1
00:00:09,300 --> 00:00:11,660
"Look up, look up,

2
00:00:11,660 --> 00:00:15,860
"arise from the death dust where
you have long been lying.

3
00:00:15,860 --> 00:00:20,900
"And let the light of liberty visit
your eyes and touch your souls.

4
00:00:20,900 --> 00:00:24,180
"Let your ears
drink in the blessed words,

5
00:00:24,180 --> 00:00:28,180
"liberty, fraternity and equality,

6
00:00:28,180 --> 00:00:31,100
"which are soon to
ring from pole to pole."

7
00:00:45,620 --> 00:00:48,900
Easter Monday, April 1916.

8
00:00:48,900 --> 00:00:52,540
A small band of rebels,
including poets and teachers,

9
00:00:52,540 --> 00:00:57,020
actors and workers, gathers
in Dublin intent on liberating

10
00:00:57,020 --> 00:01:00,420
Ireland from 700 years
of British rule.

11
00:01:03,340 --> 00:01:05,220
EXPLOSIONS

12
00:01:06,420 --> 00:01:09,140
Against the might
of the British Empire,

13
00:01:09,140 --> 00:01:13,100
the poorly armed rebels
stand little chance.

14
00:01:13,100 --> 00:01:15,940
Yet the decision is made to proceed,

15
00:01:15,940 --> 00:01:18,420
even if it brings failure or death.

16
00:01:31,420 --> 00:01:33,820
Outside Dublin's
General Post Office,

17
00:01:33,820 --> 00:01:36,020
rebel leader Padraig Pearse reads

18
00:01:36,020 --> 00:01:40,300
a proclamation, declaring the birth
of an independent Irish Republic.

19
00:01:42,020 --> 00:01:44,860
"Irishmen and Irishwomen...

20
00:01:44,860 --> 00:01:47,060
"Ireland strikes for her freedom."

21
00:01:49,580 --> 00:01:52,260
In that document in 1916,

22
00:01:52,260 --> 00:01:54,420
we have a very radical,
a very liberal

23
00:01:54,420 --> 00:01:57,100
and very far-reaching affirmation

24
00:01:57,100 --> 00:01:59,060
of the equality of men and women.

25
00:02:00,420 --> 00:02:03,540
"We declare the right
of the people of Ireland

26
00:02:03,540 --> 00:02:05,380
"to the ownership of Ireland."

27
00:02:07,540 --> 00:02:10,780
This is a document
that just exudes radicalism.

28
00:02:11,980 --> 00:02:16,300
"The Irish Republic guarantees
religious and civil liberty,

29
00:02:16,300 --> 00:02:20,300
"equal rights
and equal opportunities to all."

30
00:02:20,300 --> 00:02:22,700
I think everything about the Rising

31
00:02:22,700 --> 00:02:26,260
and the writing around it is
futuristic, it's future driven.

32
00:02:26,260 --> 00:02:30,100
"To pursue the happiness
and prosperity of the whole nation,

33
00:02:30,100 --> 00:02:33,380
"cherishing all of the children
of the nation equally."

34
00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:38,620
In reality, the proclamation was
read to a disinterested small

35
00:02:38,620 --> 00:02:41,980
group of people, but symbolically
it takes on enormous power

36
00:02:41,980 --> 00:02:44,140
and ensures that this rebellion

37
00:02:44,140 --> 00:02:47,140
will become a defining event
in Irish history.

38
00:02:51,420 --> 00:02:54,820
The Irish Rebellion of 1916 would
fundamentally change

39
00:02:54,820 --> 00:02:57,140
the course of Irish history.

40
00:02:57,140 --> 00:02:59,980
While its vision,
enshrined in the proclamation

41
00:02:59,980 --> 00:03:03,460
of the Irish Republic,
will inspire freedom movements

42
00:03:03,460 --> 00:03:07,060
throughout the world to
rise against their colonial masters.

43
00:03:32,020 --> 00:03:37,900
The ideals of the proclamation of
1916 arise from a turbulent history.

44
00:03:37,900 --> 00:03:39,340
For over 800 years,

45
00:03:39,340 --> 00:03:44,220
the relationship between Ireland
and her closest neighbour, Britain,

46
00:03:44,220 --> 00:03:46,180
is contested and troubled.

47
00:03:48,260 --> 00:03:52,460
Centuries of British conquest leave
the native Irish dispossessed.

48
00:03:57,860 --> 00:04:01,500
A strategy of plantation established
a new dominant class

49
00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:04,700
of Protestant settlers
loyal to the English crown -

50
00:04:04,700 --> 00:04:07,980
most significantly in Ulster,
in Ireland's North.

51
00:04:11,540 --> 00:04:15,340
The mostly Catholic Irish
rise sporadically in rebellion.

52
00:04:24,660 --> 00:04:27,500
Each time, their rebellions
are suppressed.

53
00:04:33,580 --> 00:04:36,820
In Ireland, you have a very
unequal society

54
00:04:36,820 --> 00:04:41,100
where the feeling of injustice
about the inequality is exacerbated

55
00:04:41,100 --> 00:04:44,780
by the idea it's been founded on
conquest and expropriation.

56
00:04:53,860 --> 00:04:58,140
But in Europe, a revolution
of science and philosophy has begun

57
00:04:58,140 --> 00:05:01,460
that will create a yearning
for liberty and equality

58
00:05:01,460 --> 00:05:04,740
that will in time reverberate
throughout the world.

59
00:05:07,900 --> 00:05:10,460
If you look at the proclamation
of 1916,

60
00:05:10,460 --> 00:05:12,620
some of the core ideas in it

61
00:05:12,620 --> 00:05:16,620
represent the authors
of the proclamation

62
00:05:16,620 --> 00:05:21,580
looking back to a series of
different moments in the past.

63
00:05:21,580 --> 00:05:27,260
They've got a set of ideas
about universal principles

64
00:05:27,260 --> 00:05:31,260
that comes out of a kind of
political activation

65
00:05:31,260 --> 00:05:33,540
of some philosophical ideas

66
00:05:33,540 --> 00:05:37,140
that were being developed
in the 17th century.

67
00:05:37,140 --> 00:05:39,820
Part of what we call the
Enlightenment.

68
00:05:39,820 --> 00:05:41,900
The idea that there
are certain things

69
00:05:41,900 --> 00:05:43,660
which everyone should share in.

70
00:05:44,860 --> 00:05:50,740
Equal rights, equal liberties,
equal opportunities.

71
00:05:52,620 --> 00:05:55,500
The emphasis they place on happiness

72
00:05:55,500 --> 00:05:57,620
certainly seems to echo the words

73
00:05:57,620 --> 00:06:00,500
of the American Declaration
of Independence.

74
00:06:06,620 --> 00:06:09,380
Among the clearest
voices of the Enlightenment

75
00:06:09,380 --> 00:06:11,620
is that of Thomas Jefferson.

76
00:06:11,620 --> 00:06:14,180
Seven years before the
American Revolution

77
00:06:14,180 --> 00:06:16,460
puts an end to British rule
in America,

78
00:06:16,460 --> 00:06:19,060
he writes the
Declaration of Independence.

79
00:06:20,580 --> 00:06:23,820
"All men are created equal,

80
00:06:23,820 --> 00:06:26,980
"endowed with certain
unalienable rights.

81
00:06:26,980 --> 00:06:31,580
"Among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness."

82
00:06:35,660 --> 00:06:38,500
Ten years later,
the French Revolution

83
00:06:38,500 --> 00:06:42,340
shakes the foundation
of the Ancien Regime in Europe.

84
00:06:42,340 --> 00:06:44,780
The age of revolution has begun.

85
00:06:51,900 --> 00:06:54,140
The spirit of the Enlightenment

86
00:06:54,140 --> 00:06:56,980
ignites two subsequent
Irish rebellions,

87
00:06:56,980 --> 00:06:59,300
both led by Protestant radicals -

88
00:06:59,300 --> 00:07:02,460
Theobald Wolfe Tone in 1798...

89
00:07:04,660 --> 00:07:07,060
..and Robert Emmet in 1803.

90
00:07:12,380 --> 00:07:14,980
Both uprisings fail,

91
00:07:14,980 --> 00:07:18,740
and yet the ideals of equality
and self-determination

92
00:07:18,740 --> 00:07:22,580
proclaimed by Tone and Emmet
are now deeply rooted in Ireland.

93
00:07:43,340 --> 00:07:48,340
In 1845, a potato blight crosses
the continent of Europe.

94
00:07:48,340 --> 00:07:52,020
Its effects hit Ireland hardest,
where over 30% of the people

95
00:07:52,020 --> 00:07:54,780
are dependent on potatoes
for their survival.

96
00:07:58,100 --> 00:08:01,780
The failure of the crop
is devastating.

