"All men are created equal,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26"endowed with certain unalienable rights.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31"Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Ten years later, the French Revolution
0:06:38 > 0:06:42shakes the foundation of the Ancien Regime in Europe.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44The age of revolution has begun.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54The spirit of the Enlightenment
0:06:54 > 0:06:56ignites two subsequent Irish rebellions,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59both led by Protestant radicals -
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Theobald Wolfe Tone in 1798...
0:07:04 > 0:07:07..and Robert Emmet in 1803.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Both uprisings fail,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18and yet the ideals of equality and self-determination
0:07:18 > 0:07:22proclaimed by Tone and Emmet are now deeply rooted in Ireland.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48In 1845, a potato blight crosses the continent of Europe.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Its effects hit Ireland hardest, where over 30% of the people
0:07:51 > 0:07:54are dependent on potatoes for their survival.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01The failure of the crop is devastating.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03And the great famine that follows
0:08:03 > 0:08:07casts a long and lasting shadow on Irish history.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31The famine of 1845 to 1851
0:08:31 > 0:08:35is regarded by majority Irish opinion
0:08:35 > 0:08:38as demonstrating that the British government
0:08:38 > 0:08:40is not prepared to look after
0:08:40 > 0:08:43the Catholic population of Ireland
0:08:43 > 0:08:46in the same way it would have done its own English people,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50or, indeed, Scots people, as well.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00About a million perish from the famine,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02and a million are going to leave -
0:09:02 > 0:09:04but that's only in the years of the famine.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08The migration, the exodus, is going to continue from that point forward.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15It's coming into Manhattan, it's coming into Boston,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17it coming into Chicago.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21The example I like to cite in Manhattan,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24which, in the 1855 census,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28one quarter of all Manhattan was Irish born.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39Really, what they brought with them was very little materially,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42but they brought this hunger for independence,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44this hunger for freedom.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47They saw it here in the United States.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53Here in America, you had the opportunity,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57the freedom to nurture the animosity,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01and, indeed, hatred for the British.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04And to see them forming groups
0:10:04 > 0:10:08that were devoted to Irish independence,
0:10:08 > 0:10:13and those groups became important prior to the Easter Rising.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18In 1858, those people coalesced in New York and Dublin
0:10:18 > 0:10:20as two organisations -
0:10:20 > 0:10:22the Fenian Brotherhood in New York,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and the Irish Republican Brotherhood based in Dublin.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28From the outset, they were regarded as two linked organisations
0:10:28 > 0:10:30working towards the same objective,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33the creation of an independent Irish Republic.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37This is the seedbed, in many ways, of 1916.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42The number of Fenians who actually had spent time in America
0:10:42 > 0:10:43is very striking,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46and they are looking at Ireland from an American perspective,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49and they've imbibed something of this can-do mentality
0:10:49 > 0:10:52that was already part of the American psyche.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01Having served six years for treason in a British prison,
0:11:01 > 0:11:06Kildare man John Devoy is exiled to America.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09There he becomes a key figure in the Irish struggle for independence.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17Driven by Devoy, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or IRB,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19develops its vision.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Only by becoming free from the British Empire
0:11:22 > 0:11:26can Ireland achieve full self-determination for her people.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33John Devoy is absolutely fundamental
0:11:33 > 0:11:34to the whole exercise -
0:11:34 > 0:11:37he's one of those people who seemed to live for ever.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41He's a committed revolutionary,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43and he never seems to have let a day pass
0:11:43 > 0:11:45without contriving to bring about
0:11:45 > 0:11:47the destruction of the British Empire.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03The 1800s are the golden age of the British Empire.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06Straddling the globe from Canada to India.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Many Irish people play a part in the Empire, making up the armies
0:12:13 > 0:12:16and legions of professionals required to administer it.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23Ireland is in a peculiar way in the 19th century -
0:12:23 > 0:12:25part of the imperial project,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27and, at the same time, within the British state,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30a part of it is refusing to conform.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37One of the Irish working for the Empire is Roger Casement.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Stationed in Africa's Congo as a British diplomat,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Casement becomes horrified by the brutality
0:12:43 > 0:12:44of Belgium's colonial regime.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50He exposes Belgium's atrocities to the world
0:12:50 > 0:12:54and becomes a renowned crusader against the excesses of imperialism.
0:12:59 > 0:13:00Turning his attention home,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Casement becomes increasingly attracted
0:13:02 > 0:13:06to the cause of Irish nationalism, and an outspoken
0:13:06 > 0:13:10critic of the deep-rooted origins of the injustices he witnesses.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16In post-famine Ireland, many of the poor peasantry
0:13:16 > 0:13:19still live on a knife edge,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22with evictions a constant threat.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29Casement is not alone - a new generation is emerging.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33Men and women with strong nationalist convictions,
0:13:33 > 0:13:38determined to advocate for equality and freedom for the Irish people.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Evictions I saw in 1885
0:13:41 > 0:13:44changed the whole course of my life.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Transforming me from a carefree society girl
0:13:47 > 0:13:51into a woman of set purpose.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53I was determined to do my share
0:13:53 > 0:13:56to free Ireland from the British Empire.
0:14:07 > 0:14:13Revolution is a tool for remaking states and societies.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17It's not just a kind of protest against injustice,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21it's a creative process in its own right.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28The most striking feature of the Irish Revolution in world terms
0:14:28 > 0:14:32is that the cultural revolution precedes the political revolution.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37The famine had created this enormous vacuum in Irish culture.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40Ireland had shifted from being essentially a bilingual country
0:14:40 > 0:14:42to being increasingly a monolingual one.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44Ireland had become much more anglicised,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48much more drawn into the mainstream of British culture.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00Nationalist leaders come to believe
0:15:00 > 0:15:03that if the Irish people are to be set free,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06they need an ideal to inspire them.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08Ireland's ancient and traditional culture
0:15:08 > 0:15:11becomes a central pillar of the cause.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15In many ways,
0:15:15 > 0:15:20there was a cultural revival - particularly in the 1890s.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25It was in a context in which wider politics had failed,
0:15:25 > 0:15:29and what happens is that culture fills the political vacuum.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33The group who staged the Rising tended to be the younger people,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35tended to be the politicised people,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38perhaps also the more socially and culturally aware people.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40They were the people who were at the cutting edge
0:15:40 > 0:15:43of the causes of the time, including women's rights,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46the language movement, the literary movement.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48There's this cohort of people
0:15:48 > 0:15:52who begin to kind of say, "We need to take responsibility for this,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54"we need to imagine a new kind of Ireland,"
0:15:54 > 0:15:57and, in some respects, the 1916 Rising
0:15:57 > 0:15:59is about the Irish saying,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02"We belong to an old, ancient, proud culture,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04"and we are not willing any more
0:16:04 > 0:16:07"to be treated as second-class subjects."
0:16:17 > 0:16:21In 1904, poet William Butler Yeats and writer Lady Gregory
0:16:21 > 0:16:24forge their part of this new Irish world.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28They found an institution
0:16:28 > 0:16:31that will become the high church of the Gaelic revival -
0:16:31 > 0:16:33the Abbey Theatre.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Yeats liked to quote Victor Hugo.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39"In the theatre, a mob becomes a people."
0:16:39 > 0:16:43You know, a mob is usually what starts a revolution.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Those attending or acting on stage at the Abbey Theatre
0:16:47 > 0:16:49include Maud Gonne
0:16:49 > 0:16:53and future leaders of the Rising Roger Casement,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Thomas MacDonagh and Countess Markievicz.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Playwrights include Eoin MacNeill,
0:17:00 > 0:17:02the future leader of the Irish Volunteers...
0:17:05 > 0:17:09..and one of the writers of the proclamation, Padraig Pearse.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18In 1908, Pearse founds St Enda's School in Dublin...
0:17:19 > 0:17:22..dedicated to the cultural and moral formation
0:17:22 > 0:17:23of the ideal young Gael.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29"It will be attempted to inculcate in the pupils
0:17:29 > 0:17:32"the desire to spend their lives working hard and zealously
0:17:32 > 0:17:34"for their fatherland...
