The Easter Rising of 1916 was the most significant Irish uprising since 1798 and directly shaped the path toward Irish independence.
Key Facts
- Duration
- Six days, 24–29 April 1916
- Total killed
- 485 (260 civilians, 143 British, 82 rebels)
- Wounded
- More than 2,600
- Prisoners taken
- Approximately 3,500
- Leaders executed
- 16, beginning May 1916
- Sinn Féin seats, 1918 election
- 73 of 105 Irish seats
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Irish republicans sought to end British rule while Britain was engaged in the First World War, judging the moment strategically favorable. The Irish Republican Brotherhood's Military Council secretly organised the insurrection, believing that physical force, rather than constitutional nationalism that had dominated Irish politics for nearly fifty years, was necessary to establish an independent Irish Republic.
On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, members of the Irish Volunteers under Patrick Pearse, the Irish Citizen Army under James Connolly, and 200 women of Cumann na mBan seized key buildings across Dublin and proclaimed the Irish Republic. The British Army responded with thousands of reinforcements, artillery, and a gunboat. After six days of street fighting and artillery bombardment, Pearse issued an unconditional surrender on 29 April.
About 3,500 people were imprisoned and most Rising leaders were executed by courts martial, which shifted Irish public opinion toward independence. The 1918 general election saw Sinn Féin win 73 of 105 Irish seats; they convened the First Dáil and declared independence, setting Ireland on a course toward the Irish War of Independence and eventual separation from British rule.