97
00:08:01,780 --> 00:08:03,820
And the great famine that follows

98
00:08:03,820 --> 00:08:07,260
casts a long and lasting shadow
on Irish history.

99
00:08:27,580 --> 00:08:31,660
The famine of 1845 to 1851

100
00:08:31,660 --> 00:08:35,540
is regarded by majority
Irish opinion

101
00:08:35,540 --> 00:08:38,300
as demonstrating that the
British government

102
00:08:38,300 --> 00:08:41,100
is not prepared to look after

103
00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:43,260
the Catholic population of Ireland

104
00:08:43,260 --> 00:08:46,820
in the same way it would have
done its own English people,

105
00:08:46,820 --> 00:08:50,380
or, indeed, Scots people, as well.

106
00:08:59,060 --> 00:09:00,940
About a million perish
from the famine,

107
00:09:00,940 --> 00:09:02,500
and a million are going to leave -

108
00:09:02,500 --> 00:09:04,380
but that's only in the years
of the famine.

109
00:09:04,380 --> 00:09:08,180
The migration, the exodus, is going
to continue from that point forward.

110
00:09:13,500 --> 00:09:16,020
It's coming into Manhattan,
it's coming into Boston,

111
00:09:16,020 --> 00:09:17,500
it coming into Chicago.

112
00:09:19,780 --> 00:09:21,740
The example I like to cite
in Manhattan,

113
00:09:21,740 --> 00:09:24,420
which, in the 1855 census,

114
00:09:24,420 --> 00:09:28,540
one quarter of all Manhattan
was Irish born.

115
00:09:34,700 --> 00:09:39,780
Really, what they brought with them
was very little materially,

116
00:09:39,780 --> 00:09:42,940
but they brought this hunger
for independence,

117
00:09:42,940 --> 00:09:44,780
this hunger for freedom.

118
00:09:44,780 --> 00:09:47,860
They saw it here
in the United States.

119
00:09:49,220 --> 00:09:53,260
Here in America,
you had the opportunity,

120
00:09:53,260 --> 00:09:57,540
the freedom to nurture
the animosity,

121
00:09:57,540 --> 00:10:02,060
and, indeed, hatred for the British.

122
00:10:02,060 --> 00:10:04,860
And to see them forming groups

123
00:10:04,860 --> 00:10:08,740
that were devoted
to Irish independence,

124
00:10:08,740 --> 00:10:13,420
and those groups became important
prior to the Easter Rising.

125
00:10:15,540 --> 00:10:19,060
In 1858, those people coalesced
in New York and Dublin

126
00:10:19,060 --> 00:10:20,740
as two organisations -

127
00:10:20,740 --> 00:10:22,540
the Fenian Brotherhood in New York,

128
00:10:22,540 --> 00:10:25,420
and the Irish Republican Brotherhood
based in Dublin.

129
00:10:25,420 --> 00:10:28,540
From the outset, they were regarded
as two linked organisations

130
00:10:28,540 --> 00:10:30,740
working towards the same objective,

131
00:10:30,740 --> 00:10:33,140
the creation of an independent
Irish Republic.

132
00:10:33,140 --> 00:10:37,700
This is the seedbed, in many ways,
of 1916.

133
00:10:37,700 --> 00:10:42,380
The number of Fenians who actually
had spent time in America

134
00:10:42,380 --> 00:10:44,020
is very striking,

135
00:10:44,020 --> 00:10:46,940
and they are looking at Ireland
from an American perspective,

136
00:10:46,940 --> 00:10:49,780
and they've imbibed something
of this can-do mentality

137
00:10:49,780 --> 00:10:52,060
that was already part
of the American psyche.

138
00:10:57,460 --> 00:11:01,460
Having served six years for treason
in a British prison,

139
00:11:01,460 --> 00:11:06,220
Kildare man John Devoy
is exiled to America.

140
00:11:06,220 --> 00:11:09,860
There he becomes a key figure in the
Irish struggle for independence.

141
00:11:12,420 --> 00:11:17,180
Driven by Devoy, the Irish
Republican Brotherhood, or IRB,

142
00:11:17,180 --> 00:11:19,500
develops its vision.

143
00:11:19,500 --> 00:11:22,540
Only by becoming free
from the British Empire

144
00:11:22,540 --> 00:11:26,500
can Ireland achieve full
self-determination for her people.

145
00:11:31,020 --> 00:11:33,100
John Devoy is absolutely fundamental

146
00:11:33,100 --> 00:11:34,460
to the whole exercise -

147
00:11:34,460 --> 00:11:37,980
he's one of those people who
seemed to live for ever.

148
00:11:39,380 --> 00:11:41,340
He's a committed revolutionary,

149
00:11:41,340 --> 00:11:43,740
and he never seems to have
let a day pass

150
00:11:43,740 --> 00:11:45,620
without contriving to bring about

151
00:11:45,620 --> 00:11:47,620
the destruction of
the British Empire.

152
00:11:59,740 --> 00:12:03,300
The 1800s are the golden
age of the British Empire.

153
00:12:03,300 --> 00:12:06,940
Straddling the globe
from Canada to India.

154
00:12:09,220 --> 00:12:13,260
Many Irish people play a part
in the Empire, making up the armies

155
00:12:13,260 --> 00:12:16,300
and legions of professionals
required to administer it.

156
00:12:19,980 --> 00:12:23,500
Ireland is in a peculiar
way in the 19th century -

157
00:12:23,500 --> 00:12:25,380
part of the imperial project,

158
00:12:25,380 --> 00:12:28,060
and, at the same time,
within the British state,

159
00:12:28,060 --> 00:12:30,700
a part of it is refusing to conform.

160
00:12:33,460 --> 00:12:37,220
One of the Irish working for the
Empire is Roger Casement.

161
00:12:37,220 --> 00:12:40,660
Stationed in Africa's Congo
as a British diplomat,

162
00:12:40,660 --> 00:12:43,100
Casement becomes horrified
by the brutality

163
00:12:43,100 --> 00:12:44,820
of Belgium's colonial regime.

164
00:12:47,580 --> 00:12:50,420
He exposes Belgium's
atrocities to the world

165
00:12:50,420 --> 00:12:54,260
and becomes a renowned crusader
against the excesses of imperialism.

166
00:12:59,540 --> 00:13:01,060
Turning his attention home,

167
00:13:01,060 --> 00:13:03,100
Casement becomes
increasingly attracted

168
00:13:03,100 --> 00:13:07,060
to the cause of Irish nationalism,
and an outspoken

169
00:13:07,060 --> 00:13:10,740
critic of the deep-rooted origins
of the injustices he witnesses.

170
00:13:13,980 --> 00:13:16,820
In post-famine Ireland,
many of the poor peasantry

171
00:13:16,820 --> 00:13:19,780
still live on a knife edge,

172
00:13:19,780 --> 00:13:22,300
with evictions a constant threat.

173
00:13:25,100 --> 00:13:29,780
Casement is not alone -
a new generation is emerging.

174
00:13:29,780 --> 00:13:33,260
Men and women with strong
nationalist convictions,

175
00:13:33,260 --> 00:13:38,180
determined to advocate for equality
and freedom for the Irish people.

176
00:13:38,180 --> 00:13:41,740
Evictions I saw in 1885

177
00:13:41,740 --> 00:13:44,460
changed the whole course of my life.

178
00:13:44,460 --> 00:13:47,900
Transforming me from a
carefree society girl

179
00:13:47,900 --> 00:13:51,660
into a woman of set purpose.

180
00:13:51,660 --> 00:13:53,820
I was determined to do my share

181
00:13:53,820 --> 00:13:56,780
to free Ireland
from the British Empire.

182
00:14:07,660 --> 00:14:13,300
Revolution is a tool
for remaking states and societies.

183
00:14:13,300 --> 00:14:18,020
It's not just a kind of protest
against injustice,

184
00:14:18,020 --> 00:14:21,820
it's a creative process
in its own right.

185
00:14:24,700 --> 00:14:28,340
The most striking feature of
the Irish Revolution in world terms

186
00:14:28,340 --> 00:14:32,180
is that the cultural revolution
precedes the political revolution.

187
00:14:33,860 --> 00:14:37,300
The famine had created this enormous
vacuum in Irish culture.

188
00:14:37,300 --> 00:14:40,700
Ireland had shifted from being
essentially a bilingual country

189
00:14:40,700 --> 00:14:42,900
to being increasingly
a monolingual one.

190
00:14:42,900 --> 00:14:45,020
Ireland had become much more
anglicised,

191
00:14:45,020 --> 00:14:48,740
much more drawn into the mainstream
of British culture.

192
00:14:58,540 --> 00:15:00,220
Nationalist leaders come to believe

193
00:15:00,220 --> 00:15:03,380
that if the Irish people
are to be set free,

194
00:15:03,380 --> 00:15:06,180
they need an ideal to inspire them.