0:17:36 > 0:17:39"..and, if it should be necessary, to die for it."
0:17:42 > 0:17:46St Enda's becomes a seedbed for the rebellion.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Many pupils will join their teachers in the Rising of 1916,
0:17:49 > 0:17:54including Pearse's brother Willie, Thomas MacDonagh and Con Colbert.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02It was about 1910, we were in an English class,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04just a small group of us.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09To our surprise, suddenly Pearse opened up his mind and said,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13"It'll all end in an insurrection, the Irish struggle."
0:18:13 > 0:18:14He said, "There's no way out.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16"It's the teaching of history."
0:18:26 > 0:18:29In America, the IRB leader, John Devoy,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32is constantly alert to the revolutionary potential
0:18:32 > 0:18:35of various nationalist movements in Ireland.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44By his side is the staunch Fenian Tom Clarke.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49Like Devoy, Clarke has also spent years in British prisons.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57At Devoy's prompting, in 1907
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Clarke returns to Ireland.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02His mission -
0:19:02 > 0:19:05to mobilise and exploit growing nationalist sentiment
0:19:05 > 0:19:06to instigate a rebellion.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19At that time, those of us who were trying to gee up the IRB
0:19:19 > 0:19:20weren't making much headway,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23because we weren't, ourselves, of any importance.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29Tom Clarke added weight and power and dignity to the movement.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31And with Tom Clarke's advent
0:19:31 > 0:19:35came a kind of a positive, forward movement.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43But in Ireland, Tom Clarke finds that nationalist sentiment
0:19:43 > 0:19:45is going in a different direction.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51The Irish Parliamentary Party,
0:19:51 > 0:19:53under its hugely popular leader John Redmond
0:19:53 > 0:19:57has been agitating in the British house of Parliament
0:19:57 > 0:19:59for a limited form of Irish self-governance,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01to be known as Home Rule.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07By 1910, the Home Rule movement
0:20:07 > 0:20:11has achieved widespread popular support in Ireland.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18There was the feeling among the nationalist population
0:20:18 > 0:20:21that Ireland required separate recognition constitutionally...
0:20:21 > 0:20:24for devolved government -
0:20:24 > 0:20:28however limited may have been the authority of a Dublin parliament,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and even those who want more, like the IRB,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35even they are prepared to acknowledge that, essentially,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38majority sentiment is going to go for Home Rule.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Though they would like something more robust and more extreme.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48A British general election in 1910 results in a hung parliament.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55Immediately, John Redmond seizes the opportunity.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59He offers Henry Asquith, the leader of the British Liberal Party,
0:20:59 > 0:21:00his political support
0:21:00 > 0:21:04on condition that a Home Rule Bill for Ireland is enacted.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08With great reluctance, Asquith agrees.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18But in Ulster, in Ireland's North,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21the majority Protestant community believes Home Rule
0:21:21 > 0:21:25to be a betrayal of their steadfast loyalty to the United Kingdom.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33In 1912, 500,000 unionists sign the Ulster Covenant,
0:21:33 > 0:21:35a solemn oath to defend Ulster
0:21:35 > 0:21:38against the implementation of Home Rule.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43Ulster Unionists saw Home Rule as a conspiracy,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47a conspiracy to undo the Ulster plantation -
0:21:47 > 0:21:50and that was something which could not be allowed.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58As early as 1909, 1910, the Ulster Unionist leadership
0:21:58 > 0:22:03is beginning to import small-scale caches of weapons
0:22:03 > 0:22:04into the North.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10The creation of the Ulster Volunteer Force is part of a drift
0:22:10 > 0:22:12towards militancy.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17The Ulster Volunteer Force is founded in 1913
0:22:17 > 0:22:20to oppose Home Rule by any means necessary.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Nationalists respond quickly.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28They will set up their own armed militia.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34On November 25, 1913, thousands gather in Dublin
0:22:34 > 0:22:39to join the Irish Volunteers under Eoin MacNeill's leadership.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Among the 4,000 members to enrol the first evening
0:22:48 > 0:22:50are Padraig Pearse,
0:22:50 > 0:22:51Thomas MacDonagh
0:22:51 > 0:22:53and Roger Casement.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57At the back of the room, standing in the shadows, is Tom Clarke.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Clarke and the IRB need an army for the rebellion,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05but the purpose of the Volunteers is to ensure Home Rule,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08not to rise against the British state.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Clarke infiltrates the Volunteers with IRB members,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14and enlists Padraig Pearse to rally the Volunteers
0:23:14 > 0:23:16to support their cause.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Pearse brought a degree of originality
0:23:19 > 0:23:21to the way he used culture,
0:23:21 > 0:23:26in terms of instilling a sense of identity and idealism.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30He was fashioning with words a weapon which would,
0:23:30 > 0:23:35in many respects, rouse more people than all their attachment to guns.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37But in the end, of course,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40he decided a culture without guns wasn't enough.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45"We must accustom ourselves to the thought of arms, to the use of arms.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49"Bloodshed is a cleansing and sanctifying thing."
0:24:02 > 0:24:04By the early 1900s,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Dublin, a city once known to be among the greatest
0:24:08 > 0:24:11of the British Empire, has stagnated.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Many live in abject poverty.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Social justice was necessary.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25Everybody with any position or money or anything
0:24:25 > 0:24:27thought that God had given it to them
0:24:27 > 0:24:30and that he had refused it to the others.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37By the time we get to 1900, Dublin is the biggest slum in Europe.
0:24:37 > 0:24:4026,000 families living in tenement housing.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43So you will often have three generations of people
0:24:43 > 0:24:45living in a single room.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50Dublin city is fertile ground for the socialist thinking
0:24:50 > 0:24:53advancing across Europe and America.
0:24:57 > 0:25:03In 1913, a major strike breaks out, led by radical socialists
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Jim Larkin and the James Connolly.
0:25:08 > 0:25:1220,000 workers are locked out of their places of employment
0:25:12 > 0:25:14because they refused to renounce membership
0:25:14 > 0:25:16of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21The strike fails, but it makes a hero out of James Connolly,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23who sets up the Irish Citizen Army
0:25:23 > 0:25:26to protect workers against future police attacks.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Connolly was born in Edinburgh, reared in poverty.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36He represented the intermeshing of Republican separatism
0:25:36 > 0:25:39with a more internationalist, socialist view.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Namely that the revolution of self-determination
0:25:42 > 0:25:44needs to be a total revolution.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47That Ireland, in order to be really free,
0:25:47 > 0:25:49would have to be an egalitarian place,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51that it needed a social revolution
0:25:51 > 0:25:54as an integral part of the major revolution that was coming.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08When the Ulster Volunteers lands 20,000 rifles in Larne,
0:26:08 > 0:26:10in County Antrim,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13the British authorities fail to intervene.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18The Irish Volunteers also begin acquiring arms
0:26:18 > 0:26:22with help from networks abroad.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Guns sourced in Germany are sailed on a yacht
0:26:25 > 0:26:29called the Asgard to Howth, near Dublin.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34Ireland is now militarised on all sides.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41The description, "The brink of civil war" has frequently,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44and with much justification, been applied to Ireland
0:26:44 > 0:26:48in the summer of 1914, when you consider the gunrunning,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51when you consider the determination on the part of Ulster Unionists
0:26:51 > 0:26:54to resist, by whatever means necessary,
0:26:54 > 0:26:56the imposition of Home Rule,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59when you consider the determination of the Irish Volunteers
0:26:59 > 0:27:02to defend Home Rule by whatever means necessary,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06this is the language of the era - that is a language of civil war.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15EXPLOSION
0:27:16 > 0:27:17EXPLOSION
0:27:24 > 0:27:25Then war breaks out.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32War breaks out, in which the whole context
0:27:32 > 0:27:35in which Britain is dealing with Ireland is changed.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40In which the calculations of Ulster Unionists and of Home Rulers,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43and, indeed, the Fenian conspirators are all changed.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47With the outbreak of World War I,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51Britain immediately postpones implementation of Home Rule.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57The Unionist response to the war is swift.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00The Ulster Volunteer Force will fight for King and Empire.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Anxious to demonstrate Ireland's loyalty
0:28:05 > 0:28:09and ensure Home Rule is enacted when the war ends,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13John Redmond calls in the Irish Volunteers to enlist also.