195
00:15:06,180 --> 00:15:08,700
Ireland's ancient and
traditional culture

196
00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:11,700
becomes a central pillar
of the cause.

197
00:15:14,060 --> 00:15:15,380
In many ways,

198
00:15:15,380 --> 00:15:20,140
there was a cultural revival -
particularly in the 1890s.

199
00:15:21,660 --> 00:15:25,220
It was in a context in which wider
politics had failed,

200
00:15:25,220 --> 00:15:29,260
and what happens is that culture
fills the political vacuum.

201
00:15:29,260 --> 00:15:33,300
The group who staged the Rising
tended to be the younger people,

202
00:15:33,300 --> 00:15:35,220
tended to be the politicised people,

203
00:15:35,220 --> 00:15:38,220
perhaps also the more socially
and culturally aware people.

204
00:15:38,220 --> 00:15:40,460
They were the people who were
at the cutting edge

205
00:15:40,460 --> 00:15:43,900
of the causes of the time,
including women's rights,

206
00:15:43,900 --> 00:15:46,500
the language movement,
the literary movement.

207
00:15:46,500 --> 00:15:48,340
There's this cohort of people

208
00:15:48,340 --> 00:15:52,460
who begin to kind of say, "We need
to take responsibility for this,

209
00:15:52,460 --> 00:15:54,860
"we need to imagine a new
kind of Ireland,"

210
00:15:54,860 --> 00:15:57,660
and, in some respects,
the 1916 Rising

211
00:15:57,660 --> 00:15:59,580
is about the Irish saying,

212
00:15:59,580 --> 00:16:02,940
"We belong to an old,
ancient, proud culture,

213
00:16:02,940 --> 00:16:04,820
"and we are not willing any more

214
00:16:04,820 --> 00:16:07,340
"to be treated as
second-class subjects."

215
00:16:17,220 --> 00:16:21,660
In 1904, poet William Butler Yeats
and writer Lady Gregory

216
00:16:21,660 --> 00:16:24,860
forge their part of this new
Irish world.

217
00:16:26,940 --> 00:16:28,380
They found an institution

218
00:16:28,380 --> 00:16:31,340
that will become the high church
of the Gaelic revival -

219
00:16:31,340 --> 00:16:33,060
the Abbey Theatre.

220
00:16:34,420 --> 00:16:36,500
Yeats liked to quote Victor Hugo.

221
00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:39,420
"In the theatre,
a mob becomes a people."

222
00:16:39,420 --> 00:16:43,380
You know, a mob is usually what
starts a revolution.

223
00:16:43,380 --> 00:16:47,980
Those attending or acting on stage
at the Abbey Theatre

224
00:16:47,980 --> 00:16:49,780
include Maud Gonne

225
00:16:49,780 --> 00:16:53,580
and future leaders of the Rising
Roger Casement,

226
00:16:53,580 --> 00:16:56,820
Thomas MacDonagh and
Countess Markievicz.

227
00:16:58,380 --> 00:17:00,540
Playwrights include Eoin MacNeill,

228
00:17:00,540 --> 00:17:02,900
the future leader
of the Irish Volunteers...

229
00:17:05,540 --> 00:17:09,260
..and one of the writers
of the proclamation, Padraig Pearse.

230
00:17:13,540 --> 00:17:18,180
In 1908, Pearse founds
St Enda's School in Dublin...

231
00:17:19,580 --> 00:17:22,340
..dedicated to the cultural
and moral formation

232
00:17:22,340 --> 00:17:23,660
of the ideal young Gael.

233
00:17:27,540 --> 00:17:29,940
"It will be attempted to inculcate
in the pupils

234
00:17:29,940 --> 00:17:32,820
"the desire to spend their lives
working hard and zealously

235
00:17:32,820 --> 00:17:34,420
"for their fatherland...

236
00:17:36,620 --> 00:17:39,820
"..and, if it should be necessary,
to die for it."

237
00:17:42,940 --> 00:17:46,300
St Enda's becomes
a seedbed for the rebellion.

238
00:17:46,300 --> 00:17:49,980
Many pupils will join their teachers
in the Rising of 1916,

239
00:17:49,980 --> 00:17:54,700
including Pearse's brother Willie,
Thomas MacDonagh and Con Colbert.

240
00:17:57,420 --> 00:18:02,220
It was about 1910,
we were in an English class,

241
00:18:02,220 --> 00:18:05,140
just a small group of us.

242
00:18:05,140 --> 00:18:09,580
To our surprise, suddenly Pearse
opened up his mind and said,

243
00:18:09,580 --> 00:18:13,340
"It'll all end in an insurrection,
the Irish struggle."

244
00:18:13,340 --> 00:18:15,020
He said, "There's no way out.

245
00:18:15,020 --> 00:18:16,660
"It's the teaching of history."

246
00:18:26,420 --> 00:18:29,860
In America, the IRB leader,
John Devoy,

247
00:18:29,860 --> 00:18:32,540
is constantly alert to the
revolutionary potential

248
00:18:32,540 --> 00:18:35,220
of various nationalist movements
in Ireland.

249
00:18:41,180 --> 00:18:44,580
By his side is the staunch
Fenian Tom Clarke.

250
00:18:46,100 --> 00:18:50,060
Like Devoy, Clarke has also spent
years in British prisons.

251
00:18:54,260 --> 00:18:57,860
At Devoy's prompting, in 1907

252
00:18:57,860 --> 00:19:00,740
Clarke returns to Ireland.

253
00:19:00,740 --> 00:19:02,220
His mission -

254
00:19:02,220 --> 00:19:05,180
to mobilise and exploit growing
nationalist sentiment

255
00:19:05,180 --> 00:19:06,580
to instigate a rebellion.

256
00:19:14,540 --> 00:19:19,220
At that time, those of us
who were trying to gee up the IRB

257
00:19:19,220 --> 00:19:20,700
weren't making much headway,

258
00:19:20,700 --> 00:19:23,060
because we weren't, ourselves,
of any importance.

259
00:19:25,300 --> 00:19:29,780
Tom Clarke added weight and power
and dignity to the movement.

260
00:19:29,780 --> 00:19:31,940
And with Tom Clarke's advent

261
00:19:31,940 --> 00:19:35,260
came a kind of a positive,
forward movement.

262
00:19:39,980 --> 00:19:43,780
But in Ireland, Tom Clarke
finds that nationalist sentiment

263
00:19:43,780 --> 00:19:45,940
is going in a different direction.

264
00:19:49,580 --> 00:19:51,300
The Irish Parliamentary Party,

265
00:19:51,300 --> 00:19:53,980
under its hugely popular leader
John Redmond

266
00:19:53,980 --> 00:19:57,180
has been agitating in the British
house of Parliament

267
00:19:57,180 --> 00:19:59,980
for a limited form
of Irish self-governance,

268
00:19:59,980 --> 00:20:01,780
to be known as Home Rule.

269
00:20:05,300 --> 00:20:07,420
By 1910, the Home Rule movement

270
00:20:07,420 --> 00:20:11,220
has achieved widespread
popular support in Ireland.

271
00:20:15,140 --> 00:20:18,300
There was the feeling among
the nationalist population

272
00:20:18,300 --> 00:20:22,020
that Ireland required separate
recognition constitutionally...

273
00:20:22,020 --> 00:20:24,620
for devolved government -

274
00:20:24,620 --> 00:20:28,300
however limited may have been the
authority of a Dublin parliament,

275
00:20:28,300 --> 00:20:31,700
and even those who want more,
like the IRB,

276
00:20:31,700 --> 00:20:35,380
even they are prepared to
acknowledge that, essentially,

277
00:20:35,380 --> 00:20:38,700
majority sentiment is going to go
for Home Rule.

278
00:20:38,700 --> 00:20:42,660
Though they would like something
more robust and more extreme.

279
00:20:44,540 --> 00:20:48,500
A British general election in 1910
results in a hung parliament.

280
00:20:51,020 --> 00:20:55,580
Immediately, John Redmond seizes
the opportunity.

281
00:20:55,580 --> 00:20:59,300
He offers Henry Asquith, the leader
of the British Liberal Party,

282
00:20:59,300 --> 00:21:00,860
his political support

283
00:21:00,860 --> 00:21:04,820
on condition that a Home Rule Bill
for Ireland is enacted.

284
00:21:04,820 --> 00:21:08,420
With great reluctance,
Asquith agrees.

285
00:21:14,780 --> 00:21:18,620
But in Ulster, in Ireland's North,

286
00:21:18,620 --> 00:21:21,700
the majority Protestant community
believes Home Rule

287
00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:25,260
to be a betrayal of their steadfast
loyalty to the United Kingdom.

288
00:21:28,180 --> 00:21:33,860
In 1912, 500,000 unionists
sign the Ulster Covenant,

289
00:21:33,860 --> 00:21:35,700
a solemn oath to defend Ulster

290
00:21:35,700 --> 00:21:38,220
against the implementation
of Home Rule.