0:28:17 > 0:28:2290% of the Volunteers, upwards of 170,000 men,
0:28:22 > 0:28:24answer Redmond's call.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Meanwhile, a core group of Irish Volunteers
0:28:38 > 0:28:40led by Chief of Staff Eoin MacNeill
0:28:40 > 0:28:43believes that to fight for the British Empire
0:28:43 > 0:28:46is a betrayal of the nationalist cause.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53The split that follows presents the Irish Republican Brotherhood
0:28:53 > 0:28:54with an opportunity.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Now, in the thousands of Irish Volunteers who stay in Ireland,
0:29:00 > 0:29:04the IRB may have the army for their rebellion -
0:29:04 > 0:29:07but if they are to have any chance against Britain,
0:29:07 > 0:29:09they will need a major supply of weapons.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20We've all heard the statement
0:29:20 > 0:29:24"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
0:29:24 > 0:29:27John Devoy saw the possibility
0:29:27 > 0:29:32of an alliance between the Germans and the Irish.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39And then Roger Casement goes to Germany
0:29:39 > 0:29:43and begins to have meetings with the Germans
0:29:43 > 0:29:48over the assistance that they might render for the Rising.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Which is a pretty straightforward form of treating this activity,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58if you see things from a British imperial point of view.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11While Casement is conspiring with the Germans to supply arms
0:30:11 > 0:30:14for the rebels, tens of thousands of his fellow countrymen
0:30:14 > 0:30:18are bogged down in an increasingly horrific war on the Western Front.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45People begin questioning,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49in private, and also in public, what is this war for?
0:30:49 > 0:30:51It's not going to be a short war any more,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54and it is also going to be a war of very, very high death rates
0:30:54 > 0:30:55and injury rates.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59And that had a real impact on the climate within Ireland
0:30:59 > 0:31:02and the kind of people who will coalesce around the Rising,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05because now what they can paint is an imperial British war
0:31:05 > 0:31:08which is just killing and bleeding Irish men.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12"All these mountains of Irish dead,
0:31:12 > 0:31:16"all these corpses mangled beyond recognition.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20"All these shivering, putrefying bodies of Irishmen and youth
0:31:20 > 0:31:25"are all the price Ireland pays for being part of the British Empire.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28"A piratical enterprise in which the valour of slaves
0:31:28 > 0:31:31"fights for the glory and profit of their masters.'
0:31:35 > 0:31:37Watching the working classes of Europe and Ireland
0:31:37 > 0:31:39slaughter one another in the war,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43James Connolly is close to despair, and feels compelled to act.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50He starts planning a rebellion with the Irish Citizen Army.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53But counting only hundreds in their ranks,
0:31:53 > 0:31:57such a rising would be quickly and easily defeated.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01News of Connolly's plan reaches the IRB's Military Council.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04Fearing that a unilateral action by Connolly
0:32:04 > 0:32:08will alert the British authorities to their own plans for an uprising,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Clarke and Pearse approach Connolly.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14In secret negotiations, agreement is reached.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17The Irish Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteers
0:32:17 > 0:32:20will join forces in rebellion.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22A date is set.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24Easter 1916.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36The strategy for the rebellion is drawn up by the mystic poet
0:32:36 > 0:32:38and journalist Joseph Plunkett.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44The rebels will seize key public buildings in Dublin's city centre
0:32:44 > 0:32:47and also major towns across the country...
0:32:48 > 0:32:51..but several influential Irish Volunteer leaders
0:32:51 > 0:32:54are opposed to this approach,
0:32:54 > 0:32:56including Chief of Staff Eoin MacNeill...
0:32:57 > 0:33:02..and two of the Volunteers' original founders - The O'Rahilly,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04and Bulmer Hobson.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08Well, my feeling was that if there was going to be a fight,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11that a guerrilla fight gave you the opportunity...
0:33:13 > 0:33:16..of never coming to a decisive engagement -
0:33:16 > 0:33:18of keeping the thing going,
0:33:18 > 0:33:19if necessary, for years.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26Whereas, seizing the public buildings in Dublin...
0:33:27 > 0:33:30..you could do nothing but sit there till you were shot out of them.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Hobson and MacNeill's protests fall on deaf ears.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48In manoeuvres on Saint Patrick's Day, 1916,
0:33:48 > 0:33:535,000 members of the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army
0:33:53 > 0:33:54marched through Dublin.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58The rebel conspirators are overjoyed.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02With numbers like these, a rebellion might succeed.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Immediately, Pearse announces further manoeuvres
0:34:09 > 0:34:11for the coming Easter weekend.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19It is a perennial mystery that the British authorities,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21at various levels, have information coming in
0:34:21 > 0:34:23right, left and centre.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Quite apart from the obviously rebellious behaviour
0:34:26 > 0:34:28of the Volunteers and the Citizen Army,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32who are more or less practising having a rebellion in March,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35on Patrick's Day, when they occupy the city.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40It's a racist view, I guess, of the Irish.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44"There may be some scuffles in the street, but it'll all be over."
0:34:44 > 0:34:47This is part of the British official mind in Dublin,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51that not only can the Irish not run a government,
0:34:51 > 0:34:53which was part of the whole
0:34:53 > 0:34:54argument against Home Rule,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56but they can't organise anything.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06By and large, most of the Volunteer leaders outside Dublin
0:35:06 > 0:35:08didn't know what was being planned -
0:35:08 > 0:35:11and, of course, some of them didn't feel that the idea
0:35:11 > 0:35:14of an unprovoked insurrection was a good idea.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16But by the time you get to Good Friday,
0:35:16 > 0:35:17increasingly the word is out,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20and people have realised that it's not just a mobilisation,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22and rumours are spreading.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25And as soon as this happens, figures like Eoin MacNeill and Bulmer Hobson
0:35:25 > 0:35:27begin to organise themselves
0:35:27 > 0:35:29to stop the rebellion taking place.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33Realising that the mobilisation is, in fact, a cover
0:35:33 > 0:35:35for full-scale rebellion,
0:35:35 > 0:35:38MacNeill tells Pearse that he will do everything
0:35:38 > 0:35:40to prevent the Rising -
0:35:40 > 0:35:43short of informing the British authorities in Dublin Castle.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48But Pearse, Clarke and Connolly are convinced the time has come.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53All they need now are the guns.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02With only two days to go before the Rising,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Casement is finally on his way from Germany on a U-boat.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10Following close behind is the Aud, a cargo ship
0:36:10 > 0:36:11carrying 20,000 rifles
0:36:11 > 0:36:14and a million rounds of ammunition for the rebellion.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Bad, utterly cock-up communications.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23They were not met, and arrived off the coast.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Casement, coming in his submarine,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28likewise arrived unannounced.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33He was arrested, and the captain of the Aud, on being discovered,
0:36:33 > 0:36:34scuttled the ship.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38So the ship and the arms were lost,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41and the British were alerted that something was going to happen.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48Hearing the weapons had been lost,
0:36:48 > 0:36:52MacNeill is now convinced that the Rising has no chance of succeeding.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57On MacNeill's orders, The O'Rahilly drives to Cork,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Kerry and Limerick to spread the news that the Rising is off.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06The next day, Easter Sunday, April 23rd -
0:37:06 > 0:37:09the very day the Rising is set to begin -
0:37:09 > 0:37:11MacNeill publishes a countermanding order
0:37:11 > 0:37:13in the Sunday Independent newspaper.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16More than half of the Irish Volunteers
0:37:16 > 0:37:19who had been expected to mobilise stay home.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25Gathered in Liberty Hall,
0:37:25 > 0:37:29the rebel leaders are dismayed by MacNeill's order.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34The mood, it seems, was extraordinarily low
0:37:34 > 0:37:37in terms of morale, despair,
0:37:37 > 0:37:40utter devastation, silence...
0:37:40 > 0:37:43There was mobilisation, of course, because large numbers
0:37:43 > 0:37:45of the Volunteers didn't see the counter-order.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48You had large numbers in different parts of the country
0:37:48 > 0:37:50turning up, not knowing what they were to do next.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55But as Sunday wore on, the despair of the morning gave way
0:37:55 > 0:38:00to an urgency - and, some said, a certain eerie exhilaration.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08I walked over to Liberty Hall...
0:38:09 > 0:38:11..when I went in, there was my father.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16He looked at me...
0:38:16 > 0:38:19and I said to him, "Daddy, are you not going to fight?"
0:38:19 > 0:38:24And he turned to me and two big tears roll down his cheeks.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26He says, "If we don't fight, Nora...
0:38:27 > 0:38:30"..we can only pray for an earthquake to come
0:38:30 > 0:38:31"and swallow us and our shame."
0:38:37 > 0:38:40It wasn't planned to be a gesture.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43It was planned to be as effective, militarily, as it was possible
0:38:43 > 0:38:46to conceive in the circumstances.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49But if it had to be a gesture, then so be it.
0:38:49 > 0:38:54Striking a losing blow is better than striking no blow at all.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02In Liberty Hall, the Proclamation,
0:39:02 > 0:39:04which has been drafted by Pearse,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07with contributions from Connolly, Clarke, MacDonagh,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10and others on the Military Council, is being printed.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14The Rising...
0:39:14 > 0:39:16will go ahead.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32Easter Monday, April 1916.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38Early morning. The streets of Dublin are quiet.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43Most people are at home enjoying the public holiday.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47Others, among them government officials and British Army officers,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51have already left the city for the races at Fairyhouse in County Meath.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Around the city, dispatch riders cycle furiously
0:39:59 > 0:40:01from house to house, spreading the word.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05The long-awaited rebellion is about to begin.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08We knew something was going to happen
0:40:08 > 0:40:10because there was... that feeling in the air.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16From all over Dublin, small groups comprising the Irish Volunteers,
0:40:16 > 0:40:21the Irish Citizen Army, and the women's organization Cumann na mBan
0:40:21 > 0:40:23are moving toward the city.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28Due to the countermanding order,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31only 2,000 men and women have answered the call.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35At least 4,000 had been expected.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39The countermanding order has caused so much confusion
0:40:39 > 0:40:43around the country that the Rising will be confined mostly to Dublin.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48The poet Patrick Pearse
0:40:48 > 0:40:51and the socialist leader James Connolly
0:40:51 > 0:40:54lead 200 men and women out of Liberty Hall,
0:40:54 > 0:40:56headed for the GPO -
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Dublin's General Post Office - on O'Connell Street.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02The company of Volunteers came up the street,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05and as soon as they came opposite the Post Office,
0:41:05 > 0:41:09they got the order, and wheeled left into the Post Office.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16Round about midday, the door was banged open and a number of men -
0:41:16 > 0:41:18round about 20 - came into the room
0:41:18 > 0:41:20dressed in green uniforms,
0:41:20 > 0:41:22with rifles in their hand.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25They ordered everybody to get out immediately.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28Now cleared of staff and customers,
0:41:28 > 0:41:32the GPO becomes the headquarters of the rebellion,
0:41:32 > 0:41:34with Pearse as acting president,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37and Connolly as commander in chief of military operations.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43On hearing that the Rising is going ahead
0:41:43 > 0:41:45regardless of his efforts to stop it,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The O'Rahilly drives to the GPO to join the fight.
0:41:48 > 0:41:53Having helped to wind the clock, he is now determined to hear it strike,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56and reaches the GPO to witness Patrick Pearse emerge
0:41:56 > 0:42:00to read the Proclamation reclaiming the foundation of an Irish Republic.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04"Irishmen and Irishwomen.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08"In the name of God and of the dead generations
0:42:08 > 0:42:12"from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16"Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag
0:42:16 > 0:42:17"and strikes for her freedom.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21"In every generation the Irish people
0:42:21 > 0:42:25"have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty,"
0:42:25 > 0:42:28"and we declare the right of the people of Ireland
0:42:28 > 0:42:30"to the ownership of Ireland."
0:42:32 > 0:42:35"The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39"equal rights, and equal opportunities to all its citizens."
0:42:43 > 0:42:45There's no question that Connolly and Pearse,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48after the shenanigans of the previous few days,
0:42:48 > 0:42:50that they were damn glad to reach the day
0:42:50 > 0:42:52that they were actually there.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57At long last, the curtain is opening - we're on stage.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Beidh cuimhneamh ar an la seo -
0:43:01 > 0:43:02this day will be remembered.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22The rebels spread out and take control
0:43:22 > 0:43:25of several strategic buildings across the city centre,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28including the Four Courts on the banks of the River Liffey,
0:43:28 > 0:43:31and Boland's Mills to the south.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39The plan is to lock-in, wait for the British to attack,
0:43:39 > 0:43:41and resist for as long as possible.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43They know the longer they can hold out,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47the greater their chance of galvanising Irish and world opinion
0:43:47 > 0:43:48to the cause of independence.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55As they move towards their positions,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58a small detachment of the Irish Citizen Army,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01led by well-known actor Sean Connolly,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04and radical feminist Helena Molony, approaches the centre
0:44:04 > 0:44:08of the British administration in Ireland - Dublin Castle.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11We went right up to the castle gate...
0:44:13 > 0:44:16..and then a police sergeant came out.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20When Connolly went to go past him, the officer put out his hand.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23Connolly shot him.
0:44:23 > 0:44:24GUNSHOT RINGS OUT
0:44:27 > 0:44:31The man Connolly shoots is sergeant James O'Brien.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33He is the first fatality of the Rising.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37O'Brien is an Irishman from County Limerick.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48Inside Dublin Castle, the most senior British official in Ireland -
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Matthew Nathan - is reviewing security
0:44:51 > 0:44:54with his head of intelligence, Major Ivor Price.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57He is completely unaware that the rebellion has started.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03I ran to see a policeman lying in a pool of blood,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06and half a dozen Volunteers in green coats dashing about.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10I fired a few shots from my revolver.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12GUNFIRE
0:45:12 > 0:45:14Soldiers fire,
0:45:14 > 0:45:18and Connolly takes the Irish citizen army out of Dublin Castle
0:45:18 > 0:45:20and the castle stays intact.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25Dublin Castle in 1916 was defended by six soldiers.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28It would have been a shout
0:45:28 > 0:45:31that goes round the world, "Dublin Castle has been seized."
0:45:31 > 0:45:33Maybe they felt there was too many people there,
0:45:33 > 0:45:36but that raises the question, was there any reconnaissance done?
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Did anyone go out and spy out the lie of the land?
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Led by British Army veteran Michael Mallin,
0:46:00 > 0:46:04the Irish Citizen Army begins to fortify St Stephen's Green,
0:46:04 > 0:46:06commandeering vehicles,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08barricading entry points.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14Once Stephen's Green has been taken by the Irish Citizen Army
0:46:14 > 0:46:18they do two main things - they start building barricades,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22secondly they start digging trenches,
0:46:22 > 0:46:26which speaks to this military innocence in a way.
0:46:26 > 0:46:27If you want to hold the green
0:46:27 > 0:46:30you would take the rooftops of those buildings,
0:46:30 > 0:46:32you would not build trenches in the green.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40Later in the day they're joined by Constance Markievicz,
0:46:40 > 0:46:44wealthy socialist and prominent radical nationalist.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48When they march off to begin their revolution,
0:46:48 > 0:46:50somebody asks Countess Markievicz
0:46:50 > 0:46:53if she's taking part in a rehearsal for something.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57And when the first copies of the proclamation are stuck up
0:46:57 > 0:47:00by Sean T O'Kelly on lampposts with flour paste,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03somebody passing by says, "Is that a playbill?"