291
00:21:39,780 --> 00:21:43,660
Ulster Unionists saw
Home Rule as a conspiracy,

292
00:21:43,660 --> 00:21:47,300
a conspiracy to undo
the Ulster plantation -

293
00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:50,100
and that was something
which could not be allowed.

294
00:21:54,300 --> 00:21:58,460
As early as 1909, 1910,
the Ulster Unionist leadership

295
00:21:58,460 --> 00:22:03,420
is beginning to import small-scale
caches of weapons

296
00:22:03,420 --> 00:22:04,900
into the North.

297
00:22:07,380 --> 00:22:10,500
The creation of the Ulster Volunteer
Force is part of a drift

298
00:22:10,500 --> 00:22:12,260
towards militancy.

299
00:22:13,740 --> 00:22:17,220
The Ulster Volunteer Force
is founded in 1913

300
00:22:17,220 --> 00:22:20,460
to oppose Home Rule
by any means necessary.

301
00:22:22,700 --> 00:22:25,500
Nationalists respond quickly.

302
00:22:25,500 --> 00:22:28,420
They will set up their own
armed militia.

303
00:22:30,620 --> 00:22:34,780
On November 25, 1913,
thousands gather in Dublin

304
00:22:34,780 --> 00:22:39,340
to join the Irish Volunteers
under Eoin MacNeill's leadership.

305
00:22:45,420 --> 00:22:48,700
Among the 4,000 members
to enrol the first evening

306
00:22:48,700 --> 00:22:50,420
are Padraig Pearse,

307
00:22:50,420 --> 00:22:51,980
Thomas MacDonagh

308
00:22:51,980 --> 00:22:53,980
and Roger Casement.

309
00:22:53,980 --> 00:22:58,100
At the back of the room, standing
in the shadows, is Tom Clarke.

310
00:22:58,100 --> 00:23:01,420
Clarke and the IRB need
an army for the rebellion,

311
00:23:01,420 --> 00:23:05,180
but the purpose of the Volunteers
is to ensure Home Rule,

312
00:23:05,180 --> 00:23:08,420
not to rise against
the British state.

313
00:23:08,420 --> 00:23:12,180
Clarke infiltrates the Volunteers
with IRB members,

314
00:23:12,180 --> 00:23:14,940
and enlists Padraig Pearse
to rally the Volunteers

315
00:23:14,940 --> 00:23:16,740
to support their cause.

316
00:23:16,740 --> 00:23:19,900
Pearse brought a degree
of originality

317
00:23:19,900 --> 00:23:22,020
to the way he used culture,

318
00:23:22,020 --> 00:23:26,420
in terms of instilling a sense
of identity and idealism.

319
00:23:26,420 --> 00:23:30,300
He was fashioning with words
a weapon which would,

320
00:23:30,300 --> 00:23:35,540
in many respects, rouse more people
than all their attachment to guns.

321
00:23:35,540 --> 00:23:37,380
But in the end, of course,

322
00:23:37,380 --> 00:23:40,820
he decided a culture without guns
wasn't enough.

323
00:23:40,820 --> 00:23:45,580
"We must accustom ourselves to the
thought of arms, to the use of arms.

324
00:23:45,580 --> 00:23:49,780
"Bloodshed is a cleansing
and sanctifying thing."

325
00:24:02,740 --> 00:24:04,260
By the early 1900s,

326
00:24:04,260 --> 00:24:08,460
Dublin, a city once known
to be among the greatest

327
00:24:08,460 --> 00:24:11,820
of the British Empire,
has stagnated.

328
00:24:11,820 --> 00:24:14,140
Many live in abject poverty.

329
00:24:18,020 --> 00:24:21,540
Social justice was necessary.

330
00:24:21,540 --> 00:24:25,740
Everybody with any position
or money or anything

331
00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:28,180
thought that God
had given it to them

332
00:24:28,180 --> 00:24:30,660
and that he had refused it
to the others.

333
00:24:32,260 --> 00:24:37,500
By the time we get to 1900, Dublin
is the biggest slum in Europe.

334
00:24:37,500 --> 00:24:40,860
26,000 families living
in tenement housing.

335
00:24:40,860 --> 00:24:43,860
So you will often have
three generations of people

336
00:24:43,860 --> 00:24:45,340
living in a single room.

337
00:24:48,140 --> 00:24:51,100
Dublin city is fertile
ground for the socialist thinking

338
00:24:51,100 --> 00:24:53,780
advancing across Europe and America.

339
00:24:57,460 --> 00:25:03,340
In 1913, a major strike breaks out,
led by radical socialists

340
00:25:03,340 --> 00:25:06,260
Jim Larkin and the James Connolly.

341
00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:12,180
20,000 workers are locked
out of their places of employment

342
00:25:12,180 --> 00:25:14,380
because they refused
to renounce membership

343
00:25:14,380 --> 00:25:16,740
of the Irish Transport
and General Workers' Union.

344
00:25:17,980 --> 00:25:21,980
The strike fails, but it makes
a hero out of James Connolly,

345
00:25:21,980 --> 00:25:23,900
who sets up the Irish Citizen Army

346
00:25:23,900 --> 00:25:26,860
to protect workers
against future police attacks.

347
00:25:29,740 --> 00:25:32,740
Connolly was born in Edinburgh,
reared in poverty.

348
00:25:32,740 --> 00:25:36,740
He represented the intermeshing
of Republican separatism

349
00:25:36,740 --> 00:25:39,980
with a more internationalist,
socialist view.

350
00:25:39,980 --> 00:25:42,420
Namely that the revolution
of self-determination

351
00:25:42,420 --> 00:25:44,900
needs to be a total revolution.

352
00:25:44,900 --> 00:25:47,500
That Ireland,
in order to be really free,

353
00:25:47,500 --> 00:25:49,420
would have to be an
egalitarian place,

354
00:25:49,420 --> 00:25:51,260
that it needed a social revolution

355
00:25:51,260 --> 00:25:54,620
as an integral part of the major
revolution that was coming.

356
00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:08,900
When the Ulster Volunteers
lands 20,000 rifles in Larne,

357
00:26:08,900 --> 00:26:10,580
in County Antrim,

358
00:26:10,580 --> 00:26:13,540
the British authorities
fail to intervene.

359
00:26:16,140 --> 00:26:18,900
The Irish Volunteers
also begin acquiring arms

360
00:26:18,900 --> 00:26:22,780
with help from networks abroad.

361
00:26:22,780 --> 00:26:25,980
Guns sourced in Germany
are sailed on a yacht

362
00:26:25,980 --> 00:26:29,220
called the Asgard
to Howth, near Dublin.

363
00:26:31,060 --> 00:26:34,220
Ireland is now
militarised on all sides.

364
00:26:37,540 --> 00:26:42,060
The description, "The brink
of civil war" has frequently,

365
00:26:42,060 --> 00:26:44,980
and with much justification,
been applied to Ireland

366
00:26:44,980 --> 00:26:48,460
in the summer of 1914,
when you consider the gunrunning,

367
00:26:48,460 --> 00:26:51,780
when you consider the determination
on the part of Ulster Unionists

368
00:26:51,780 --> 00:26:54,420
to resist,
by whatever means necessary,

369
00:26:54,420 --> 00:26:56,220
the imposition of Home Rule,

370
00:26:56,220 --> 00:26:59,460
when you consider the determination
of the Irish Volunteers

371
00:26:59,460 --> 00:27:02,780
to defend Home Rule
by whatever means necessary,

372
00:27:02,780 --> 00:27:06,700
this is the language of the era -
that is a language of civil war.

373
00:27:13,340 --> 00:27:15,140
EXPLOSION

374
00:27:16,340 --> 00:27:17,980
EXPLOSION

375
00:27:24,500 --> 00:27:26,060
Then war breaks out.

376
00:27:30,700 --> 00:27:32,860
War breaks out,
in which the whole context

377
00:27:32,860 --> 00:27:35,900
in which Britain is dealing
with Ireland is changed.

378
00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:40,740
In which the calculations of
Ulster Unionists and of Home Rulers,

379
00:27:40,740 --> 00:27:43,980
and, indeed, the Fenian
conspirators are all changed.

380
00:27:46,020 --> 00:27:48,060
With the outbreak of World War I,

381
00:27:48,060 --> 00:27:51,820
Britain immediately postpones
implementation of Home Rule.

382
00:27:53,900 --> 00:27:57,220
The Unionist
response to the war is swift.

383
00:27:57,220 --> 00:28:00,500
The Ulster Volunteer Force
will fight for King and Empire.

384
00:28:02,900 --> 00:28:05,860
Anxious to demonstrate
Ireland's loyalty

385
00:28:05,860 --> 00:28:09,380
and ensure Home Rule
is enacted when the war ends,

386
00:28:09,380 --> 00:28:13,060
John Redmond calls in the
Irish Volunteers to enlist also.