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Which I always think is rather emblematic
0:47:05 > 0:47:08of what is a very theatrical production.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13An old man tries to retrieve his cart from a barricade
0:47:13 > 0:47:15in Stephen's Green.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18After repeated warnings, he is shot dead by one of the rebels.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20GUNSHOT
0:47:35 > 0:47:38After some odd adventures, I got as far as Jacob's
0:47:38 > 0:47:41and, by God, there was a hostile crowd there,
0:47:41 > 0:47:45calling on the lads inside, "Come out you lot of effing slackers,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48"if you want to fight, go out and fight in France," and all this.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51They were waving Union Jacks and God knows what.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55There are 25,000 Dubliners serving in the British Army
0:47:55 > 0:47:57during the First World War.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59One in five of them are killed.
0:47:59 > 0:48:04There are, of course, going to be those hugely angry for that reason.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06You also had the Separation Women,
0:48:06 > 0:48:10who were in receipt of allowances through the post offices
0:48:10 > 0:48:13from their husbands who were fighting in World War I,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16and they were enraged by the fact that they couldn't get their money
0:48:16 > 0:48:18because somebody wanted to die for Ireland -
0:48:18 > 0:48:20they had no interest in dying for Ireland,
0:48:20 > 0:48:22they wanted their money to rear their children.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35On O'Connell Street, reports of a disturbance
0:48:35 > 0:48:39brings a company of British Army Lancers onto the street.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41It was obvious they were going to
0:48:41 > 0:48:43have the cavalry charge down the street.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48And suddenly there's this volley of gunfire,
0:48:48 > 0:48:50horses are taken down, men are killed -
0:48:50 > 0:48:53the Rising has moved into a real stage where
0:48:53 > 0:48:55there's no turning back now.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04Isolated at the Viceregal Lodge in Phoenix Park,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07the Viceroy, Lord Wimborne, is in a state of panic.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10Convinced by intelligence reports
0:49:10 > 0:49:12that the Germans are behind the rebellion
0:49:12 > 0:49:14and that worse is to come,
0:49:14 > 0:49:19he declares martial law in Dublin for the first time in 100 years.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23He appeals to Prime Minister Herbert Asquith in London
0:49:23 > 0:49:24for immediate military support.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28The initial response is surprisingly muted.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35Earlier in the day, the Germans launched Zeppelin raids
0:49:35 > 0:49:38on English cities in Kent and Essex,
0:49:38 > 0:49:42while their battleships bombard towns on England's coast.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48It takes time for events in Dublin to capture Asquith's attention,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51but when Britain's response finally comes,
0:49:51 > 0:49:53it is massive and resolute.
0:49:56 > 0:50:01Late on Tuesday night, thousands of soldiers arrive at Liverpool docks
0:50:01 > 0:50:04and board ship, bound for Ireland.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16Early Wednesday morning, thousands of British soldiers
0:50:16 > 0:50:18land at South Dublin's Kingstown Harbour.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22Among them are two battalions of Sherwood Foresters,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25young infantrymen so raw they have to be shown
0:50:25 > 0:50:28how to load and fire their guns on the pier.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Some even think they've arrived at the Western Front in France.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35The Sherwoods are split into two groups,
0:50:35 > 0:50:39one marches towards Dublin through the leafy suburb of Ballsbridge.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46The rebel commander at Boland's Mill's garrison,
0:50:46 > 0:50:50Eamon de Valera, a mathematics teacher, has set up outposts
0:50:50 > 0:50:54covering Mount Street Bridge and Northumberland Road.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58We knew that number 25 was being held by only two men,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Michael Malone and Jim Grace.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Around about one o'clock in the day we heard the noise of marching men
0:51:10 > 0:51:15and looked out and here we saw, as we thought, the whole British Army
0:51:15 > 0:51:19coming in, and they were marching along, quite unconcerned...
0:51:20 > 0:51:24..and the men in number 25 waited until they got
0:51:24 > 0:51:27to the junction of Haddington Road and Northumberland Road.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32SHOTS FIRE
0:51:36 > 0:51:39When they came under fire it was complete chaos.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41Clearly nobody knew what to do.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43A lot of soldiers are killed on the spot
0:51:43 > 0:51:46and they had no idea where the firing was coming from.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50The sound echoes across all the surrounding buildings,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52you just can't tell where it's coming from.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Well, we thought there were probably 200 or 300.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59Their fire was so good and so accurate
0:51:59 > 0:52:02that they misled the troops as to the numbers.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07From their outpost at Clanwilliam House on the far side of the canal,
0:52:07 > 0:52:09the rebels will have any soldiers
0:52:09 > 0:52:11who reach Mount Street Bridge in range.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16When they came in our view then we opened fire.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20They charged about seven or eight at a time
0:52:20 > 0:52:24across the bridge, but they never crossed the bridge.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35Eventually the British traced the sniper fire
0:52:35 > 0:52:39in Northumberland Road to the upper floor window of number 25.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43It would have been between half past six and seven -
0:52:43 > 0:52:47it was still bright - when they made an almighty rush
0:52:47 > 0:52:48and they got up the steps
0:52:48 > 0:52:51and they threw a bomb at the door and we heard an explosion
0:52:51 > 0:52:55and we saw a bright light and we knew it was the end of those two.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02In the end 230 British soldiers are dead or wounded.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05The rebels lose just four men.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16By now, four 18 pound field guns stationed by the British
0:53:16 > 0:53:19at Trinity College have begun shelling the city.
0:53:26 > 0:53:28After a couple of very bruising encounters,
0:53:28 > 0:53:33it's clear that the British forces will not attempt a frontal charge
0:53:33 > 0:53:36on any of the fixed positions of the Volunteers.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Instead what they will do
0:53:38 > 0:53:40is they will draw a ring of steel around them
0:53:40 > 0:53:42and basically tighten that ring...
0:53:43 > 0:53:47..so that the rebels will eventually see that they have no option
0:53:47 > 0:53:49but to surrender or die.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01The British sail a gunboat, the Helga, up the River Liffey,
0:54:01 > 0:54:05and begin shelling O'Connell Street and the GPO.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18EXPLOSIONS
0:54:22 > 0:54:24EXPLOSIONS
0:54:35 > 0:54:36The assault intensifies
0:54:36 > 0:54:39as the British systematically close down the city.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44Outside the GPO, as Connolly tries to link with an outpost,
0:54:44 > 0:54:46a sniper's bullet rips into his ankle.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55With some difficulty he manages to drag himself back inside the GPO.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Fire spreads rapidly from building to building
0:55:06 > 0:55:08on the densely-packed commercial street.
0:55:13 > 0:55:19As far as we could see, the sky was just one enormous mass of flame.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23Tremendous, enormous mass of flame.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26And we felt that the whole centre of the city
0:55:26 > 0:55:28was being destroyed by fire.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39With parts of the GPO already on fire,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43Volunteer Eamon Dore has a meal with some fellow rebels.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46The post office was, of course, completely on fire at the time,
0:55:46 > 0:55:48it hadn't come quite down to our room
0:55:48 > 0:55:50but it was all around us, though.
0:55:50 > 0:55:54I asked Tom Clarke, I said, "What would you do if we won?"
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Well, he said, "We won't win this time."
0:55:57 > 0:56:00I said, "IF we won, what would you do?"
0:56:00 > 0:56:03He said, "I'd get a small cottage with a big wall round it
0:56:03 > 0:56:05"and I'd grow flowers."
0:56:13 > 0:56:15At 2am on Friday morning,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18the newly appointed military governor of Ireland,
0:56:18 > 0:56:20General Sir John Maxwell,
0:56:20 > 0:56:22sails up the Liffey into Dublin.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27"It looked as if the entire centre of Dublin was in flames.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30"When we got to North Wall, bullets were flying about -
0:56:30 > 0:56:33"the crackle of musketry and machinegun fire
0:56:33 > 0:56:34"breaking out every other minute.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39"I think the signs are that the rebels have had enough.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44"I will know for certain tonight."
0:56:53 > 0:56:56The garrison in the Four Courts under the command
0:56:56 > 0:56:59of 25-year-old Edward Daly has been surrounded.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05Daly and the Volunteers are involved in fierce fighting
0:57:05 > 0:57:07with the British along North King Street.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Days of fighting have cost the British dearly,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18with the loss of 11 men and 32 wounded.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22When they finally gain control of the street,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25their retaliation on some local residents is merciless.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29"The men were brought into the back.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33"We heard poor Christie pleading for his father's life.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36" 'Oh, don't kill Father.'