387
00:28:17,260 --> 00:28:22,660
90% of the Volunteers,
upwards of 170,000 men,

388
00:28:22,660 --> 00:28:24,460
answer Redmond's call.

389
00:28:35,860 --> 00:28:38,220
Meanwhile, a core group
of Irish Volunteers

390
00:28:38,220 --> 00:28:40,740
led by Chief of Staff Eoin MacNeill

391
00:28:40,740 --> 00:28:43,940
believes that to fight
for the British Empire

392
00:28:43,940 --> 00:28:46,260
is a betrayal of the
nationalist cause.

393
00:28:50,020 --> 00:28:53,380
The split that follows presents
the Irish Republican Brotherhood

394
00:28:53,380 --> 00:28:54,660
with an opportunity.

395
00:28:56,740 --> 00:29:00,780
Now, in the thousands of Irish
Volunteers who stay in Ireland,

396
00:29:00,780 --> 00:29:04,460
the IRB may have the army
for their rebellion -

397
00:29:04,460 --> 00:29:07,380
but if they are to have any
chance against Britain,

398
00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:09,500
they will need a major
supply of weapons.

399
00:29:18,420 --> 00:29:20,340
We've all heard the statement

400
00:29:20,340 --> 00:29:24,540
"The enemy of my enemy
is my friend."

401
00:29:24,540 --> 00:29:27,380
John Devoy saw the possibility

402
00:29:27,380 --> 00:29:33,060
of an alliance between
the Germans and the Irish.

403
00:29:34,980 --> 00:29:39,380
And then Roger Casement
goes to Germany

404
00:29:39,380 --> 00:29:43,980
and begins to have meetings
with the Germans

405
00:29:43,980 --> 00:29:48,580
over the assistance that they might
render for the Rising.

406
00:29:50,340 --> 00:29:54,300
Which is a pretty straightforward
form of treating this activity,

407
00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:58,620
if you see things from a British
imperial point of view.

408
00:30:07,620 --> 00:30:11,220
While Casement is conspiring
with the Germans to supply arms

409
00:30:11,220 --> 00:30:14,700
for the rebels, tens of thousands
of his fellow countrymen

410
00:30:14,700 --> 00:30:18,980
are bogged down in an increasingly
horrific war on the Western Front.

411
00:30:43,540 --> 00:30:45,180
People begin questioning,

412
00:30:45,180 --> 00:30:49,340
in private, and also in public,
what is this war for?

413
00:30:49,340 --> 00:30:51,660
It's not going to be a short war
any more,

414
00:30:51,660 --> 00:30:54,300
and it is also going to be a war
of very, very high death rates

415
00:30:54,300 --> 00:30:56,140
and injury rates.

416
00:30:56,140 --> 00:31:00,020
And that had a real
impact on the climate within Ireland

417
00:31:00,020 --> 00:31:02,620
and the kind of people who will
coalesce around the Rising,

418
00:31:02,620 --> 00:31:05,940
because now what they can
paint is an imperial British war

419
00:31:05,940 --> 00:31:08,300
which is just killing
and bleeding Irish men.

420
00:31:09,900 --> 00:31:12,980
"All these mountains of Irish dead,

421
00:31:12,980 --> 00:31:16,460
"all these corpses
mangled beyond recognition.

422
00:31:16,460 --> 00:31:20,940
"All these shivering, putrefying
bodies of Irishmen and youth

423
00:31:20,940 --> 00:31:25,340
"are all the price Ireland pays for
being part of the British Empire.

424
00:31:25,340 --> 00:31:28,660
"A piratical enterprise
in which the valour of slaves

425
00:31:28,660 --> 00:31:31,740
"fights for the glory
and profit of their masters.'

426
00:31:35,140 --> 00:31:37,860
Watching the working
classes of Europe and Ireland

427
00:31:37,860 --> 00:31:39,700
slaughter one another in the war,

428
00:31:39,700 --> 00:31:44,060
James Connolly is close to despair,
and feels compelled to act.

429
00:31:46,060 --> 00:31:50,580
He starts planning a rebellion
with the Irish Citizen Army.

430
00:31:50,580 --> 00:31:53,580
But counting only
hundreds in their ranks,

431
00:31:53,580 --> 00:31:57,300
such a rising would be quickly
and easily defeated.

432
00:31:57,300 --> 00:32:01,860
News of Connolly's plan reaches
the IRB's Military Council.

433
00:32:01,860 --> 00:32:04,380
Fearing that a unilateral
action by Connolly

434
00:32:04,380 --> 00:32:08,260
will alert the British authorities
to their own plans for an uprising,

435
00:32:08,260 --> 00:32:11,420
Clarke and Pearse approach Connolly.

436
00:32:11,420 --> 00:32:14,860
In secret negotiations,
agreement is reached.

437
00:32:14,860 --> 00:32:18,100
The Irish Citizen Army
and the Irish Volunteers

438
00:32:18,100 --> 00:32:20,260
will join forces in rebellion.

439
00:32:20,260 --> 00:32:22,100
A date is set.

440
00:32:22,100 --> 00:32:24,180
Easter 1916.

441
00:32:33,340 --> 00:32:36,700
The strategy for the rebellion
is drawn up by the mystic poet

442
00:32:36,700 --> 00:32:38,740
and journalist Joseph Plunkett.

443
00:32:40,540 --> 00:32:44,660
The rebels will seize key public
buildings in Dublin's city centre

444
00:32:44,660 --> 00:32:47,060
and also major towns
across the country...

445
00:32:48,780 --> 00:32:51,580
..but several influential
Irish Volunteer leaders

446
00:32:51,580 --> 00:32:54,180
are opposed to this approach,

447
00:32:54,180 --> 00:32:56,380
including Chief of Staff
Eoin MacNeill...

448
00:32:57,780 --> 00:33:02,260
..and two of the Volunteers'
original founders - The O'Rahilly,

449
00:33:02,260 --> 00:33:04,700
and Bulmer Hobson.

450
00:33:04,700 --> 00:33:08,780
Well, my feeling was that
if there was going to be a fight,

451
00:33:08,780 --> 00:33:11,580
that a guerrilla fight gave you
the opportunity...

452
00:33:13,460 --> 00:33:16,300
..of never coming to
a decisive engagement -

453
00:33:16,300 --> 00:33:18,180
of keeping the thing going,

454
00:33:18,180 --> 00:33:20,060
if necessary, for years.

455
00:33:22,780 --> 00:33:26,660
Whereas, seizing the
public buildings in Dublin...

456
00:33:28,060 --> 00:33:30,780
..you could do nothing but sit there
till you were shot out of them.

457
00:33:40,940 --> 00:33:43,860
Hobson and MacNeill's protests
fall on deaf ears.

458
00:33:45,420 --> 00:33:49,020
In manoeuvres on Saint Patrick's
Day, 1916,

459
00:33:49,020 --> 00:33:53,460
5,000 members of the Irish
Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army

460
00:33:53,460 --> 00:33:55,060
marched through Dublin.

461
00:33:56,620 --> 00:33:58,820
The rebel conspirators
are overjoyed.

462
00:33:59,980 --> 00:34:02,980
With numbers like these,
a rebellion might succeed.

463
00:34:07,020 --> 00:34:09,900
Immediately, Pearse announces
further manoeuvres

464
00:34:09,900 --> 00:34:11,660
for the coming Easter weekend.

465
00:34:16,420 --> 00:34:19,260
It is a perennial mystery
that the British authorities,

466
00:34:19,260 --> 00:34:21,980
at various levels,
have information coming in

467
00:34:21,980 --> 00:34:23,980
right, left and centre.

468
00:34:23,980 --> 00:34:26,580
Quite apart from the
obviously rebellious behaviour

469
00:34:26,580 --> 00:34:29,060
of the Volunteers
and the Citizen Army,

470
00:34:29,060 --> 00:34:32,900
who are more or less practising
having a rebellion in March,

471
00:34:32,900 --> 00:34:35,620
on Patrick's Day,
when they occupy the city.

472
00:34:37,460 --> 00:34:40,380
It's a racist view,
I guess, of the Irish.

473
00:34:40,380 --> 00:34:44,260
"There may be some scuffles in
the street, but it'll all be over."

474
00:34:44,260 --> 00:34:47,900
This is part of the British
official mind in Dublin,

475
00:34:47,900 --> 00:34:51,980
that not only can the Irish
not run a government,

476
00:34:51,980 --> 00:34:53,380
which was part of the whole

477
00:34:53,380 --> 00:34:55,100
argument against Home Rule,

478
00:34:55,100 --> 00:34:56,940
but they can't organise anything.

479
00:35:04,340 --> 00:35:07,100
By and large, most of the
Volunteer leaders outside Dublin

480
00:35:07,100 --> 00:35:08,900
didn't know what was being planned -

481
00:35:08,900 --> 00:35:11,700
and, of course, some of them
didn't feel that the idea

482
00:35:11,700 --> 00:35:14,300
of an unprovoked insurrection
was a good idea.

483
00:35:14,300 --> 00:35:16,380
But by the time you get to
Good Friday,

484
00:35:16,380 --> 00:35:17,780
increasingly the word is out,

485
00:35:17,780 --> 00:35:20,580
and people have realised that it's
not just a mobilisation,

486
00:35:20,580 --> 00:35:22,140
and rumours are spreading.

487
00:35:22,140 --> 00:35:25,460
And as soon as this happens, figures
like Eoin MacNeill and Bulmer Hobson

488
00:35:25,460 --> 00:35:27,100
begin to organise themselves

489
00:35:27,100 --> 00:35:29,180
to stop the rebellion taking place.

490
00:35:30,780 --> 00:35:33,460
Realising that the mobilisation
is, in fact, a cover

491
00:35:33,460 --> 00:35:35,860
for full-scale rebellion,

492
00:35:35,860 --> 00:35:39,020
MacNeill tells Pearse
that he will do everything

493
00:35:39,020 --> 00:35:40,660
to prevent the Rising -

494
00:35:40,660 --> 00:35:44,140
short of informing the British
authorities in Dublin Castle.

495
00:35:44,140 --> 00:35:48,500
But Pearse, Clarke and Connolly
are convinced the time has come.

496
00:35:50,860 --> 00:35:53,900
All they need now are the guns.

497
00:35:59,620 --> 00:36:02,300
With only two days to
go before the Rising,

498
00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:05,100
Casement is finally on his way
from Germany on a U-boat.

499
00:36:06,620 --> 00:36:10,180
Following close behind is
the Aud, a cargo ship

500
00:36:10,180 --> 00:36:11,620
carrying 20,000 rifles

501
00:36:11,620 --> 00:36:14,780
and a million rounds of ammunition
for the rebellion.

502
00:36:16,700 --> 00:36:20,220
Bad, utterly cock-up communications.

503
00:36:20,220 --> 00:36:23,420
They were not met,
and arrived off the coast.

504
00:36:23,420 --> 00:36:25,820
Casement, coming in his submarine,

505
00:36:25,820 --> 00:36:28,260
likewise arrived unannounced.

506
00:36:28,260 --> 00:36:33,340
He was arrested, and the captain
of the Aud, on being discovered,

507
00:36:33,340 --> 00:36:34,740
scuttled the ship.

508
00:36:36,340 --> 00:36:38,660
So the ship and the arms were lost,

509
00:36:38,660 --> 00:36:41,500
and the British were alerted that
something was going to happen.

510
00:36:46,100 --> 00:36:48,220
Hearing the weapons had been lost,

511
00:36:48,220 --> 00:36:52,060
MacNeill is now convinced that the
Rising has no chance of succeeding.

512
00:36:54,180 --> 00:36:57,500
On MacNeill's orders,
The O'Rahilly drives to Cork,

513
00:36:57,500 --> 00:37:00,900
Kerry and Limerick to spread
the news that the Rising is off.

514
00:37:02,980 --> 00:37:06,580
The next day,
Easter Sunday, April 23rd -

515
00:37:06,580 --> 00:37:09,500
the very day the Rising
is set to begin -

516
00:37:09,500 --> 00:37:11,780
MacNeill publishes
a countermanding order

517
00:37:11,780 --> 00:37:13,540
in the Sunday Independent
newspaper.

518
00:37:14,860 --> 00:37:16,820
More than half of the
Irish Volunteers

519
00:37:16,820 --> 00:37:19,780
who had been expected to
mobilise stay home.

520
00:37:24,060 --> 00:37:26,020
Gathered in Liberty Hall,

521
00:37:26,020 --> 00:37:29,100
the rebel leaders are dismayed
by MacNeill's order.

522
00:37:31,300 --> 00:37:34,980
The mood, it seems,
was extraordinarily low

523
00:37:34,980 --> 00:37:37,900
in terms of morale, despair,

524
00:37:37,900 --> 00:37:40,860
utter devastation, silence...

525
00:37:40,860 --> 00:37:43,620
There was mobilisation, of course,
because large numbers

526
00:37:43,620 --> 00:37:46,020
of the Volunteers didn't
see the counter-order.

527
00:37:46,020 --> 00:37:48,460
You had large numbers in
different parts of the country

528
00:37:48,460 --> 00:37:50,660
turning up, not knowing
what they were to do next.

529
00:37:52,740 --> 00:37:55,940
But as Sunday wore on, the despair
of the morning gave way

530
00:37:55,940 --> 00:38:00,180
to an urgency - and, some said,
a certain eerie exhilaration.

531
00:38:06,060 --> 00:38:08,060
I walked over to Liberty Hall...

532
00:38:09,380 --> 00:38:12,060
..when I went in,
there was my father.

533
00:38:13,900 --> 00:38:16,220
He looked at me...

534
00:38:16,220 --> 00:38:20,020
and I said to him,
"Daddy, are you not going to fight?"

535
00:38:20,020 --> 00:38:24,220
And he turned to me and two
big tears roll down his cheeks.

536
00:38:24,220 --> 00:38:26,380
He says, "If we don't fight, Nora...

537
00:38:27,940 --> 00:38:30,220
"..we can only pray
for an earthquake to come

538
00:38:30,220 --> 00:38:31,980
"and swallow us and our shame."

539
00:38:38,060 --> 00:38:41,100
It wasn't planned to be a gesture.

540
00:38:41,100 --> 00:38:43,940
It was planned to be as effective,
militarily, as it was possible

541
00:38:43,940 --> 00:38:46,340
to conceive in the circumstances.

542
00:38:46,340 --> 00:38:49,860
But if it had to be a gesture,
then so be it.

543
00:38:49,860 --> 00:38:54,300
Striking a losing blow is better
than striking no blow at all.

544
00:38:59,980 --> 00:39:02,420
In Liberty Hall, the Proclamation,

545
00:39:02,420 --> 00:39:04,220
which has been drafted by Pearse,

546
00:39:04,220 --> 00:39:07,380
with contributions
from Connolly, Clarke, MacDonagh,

547
00:39:07,380 --> 00:39:10,540
and others on the Military Council,
is being printed.

548
00:39:12,900 --> 00:39:15,060
The Rising...

549
00:39:15,060 --> 00:39:16,300
will go ahead.

550
00:39:30,180 --> 00:39:32,620
Easter Monday, April 1916.

551
00:39:34,940 --> 00:39:38,100
Early morning.
The streets of Dublin are quiet.

552
00:39:40,220 --> 00:39:43,860
Most people are at home
enjoying the public holiday.

553
00:39:43,860 --> 00:39:47,940
Others, among them government
officials and British Army officers,

554
00:39:47,940 --> 00:39:51,780
have already left the city for the
races at Fairyhouse in County Meath.

555
00:39:56,380 --> 00:39:59,460
Around the city,
dispatch riders cycle furiously

556
00:39:59,460 --> 00:40:02,020
from house to house,
spreading the word.

557
00:40:02,020 --> 00:40:05,100
The long-awaited rebellion
is about to begin.

558
00:40:06,340 --> 00:40:08,460
We knew something was
going to happen

559
00:40:08,460 --> 00:40:11,060
because there was...
that feeling in the air.

560
00:40:12,980 --> 00:40:17,020
From all over Dublin, small groups
comprising the Irish Volunteers,

561
00:40:17,020 --> 00:40:21,660
the Irish Citizen Army, and the
women's organization Cumann na mBan

562
00:40:21,660 --> 00:40:23,140
are moving toward the city.

563
00:40:26,380 --> 00:40:28,580
Due to the countermanding order,

564
00:40:28,580 --> 00:40:31,660
only 2,000 men and women
have answered the call.

565
00:40:33,180 --> 00:40:35,380
At least 4,000 had been expected.

566
00:40:37,100 --> 00:40:39,940
The countermanding order
has caused so much confusion

567
00:40:39,940 --> 00:40:43,980
around the country that the Rising
will be confined mostly to Dublin.

568
00:40:47,020 --> 00:40:49,060
The poet Patrick Pearse

569
00:40:49,060 --> 00:40:51,500
and the socialist leader
James Connolly

570
00:40:51,500 --> 00:40:54,500
lead 200 men and women out of
Liberty Hall,

571
00:40:54,500 --> 00:40:56,340
headed for the GPO -

572
00:40:56,340 --> 00:40:59,260
Dublin's General Post Office -
on O'Connell Street.

573
00:41:00,620 --> 00:41:02,740
The company of Volunteers came
up the street,

574
00:41:02,740 --> 00:41:05,820
and as soon as they
came opposite the Post Office,

575
00:41:05,820 --> 00:41:09,300
they got the order, and
wheeled left into the Post Office.