0:57:39 > 0:57:41"Shots rang out."
0:57:45 > 0:57:49That night, in houses along North King Street,
0:57:49 > 0:57:53British soldiers execute 15 innocent civilians.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26Pearse ordered the garrison be assembled in the main hall
0:58:26 > 0:58:29of the GPO on Friday afternoon.
0:58:29 > 0:58:35We knew that the end was near and he said, then, that...
0:58:35 > 0:58:39"Win it we will, although we may win it in death."
0:58:41 > 0:58:46By Friday evening it is clear that the GPO must be evacuated.
0:58:46 > 0:58:51The O'Rahilly volunteers to lead in advance party down Moore Street,
0:58:51 > 0:58:54to set up a position to provide cover for the next wave of rebels
0:58:54 > 0:58:56abandoning the GPO.
0:58:57 > 0:58:59But the British are waiting.
0:59:01 > 0:59:04They waited until the last of us came around the corner
0:59:04 > 0:59:08from Henry Street, and then they let it all loose on us.
0:59:09 > 0:59:12Incessant heavy fire.
0:59:12 > 0:59:17An awful lot fell near me - three or four of my friends.
0:59:17 > 0:59:18Lieutenant Paddy Shortis -
0:59:18 > 0:59:22I had chummed up with him only the previous day -
0:59:22 > 0:59:25we were friends for a very brief duration,
0:59:25 > 0:59:29he was shot dead beside me, and two or three others.
0:59:29 > 0:59:33Myself and about six others veered to the left-hand side of the street
0:59:33 > 0:59:38and The O'Rahilly was well in front and was shot there.
0:59:39 > 0:59:41I saw him fall on his face
0:59:41 > 0:59:44and the sword fall out of his hand.
0:59:44 > 0:59:47And I saw him then turn on his left side,
0:59:47 > 0:59:50he was in great pain and he made the sign of the cross.
0:59:55 > 0:59:58When Pearse and the remaining rebels evacuate the GPO,
0:59:58 > 1:00:00they, too, come under heavy fire
1:00:00 > 1:00:04and are forced to take cover in houses in Moore Street.
1:00:24 > 1:00:26By daybreak on Saturday,
1:00:26 > 1:00:31the commander of the British forces in Ireland, Brigadier-General Lowe,
1:00:31 > 1:00:34has effectively cordoned off the city centre.
1:00:34 > 1:00:36The noose has closed.
1:00:38 > 1:00:42In a building on Moore Street, Padraig Pearse sees something
1:00:42 > 1:00:45that finally convinces him to end the fight.
1:00:46 > 1:00:50On the street outside three old men lie dead...
1:00:51 > 1:00:54..holding white flags in their hands.
1:00:56 > 1:01:00This, according to Sean Mac Diarmada is the moment that Pearse decides
1:01:00 > 1:01:02to save the lives of further civilians
1:01:02 > 1:01:05by calling an end to the Rising.
1:01:07 > 1:01:12At 2:30pm, Pearse meets Lowe at the top of Moore Street,
1:01:12 > 1:01:16presenting his sword, and with it the formal, unconditional surrender
1:01:16 > 1:01:20of the Provisional Irish Government and the Irish Republican Army.
1:01:23 > 1:01:27The Irish Republic has lasted for just six days.
1:01:55 > 1:01:58Though sporadic resistance continues,
1:01:58 > 1:02:01by Sunday, all the main rebel garrisons have surrendered.
1:02:03 > 1:02:07Gravely injured, Connolly is moved to a hospital ward in Dublin Castle.
1:02:10 > 1:02:13The other leaders, along with many of the rebels,
1:02:13 > 1:02:15are taken to Richmond Barracks.
1:02:16 > 1:02:20Hundreds of us, very dishevelled men, I remember.
1:02:20 > 1:02:23Unshaven, soiled, tired-looking
1:02:23 > 1:02:26but a marvellous spirit of defiance.
1:02:27 > 1:02:32It seems very eerie going down such a silent O'Connell Street.
1:02:32 > 1:02:38There was hardly a sound, and at the GPO, smoke still rising from it.
1:02:39 > 1:02:43I thought to myself, that's like our dreams, in ruins now.
1:03:09 > 1:03:13As the smoke rises from the devastated city centre
1:03:13 > 1:03:15the immediate cost is clear.
1:03:15 > 1:03:2065 rebels and 140 British troops are dead...
1:03:20 > 1:03:25but by far the largest group of casualties are Dublin civilians.
1:03:25 > 1:03:30At least 300 men, women and children have lost their lives.
1:03:33 > 1:03:35The word chivalry has often been used
1:03:35 > 1:03:37in relation to the conduct of the fight.
1:03:37 > 1:03:40I don't think you can make a sweeping assertion
1:03:40 > 1:03:42about the conduct of the fight -
1:03:42 > 1:03:45particularly when you consider that there were in the region
1:03:45 > 1:03:49of 40 children killed over the course of Easter week 1916.
1:03:51 > 1:03:54Those children did not ask to die for Ireland.
1:04:05 > 1:04:08There was a whole series of demonstrations
1:04:08 > 1:04:10while we were marched down.
1:04:10 > 1:04:14Some of the women there shouted all sorts of expletives at us,
1:04:14 > 1:04:19told the soldiers to "shoot the bastards".
1:04:20 > 1:04:24So I can say this much, definitely, that the Rising in Dublin
1:04:24 > 1:04:26was not popular in 1916.
1:04:32 > 1:04:35Mainstream nationalist Ireland deeply disapproved.
1:04:35 > 1:04:39Not only was the action condemned as a stab in the back,
1:04:39 > 1:04:41a treachery, irresponsible and worse,
1:04:41 > 1:04:43but there were further calls
1:04:43 > 1:04:47for the most severe penalties to be meted out to the ringleaders.
1:04:55 > 1:04:58By now Ireland is being governed under martial law
1:04:58 > 1:05:01by British General Sir John Maxwell.
1:05:02 > 1:05:04Maxwell is in no mood for mercy.
1:05:06 > 1:05:09He rounds up the rank and file of the Irish Volunteers
1:05:09 > 1:05:13and the Irish Citizen Army and sends them to prison camps in Britain.
1:05:16 > 1:05:19The leaders would be court-martialled.
1:05:31 > 1:05:36Asquith's eldest son, his most brilliant son, Raymond,
1:05:36 > 1:05:39he was killed in the Great War.
1:05:39 > 1:05:43Many of his cabinet ministers had lost sons by 1916,
1:05:43 > 1:05:45and, therefore,
1:05:45 > 1:05:50what's the execution of the Irish leaders in 1916,
1:05:50 > 1:05:52when people are being killed
1:05:52 > 1:05:54in their hundreds, their thousands, every day?
1:05:55 > 1:05:59And that, I think...
1:05:59 > 1:06:04it coarsens the British reaction to 1916,
1:06:04 > 1:06:07it blunts their political antennae.
1:06:13 > 1:06:16The first to face Britain's justice
1:06:16 > 1:06:21are Padraig Pearse, Tom Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh.
1:06:22 > 1:06:25All three are found guilty of rebellion against the Crown
1:06:25 > 1:06:28and sentenced to death by firing squad.
1:06:30 > 1:06:33Transferred to Dublin's Kilmainham Gaol,
1:06:33 > 1:06:36they were informed that they will be shot at dawn.
1:06:38 > 1:06:42Their families are to be allowed one last visit.
1:06:42 > 1:06:46But neither the Pearse family nor Muriel MacDonagh
1:06:46 > 1:06:47receive the news in time.
1:06:49 > 1:06:54A Capuchin priest, Father Aloysius, is allowed to visit.
1:06:56 > 1:06:59"The bare cell was lighted from a candle
1:06:59 > 1:07:02"at a small opening in the cell wall.
1:07:02 > 1:07:05"I had barely light to read the ritual,
1:07:05 > 1:07:09"but the man, Pearse, as he lifted up to receive his God,
1:07:09 > 1:07:11"seemed to beam with light.
1:07:12 > 1:07:15"The same description would apply to Thomas MacDonagh.
1:07:15 > 1:07:17"Both assured me they were happy.
1:07:18 > 1:07:22"I left Pearse and MacDonagh in the most edifying disposition.
1:07:23 > 1:07:26"Pearse was anxious that his mother should get a letter
1:07:26 > 1:07:28"he had just written."
1:07:30 > 1:07:32"My dearest mother,
1:07:32 > 1:07:35"I had been hoping that it would be possible to see you again,
1:07:35 > 1:07:38"but it does not seem possible.
1:07:39 > 1:07:41"I have just received Holy Communion.
1:07:41 > 1:07:45"I am happy, except for the great grief of parting from you.
1:07:46 > 1:07:48"This is the death I should have asked for
1:07:48 > 1:07:51"if God had given me the choice of all deaths -
1:07:51 > 1:07:53"to die a soldier's death for freedom.
1:07:54 > 1:07:58"Goodbye, dear, dear mother."
1:08:05 > 1:08:07That same night in a nearby cell
1:08:07 > 1:08:10Thomas MacDonagh writes a note to his son.
1:08:12 > 1:08:16"Don, darling little boy, remember me kindly.
1:08:18 > 1:08:19"Take my hope.
1:08:20 > 1:08:24"You will recognise, I think, I have done a great thing for Ireland...
1:08:26 > 1:08:28"..won the first step for her freedom.
1:08:31 > 1:08:33"God bless you, my son."
1:08:38 > 1:08:40Only Tom Clarke's wife, Kathleen,
1:08:40 > 1:08:44herself a prisoner in Dublin Castle, gets there in time.
1:08:46 > 1:08:47We got about an hour.
1:08:47 > 1:08:53Well, even then we didn't talk about anything about ourselves,
1:08:53 > 1:08:55we talked about the future.
1:08:57 > 1:08:59And the future of the country.
1:08:59 > 1:09:02And he said...
1:09:02 > 1:09:05"We, all of us that are going out tonight," he said,
1:09:05 > 1:09:08"believe that we have saved the soul of Ireland...
1:09:10 > 1:09:14"..that we have struck the first successful blow to freedom,
1:09:14 > 1:09:16"but between this and freedom," he said,
1:09:16 > 1:09:18"Ireland would go through hell."
1:09:20 > 1:09:23"But," he said, "Ireland would never lie down again."
1:09:28 > 1:09:31Three days after the Rising, the British authorities announced
1:09:31 > 1:09:35that three leaders, Clarke, MacDonagh and Pearse
1:09:35 > 1:09:36had been executed.
1:09:46 > 1:09:49The population of Dublin were not aware of what was going on,
1:09:49 > 1:09:51because the court martials were held in secret...
1:09:53 > 1:09:56..and hearing volleys of shots from Kilmainham prison
1:09:56 > 1:09:58was not calculated to appease the concerns
1:09:58 > 1:10:01of those who knew that hundreds of people had been rounded-up
1:10:01 > 1:10:05and, for all they knew, hundreds of people were going to be executed.
1:10:05 > 1:10:09In the following days, the executions continue.
1:10:09 > 1:10:14On Wednesday 4th, Edward Daly, Michael O'Hanrahan,
1:10:14 > 1:10:16Joseph Mary Plunkett
1:10:16 > 1:10:20and Pearse's younger brother, Willie, face the firing squad.
1:10:22 > 1:10:26May 5th, Major John MacBride is executed.
1:10:28 > 1:10:31May 8th, four more executions -
1:10:31 > 1:10:34Conn Colbert, Eamonn Ceannt,
1:10:34 > 1:10:36Sean Heuston and Michael Mallin.
1:10:38 > 1:10:40"My darling wife, pulse of my heart...
1:10:43 > 1:10:46"..this is the end of all things earthly.
1:10:46 > 1:10:49"I enclose the buttons off my sleeve.
1:10:49 > 1:10:51"Keep them in memory of me."
1:11:01 > 1:11:04Machiavelli used to always say if you had bad news
1:11:04 > 1:11:06you should get it all over in one go.
1:11:06 > 1:11:09If they were going to execute, they would have been much better off
1:11:09 > 1:11:12carrying out the executions one day, bang - that.
1:11:12 > 1:11:15Instead of which, nobody knows what's happening,
1:11:15 > 1:11:17there's very strict censorship -
1:11:17 > 1:11:19and the impact upon Irish public opinion
1:11:19 > 1:11:23has been well likened to watching
1:11:23 > 1:11:27blood slowly seeping from under a locked prison door.
1:11:33 > 1:11:36Irish politician John Dillon,
1:11:36 > 1:11:38a senior figure in the Home Rule Party,
1:11:38 > 1:11:41delivers an angry speech in the House of Commons
1:11:41 > 1:11:43that provokes shock and outrage.
1:11:43 > 1:11:48His target - the British government and its policy of retribution.
1:11:48 > 1:11:51"You are letting loose a river of blood.
1:11:51 > 1:11:54"It is the first rebellion that ever took place in Ireland
1:11:54 > 1:11:56"where you had the majority on your side.
1:11:57 > 1:12:01"It is not murderers who are being executed, it is insurgents
1:12:01 > 1:12:05"who have fought a clean fight - a brave fight, however misguided."
1:12:13 > 1:12:16In America, people are beginning to pay attention.
1:12:18 > 1:12:23What's interesting about the coverage of the Easter Rising
1:12:23 > 1:12:28in American newspapers is the extensive nature of it.
1:12:28 > 1:12:32The New York Times devoted 14 days
1:12:32 > 1:12:36to coverage of the Easter Rising on its front page.
1:12:38 > 1:12:44Then you see American public opinion swung in favour of the Irish
1:12:44 > 1:12:47and against the British.
1:12:48 > 1:12:51So that you would have monster meetings,
1:12:51 > 1:12:54gatherings of Irish-Americans
1:12:54 > 1:12:57and those who were supporting Irish independence,
1:12:57 > 1:13:03and the then ambassador from Great Britain to the United States
1:13:03 > 1:13:06is watching very closely,
1:13:06 > 1:13:09and right after the executions
1:13:09 > 1:13:13he says that, "When they look our way,"
1:13:13 > 1:13:18meaning the Irish in America, "they have blood in their eyes."
1:13:23 > 1:13:27With Irish and international pressure mounting,
1:13:27 > 1:13:30many rebels, including three prominent leaders,
1:13:30 > 1:13:33Eamon de Valera, Countess Markievicz
1:13:33 > 1:13:37and WT Cosgrave are taken off the execution list.
1:13:41 > 1:13:45For the two remaining signatories of the proclamation, however,
1:13:45 > 1:13:47there will be no mercy.
1:13:49 > 1:13:53On 11th May, James Connolly and Sean Mac Diarmada
1:13:53 > 1:13:56are court-martialled and sentenced to death by firing squad.
1:13:59 > 1:14:03James Connolly is still in the Red Cross Hospital in Dublin Castle,
1:14:03 > 1:14:05being treated for his wounds.
1:14:07 > 1:14:10About midnight Connolly's wife, Lily,
1:14:10 > 1:14:12and daughter, Nora, are brought to see him.
1:14:13 > 1:14:16Well, we got ready, and we went down and we were taken in a...
1:14:16 > 1:14:21an army lorry, coming down through O'Connell Street and all the...
1:14:22 > 1:14:25You still smell burning and all...
1:14:25 > 1:14:27they still had that
1:14:27 > 1:14:28horrible smell of burning.
1:14:30 > 1:14:34So when we got in to my father, he said,
1:14:34 > 1:14:38"Well, Lily," he said, "I suppose you know what this means?
1:14:38 > 1:14:41And she said, "Oh, no. Oh, no, not that."
1:14:41 > 1:14:43He said, "Yes, Lily."
1:14:43 > 1:14:46She broke down, then, and she said,
1:14:46 > 1:14:51"But your beautiful life, James," she says, "your beautiful life."
1:14:52 > 1:14:58He said, "Wasn't it a full life Lillian, isn't this a good end?"