576
00:41:11,220 --> 00:41:16,340
Round about midday, the door was
banged open and a number of men -

577
00:41:16,340 --> 00:41:18,740
round about 20 - came into the room

578
00:41:18,740 --> 00:41:20,260
dressed in green uniforms,

579
00:41:20,260 --> 00:41:22,580
with rifles in their hand.

580
00:41:22,580 --> 00:41:25,220
They ordered everybody
to get out immediately.

581
00:41:26,820 --> 00:41:29,100
Now cleared of staff and customers,

582
00:41:29,100 --> 00:41:32,220
the GPO becomes
the headquarters of the rebellion,

583
00:41:32,220 --> 00:41:34,460
with Pearse as acting president,

584
00:41:34,460 --> 00:41:37,980
and Connolly as commander in chief
of military operations.

585
00:41:40,460 --> 00:41:43,180
On hearing that the Rising
is going ahead

586
00:41:43,180 --> 00:41:45,580
regardless of his efforts
to stop it,

587
00:41:45,580 --> 00:41:48,940
The O'Rahilly drives to
the GPO to join the fight.

588
00:41:48,940 --> 00:41:53,260
Having helped to wind the clock, he
is now determined to hear it strike,

589
00:41:53,260 --> 00:41:56,500
and reaches the GPO to witness
Patrick Pearse emerge

590
00:41:56,500 --> 00:42:00,780
to read the Proclamation reclaiming
the foundation of an Irish Republic.

591
00:42:01,860 --> 00:42:04,060
"Irishmen and Irishwomen.

592
00:42:05,540 --> 00:42:08,500
"In the name of God and of the dead
generations

593
00:42:08,500 --> 00:42:12,220
"from which she receives
her old tradition of nationhood,

594
00:42:12,220 --> 00:42:16,220
"Ireland, through us,
summons her children to her flag

595
00:42:16,220 --> 00:42:18,020
"and strikes for her freedom.

596
00:42:19,260 --> 00:42:21,500
"In every generation
the Irish people

597
00:42:21,500 --> 00:42:26,020
"have asserted their right to
national freedom and sovereignty,"

598
00:42:26,020 --> 00:42:28,820
"and we declare the right
of the people of Ireland

599
00:42:28,820 --> 00:42:30,420
"to the ownership of Ireland."

600
00:42:32,180 --> 00:42:35,900
"The Republic guarantees
religious and civil liberty,

601
00:42:35,900 --> 00:42:39,780
"equal rights, and equal
opportunities to all its citizens."

602
00:42:43,620 --> 00:42:46,020
There's no question
that Connolly and Pearse,

603
00:42:46,020 --> 00:42:48,500
after the shenanigans
of the previous few days,

604
00:42:48,500 --> 00:42:50,740
that they were damn glad
to reach the day

605
00:42:50,740 --> 00:42:52,380
that they were actually there.

606
00:42:54,620 --> 00:42:57,700
At long last, the curtain
is opening - we're on stage.

607
00:42:58,980 --> 00:43:01,140
Beidh cuimhneamh ar an la seo -

608
00:43:01,140 --> 00:43:02,940
this day will be remembered.

609
00:43:20,820 --> 00:43:22,860
The rebels spread out
and take control

610
00:43:22,860 --> 00:43:25,860
of several strategic buildings
across the city centre,

611
00:43:25,860 --> 00:43:28,900
including the Four Courts
on the banks of the River Liffey,

612
00:43:28,900 --> 00:43:31,180
and Boland's Mills to the south.

613
00:43:36,260 --> 00:43:39,500
The plan is to lock-in,
wait for the British to attack,

614
00:43:39,500 --> 00:43:41,740
and resist for as long as possible.

615
00:43:41,740 --> 00:43:43,780
They know the longer
they can hold out,

616
00:43:43,780 --> 00:43:47,220
the greater their chance of
galvanising Irish and world opinion

617
00:43:47,220 --> 00:43:48,740
to the cause of independence.

618
00:43:53,500 --> 00:43:55,540
As they move towards
their positions,

619
00:43:55,540 --> 00:43:58,620
a small detachment
of the Irish Citizen Army,

620
00:43:58,620 --> 00:44:01,380
led by well-known
actor Sean Connolly,

621
00:44:01,380 --> 00:44:05,100
and radical feminist Helena Molony,
approaches the centre

622
00:44:05,100 --> 00:44:08,420
of the British administration
in Ireland - Dublin Castle.

623
00:44:10,100 --> 00:44:12,020
We went right up to
the castle gate...

624
00:44:14,020 --> 00:44:16,180
..and then a police sergeant
came out.

625
00:44:17,460 --> 00:44:21,100
When Connolly went to go past him,
the officer put out his hand.

626
00:44:21,100 --> 00:44:23,180
Connolly shot him.

627
00:44:23,180 --> 00:44:24,980
GUNSHOT RINGS OUT

628
00:44:28,020 --> 00:44:31,700
The man Connolly shoots
is sergeant James O'Brien.

629
00:44:31,700 --> 00:44:33,780
He is the first
fatality of the Rising.

630
00:44:34,940 --> 00:44:37,780
O'Brien is an Irishman
from County Limerick.

631
00:44:44,620 --> 00:44:48,780
Inside Dublin Castle, the most
senior British official in Ireland -

632
00:44:48,780 --> 00:44:51,420
Matthew Nathan -
is reviewing security

633
00:44:51,420 --> 00:44:54,660
with his head of intelligence,
Major Ivor Price.

634
00:44:54,660 --> 00:44:57,900
He is completely unaware
that the rebellion has started.

635
00:44:59,820 --> 00:45:03,220
I ran to see a policeman
lying in a pool of blood,

636
00:45:03,220 --> 00:45:06,540
and half a dozen Volunteers
in green coats dashing about.

637
00:45:07,940 --> 00:45:10,420
I fired a few shots
from my revolver.

638
00:45:10,420 --> 00:45:12,740
GUNFIRE

639
00:45:12,740 --> 00:45:14,660
Soldiers fire,

640
00:45:14,660 --> 00:45:18,220
and Connolly takes the Irish
citizen army out of Dublin Castle

641
00:45:18,220 --> 00:45:20,260
and the castle stays intact.

642
00:45:21,500 --> 00:45:25,580
Dublin Castle in 1916
was defended by six soldiers.

643
00:45:27,020 --> 00:45:28,620
It would have been a shout

644
00:45:28,620 --> 00:45:31,260
that goes round the world,
"Dublin Castle has been seized."

645
00:45:31,260 --> 00:45:33,340
Maybe they felt there was
too many people there,

646
00:45:33,340 --> 00:45:36,300
but that raises the question,
was there any reconnaissance done?

647
00:45:36,300 --> 00:45:38,820
Did anyone go out and
spy out the lie of the land?

648
00:45:57,380 --> 00:46:00,660
Led by British Army veteran
Michael Mallin,

649
00:46:00,660 --> 00:46:04,500
the Irish Citizen Army begins
to fortify St Stephen's Green,

650
00:46:04,500 --> 00:46:06,740
commandeering vehicles,

651
00:46:06,740 --> 00:46:08,860
barricading entry points.

652
00:46:11,700 --> 00:46:14,700
Once Stephen's Green has been
taken by the Irish Citizen Army

653
00:46:14,700 --> 00:46:18,820
they do two main things -
they start building barricades,

654
00:46:18,820 --> 00:46:22,380
secondly they start
digging trenches,

655
00:46:22,380 --> 00:46:26,460
which speaks to this
military innocence in a way.

656
00:46:26,460 --> 00:46:27,900
If you want to hold the green

657
00:46:27,900 --> 00:46:30,340
you would take the rooftops
of those buildings,

658
00:46:30,340 --> 00:46:32,740
you would not build trenches
in the green.

659
00:46:36,980 --> 00:46:40,900
Later in the day they're joined
by Constance Markievicz,

660
00:46:40,900 --> 00:46:44,340
wealthy socialist and
prominent radical nationalist.

661
00:46:45,500 --> 00:46:48,900
When they march off
to begin their revolution,

662
00:46:48,900 --> 00:46:50,780
somebody asks Countess Markievicz

663
00:46:50,780 --> 00:46:53,340
if she's taking part in
a rehearsal for something.

664
00:46:54,460 --> 00:46:57,740
And when the first copies of
the proclamation are stuck up

665
00:46:57,740 --> 00:47:00,620
by Sean T O'Kelly on lampposts
with flour paste,

666
00:47:00,620 --> 00:47:03,340
somebody passing by says,
"Is that a playbill?"

667
00:47:03,340 --> 00:47:05,620
Which I always think is rather
emblematic

668
00:47:05,620 --> 00:47:08,620
of what is a very
theatrical production.