1:14:59 > 1:15:02And she broke, but she still cried, so he says, "Look, Lily,
1:15:02 > 1:15:05"please don't cry," he says, "you'll unman me."
1:15:06 > 1:15:08So she tried to control herself.
1:15:08 > 1:15:11I was trying to control myself, too.
1:15:12 > 1:15:16And he was trying to plan our life for after he was gone, and...
1:15:19 > 1:15:22Then they told us...
1:15:22 > 1:15:24time is up, and we'd have to go,
1:15:24 > 1:15:26he was to be shot at dawn, you see.
1:15:32 > 1:15:35On May 12th, James Connolly and Sean Mac Diarmada
1:15:35 > 1:15:38are the last of the leaders to be shot by firing squad.
1:15:44 > 1:15:48Having been found guilty of treason on the 3rd of August,
1:15:48 > 1:15:52Roger Casement is hanged in Pentonville Prison in London.
1:15:55 > 1:15:58Casement's death brings the executions to an end...
1:15:59 > 1:16:01..but it also marks a beginning.
1:16:13 > 1:16:17I think that Pearse imagined execution as, in fact,
1:16:17 > 1:16:21a great weapon, a great rebel weapon.
1:16:21 > 1:16:23"Yes, they'll kill us,
1:16:23 > 1:16:24"but our fame will live on."
1:16:24 > 1:16:27Execution means drama.
1:16:27 > 1:16:30You might almost say, it is great theatre -
1:16:30 > 1:16:33except it's great theatre where the losers die.
1:16:35 > 1:16:36But the way they die,
1:16:36 > 1:16:40and what they leave after them, then resonates with those to come.
1:16:44 > 1:16:48Violence polarises situations, and when ordinary Irish nationalists,
1:16:48 > 1:16:50people who had been hostile to the rebellion,
1:16:50 > 1:16:53have to choose which side their sympathies are with,
1:16:53 > 1:16:56it's not for the execution squads of the British Army
1:16:56 > 1:16:59but for people who are, after all, their own blood.
1:17:02 > 1:17:05People began to see the rebels differently,
1:17:05 > 1:17:08they began to understand and get ideas of self-sacrifice
1:17:08 > 1:17:13and heroism and courage and they began, as a result of that,
1:17:13 > 1:17:16to try and understand what it was that drove them
1:17:16 > 1:17:20to this extremity when it was clear that they couldn't possibly win.
1:17:22 > 1:17:24- INTERVIEWER:- What effect did the executions have on you?
1:17:24 > 1:17:27The same as it had on everybody else,
1:17:27 > 1:17:29made me completely and absolutely pro them,
1:17:29 > 1:17:33and I became a political Irishman from that day.
1:17:35 > 1:17:39The executions of the leaders did a lot of political damage,
1:17:39 > 1:17:42but the arrests of a lot of ordinary people
1:17:42 > 1:17:45did at least as much damage and spread it wider.
1:17:45 > 1:17:49The British forces went into areas which hadn't seen an insurrection
1:17:49 > 1:17:53and arrested large numbers of people in the weeks after the Rising.
1:17:55 > 1:17:57They brought together people who'd never met each other,
1:17:57 > 1:18:00and had no public influence before, nothing in common.
1:18:01 > 1:18:06By doing so they greatly broadened the new revolutionary elite.
1:18:17 > 1:18:22Late in 1916, most of the internal prisoners are set free.
1:18:24 > 1:18:26The rest are released the following year.
1:18:28 > 1:18:31In the months that follow, in a remarkable change of heart,
1:18:31 > 1:18:34the majority sentiment comes to support the cause
1:18:34 > 1:18:38for which the rebels of 1916 had fought and died.
1:18:47 > 1:18:51When the Great War ends tens of thousands of Irish soldiers
1:18:51 > 1:18:53return to a transformed Ireland.
1:18:53 > 1:18:58Having fought under a British flag, some find themselves ostracised.
1:19:00 > 1:19:03Their sacrifice at the front line no longer valued.
1:19:03 > 1:19:06Others joined the republican cause
1:19:06 > 1:19:10and devote themselves fully to achieving Irish independence.
1:19:16 > 1:19:20In the general election of 1918, Sinn Fein,
1:19:20 > 1:19:22the political party that rejects Home Rule
1:19:22 > 1:19:25in favour of separatist republicanism,
1:19:25 > 1:19:27wins a landslide victory,
1:19:27 > 1:19:29gaining almost three quarters of the seats.
1:19:31 > 1:19:35One third of the newly elected Sinn Fein representatives
1:19:35 > 1:19:37had fought in 1916.
1:19:39 > 1:19:43Significantly, this is the first time in Irish history
1:19:43 > 1:19:47that women are given the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
1:19:48 > 1:19:50In the north of Ireland,
1:19:50 > 1:19:53Ulster Unionists are by far the most successful party,
1:19:53 > 1:19:57setting the scene for the future partition of the island.
1:20:27 > 1:20:31Refusing to take their seats in the parliament in London,
1:20:31 > 1:20:33on the 21st of January, 1919,
1:20:33 > 1:20:37the elected Sinn Fein representatives not imprisoned
1:20:37 > 1:20:39gather at Dublin's Mansion house,
1:20:39 > 1:20:42where they declare an Irish Republic,
1:20:42 > 1:20:45establishing the first independent Irish parliament,
1:20:45 > 1:20:47which they name Dail Eireann.
1:20:51 > 1:20:55The Irish people have asserted their democratic right
1:20:55 > 1:20:57to govern themselves.
1:21:12 > 1:21:14Ireland's future,
1:21:14 > 1:21:18as she takes her place among the free nations of the world,
1:21:18 > 1:21:22will involve a protracted and, at times, disillusioning process.
1:21:26 > 1:21:28It will bring a guerrilla war...
1:21:30 > 1:21:32..negotiations,
1:21:32 > 1:21:34compromises...
1:21:36 > 1:21:38..a bitter civil war...
1:21:42 > 1:21:44..and the partitioning of Ireland,
1:21:44 > 1:21:47with six counties of Ulster to be called Northern Ireland,
1:21:47 > 1:21:50remaining within the United Kingdom.
1:21:57 > 1:21:59The rebellion leaves behind
1:21:59 > 1:22:02a complex and, at times, contested legacy.
1:22:11 > 1:22:17And yet, with 1916, the decisive step had been taken.
1:22:21 > 1:22:26Its historical significance would reverberate around the world,
1:22:26 > 1:22:29providing a catalyst for the irreversible dismantling
1:22:29 > 1:22:34of old colonial powers throughout the rest of the century.
1:22:37 > 1:22:40You can almost feel, in 1916,
1:22:40 > 1:22:43the clock of civilisation is beginning to turn.
1:22:43 > 1:22:48The old British Empire is beginning to come apart at the seams...
1:22:49 > 1:22:52..and part of that is the 1916 Rising. Why?
1:22:52 > 1:22:56It's the first time since America in 1776
1:22:56 > 1:23:00that, almost at the heart of their Empire, there's a resistance.
1:23:04 > 1:23:08And the rest of the 20th century the sound of the globe
1:23:08 > 1:23:13is of bits of the Empire falling off and the huge British dominance
1:23:13 > 1:23:17across the globe beginning to shrink back to its old island basis.
1:23:42 > 1:23:48100 years on, the ideals that animated the men and women of 1916,
1:23:48 > 1:23:53ideas of freedom, equality and civil and religious liberty
1:23:53 > 1:23:57continue to exercise, challenge and inspire us today...
1:23:59 > 1:24:03..and may well resonate among the generations of the future.
1:24:06 > 1:24:10"The Proclamation, it lives.
1:24:11 > 1:24:15"From minds alive with Ireland's visit intellect it sprang.
1:24:15 > 1:24:18"Such documents do not die."
1:24:26 > 1:24:28"We have done right.
1:24:28 > 1:24:32"People will say hard things of us now
1:24:32 > 1:24:34"but later on they will praise us.
1:24:34 > 1:24:37"Do not grieve for all this.
1:24:38 > 1:24:43"Think of it as a sacrifice which God asked of me...
1:24:43 > 1:24:45"and of you."