669
00:47:10,060 --> 00:47:13,140
An old man tries to retrieve
his cart from a barricade

670
00:47:13,140 --> 00:47:15,180
in Stephen's Green.

671
00:47:15,180 --> 00:47:19,100
After repeated warnings, he is
shot dead by one of the rebels.

672
00:47:19,100 --> 00:47:20,700
GUNSHOT

673
00:47:36,100 --> 00:47:38,980
After some odd adventures,
I got as far as Jacob's

674
00:47:38,980 --> 00:47:41,340
and, by God, there was
a hostile crowd there,

675
00:47:41,340 --> 00:47:45,300
calling on the lads inside, "Come
out you lot of effing slackers,

676
00:47:45,300 --> 00:47:48,740
"if you want to fight, go out
and fight in France," and all this.

677
00:47:48,740 --> 00:47:51,420
They were waving Union Jacks
and God knows what.

678
00:47:52,620 --> 00:47:55,620
There are 25,000 Dubliners
serving in the British Army

679
00:47:55,620 --> 00:47:57,660
during the First World War.

680
00:47:57,660 --> 00:47:59,820
One in five of them are killed.

681
00:47:59,820 --> 00:48:04,820
There are, of course, going to be
those hugely angry for that reason.

682
00:48:04,820 --> 00:48:07,060
You also had the Separation Women,

683
00:48:07,060 --> 00:48:10,540
who were in receipt of allowances
through the post offices

684
00:48:10,540 --> 00:48:13,580
from their husbands who were
fighting in World War I,

685
00:48:13,580 --> 00:48:16,780
and they were enraged by the fact
that they couldn't get their money

686
00:48:16,780 --> 00:48:18,820
because somebody wanted to die
for Ireland -

687
00:48:18,820 --> 00:48:20,820
they had no interest
in dying for Ireland,

688
00:48:20,820 --> 00:48:22,980
they wanted their money
to rear their children.

689
00:48:32,980 --> 00:48:36,060
On O'Connell Street,
reports of a disturbance

690
00:48:36,060 --> 00:48:39,900
brings a company of British Army
Lancers onto the street.

691
00:48:39,900 --> 00:48:41,620
It was obvious they were going to

692
00:48:41,620 --> 00:48:43,500
have the cavalry
charge down the street.

693
00:48:46,220 --> 00:48:48,860
And suddenly there's
this volley of gunfire,

694
00:48:48,860 --> 00:48:50,940
horses are taken down,
men are killed -

695
00:48:50,940 --> 00:48:54,020
the Rising has moved into
a real stage where

696
00:48:54,020 --> 00:48:55,980
there's no turning back now.

697
00:49:00,420 --> 00:49:04,220
Isolated at the Viceregal Lodge
in Phoenix Park,

698
00:49:04,220 --> 00:49:08,060
the Viceroy, Lord Wimborne,
is in a state of panic.

699
00:49:08,060 --> 00:49:10,260
Convinced by intelligence reports

700
00:49:10,260 --> 00:49:12,740
that the Germans
are behind the rebellion

701
00:49:12,740 --> 00:49:14,380
and that worse is to come,

702
00:49:14,380 --> 00:49:19,100
he declares martial law in Dublin
for the first time in 100 years.

703
00:49:20,300 --> 00:49:23,180
He appeals to Prime Minister
Herbert Asquith in London

704
00:49:23,180 --> 00:49:24,900
for immediate military support.

705
00:49:26,100 --> 00:49:28,660
The initial response
is surprisingly muted.

706
00:49:32,940 --> 00:49:35,900
Earlier in the day, the Germans
launched Zeppelin raids

707
00:49:35,900 --> 00:49:38,820
on English cities in Kent and Essex,

708
00:49:38,820 --> 00:49:42,180
while their battleships bombard
towns on England's coast.

709
00:49:45,100 --> 00:49:49,140
It takes time for events in Dublin
to capture Asquith's attention,

710
00:49:49,140 --> 00:49:51,620
but when Britain's response
finally comes,

711
00:49:51,620 --> 00:49:53,860
it is massive and resolute.

712
00:49:56,300 --> 00:50:01,340
Late on Tuesday night, thousands of
soldiers arrive at Liverpool docks

713
00:50:01,340 --> 00:50:04,780
and board ship, bound for Ireland.

714
00:50:12,980 --> 00:50:16,180
Early Wednesday morning,
thousands of British soldiers

715
00:50:16,180 --> 00:50:19,100
land at South Dublin's
Kingstown Harbour.

716
00:50:19,100 --> 00:50:22,780
Among them are two battalions
of Sherwood Foresters,

717
00:50:22,780 --> 00:50:25,580
young infantrymen so raw
they have to be shown

718
00:50:25,580 --> 00:50:28,620
how to load and fire their guns
on the pier.

719
00:50:28,620 --> 00:50:31,820
Some even think they've arrived
at the Western Front in France.

720
00:50:33,340 --> 00:50:36,100
The Sherwoods are split
into two groups,

721
00:50:36,100 --> 00:50:39,340
one marches towards Dublin through
the leafy suburb of Ballsbridge.

722
00:50:43,380 --> 00:50:46,300
The rebel commander at
Boland's Mill's garrison,

723
00:50:46,300 --> 00:50:50,660
Eamon de Valera, a mathematics
teacher, has set up outposts

724
00:50:50,660 --> 00:50:54,180
covering Mount Street Bridge
and Northumberland Road.

725
00:50:54,180 --> 00:50:58,860
We knew that number 25 was being
held by only two men,

726
00:50:58,860 --> 00:51:01,540
Michael Malone and Jim Grace.

727
00:51:07,580 --> 00:51:10,860
Around about one o'clock in the day
we heard the noise of marching men

728
00:51:10,860 --> 00:51:15,220
and looked out and here we saw, as
we thought, the whole British Army

729
00:51:15,220 --> 00:51:19,300
coming in, and they were marching
along, quite unconcerned...

730
00:51:20,980 --> 00:51:24,420
..and the men in number 25
waited until they got

731
00:51:24,420 --> 00:51:27,820
to the junction of Haddington Road
and Northumberland Road.

732
00:51:30,340 --> 00:51:32,700
SHOTS FIRE

733
00:51:36,460 --> 00:51:39,580
When they came under fire
it was complete chaos.

734
00:51:39,580 --> 00:51:41,700
Clearly nobody knew what to do.

735
00:51:41,700 --> 00:51:43,940
A lot of soldiers
are killed on the spot

736
00:51:43,940 --> 00:51:46,780
and they had no idea where
the firing was coming from.

737
00:51:46,780 --> 00:51:50,260
The sound echoes across all
the surrounding buildings,

738
00:51:50,260 --> 00:51:52,700
you just can't tell
where it's coming from.

739
00:51:53,900 --> 00:51:57,140
Well, we thought there were
probably 200 or 300.

740
00:51:57,140 --> 00:51:59,380
Their fire was so good
and so accurate

741
00:51:59,380 --> 00:52:03,020
that they misled the troops
as to the numbers.

742
00:52:03,020 --> 00:52:07,260
From their outpost at Clanwilliam
House on the far side of the canal,

743
00:52:07,260 --> 00:52:09,300
the rebels will have any soldiers

744
00:52:09,300 --> 00:52:11,820
who reach Mount Street Bridge
in range.

745
00:52:13,260 --> 00:52:16,660
When they came in our view
then we opened fire.

746
00:52:18,020 --> 00:52:20,820
They charged about
seven or eight at a time

747
00:52:20,820 --> 00:52:24,580
across the bridge, but they
never crossed the bridge.

748
00:52:32,540 --> 00:52:35,540
Eventually the British
traced the sniper fire

749
00:52:35,540 --> 00:52:39,460
in Northumberland Road to the upper
floor window of number 25.

750
00:52:41,020 --> 00:52:43,500
It would have been between
half past six and seven -

751
00:52:43,500 --> 00:52:47,340
it was still bright -
when they made an almighty rush

752
00:52:47,340 --> 00:52:49,060
and they got up the steps

753
00:52:49,060 --> 00:52:51,820
and they threw a bomb at the door
and we heard an explosion

754
00:52:51,820 --> 00:52:55,060
and we saw a bright light and
we knew it was the end of those two.

755
00:52:57,540 --> 00:53:02,580
In the end 230 British soldiers
are dead or wounded.

756
00:53:02,580 --> 00:53:05,140
The rebels lose just four men.

757
00:53:12,860 --> 00:53:16,780
By now, four 18 pound field guns
stationed by the British

758
00:53:16,780 --> 00:53:19,580
at Trinity College
have begun shelling the city.

759
00:53:26,300 --> 00:53:28,780
After a couple of very bruising
encounters,

760
00:53:28,780 --> 00:53:33,620
it's clear that the British forces
will not attempt a frontal charge

761
00:53:33,620 --> 00:53:36,700
on any of the fixed positions
of the Volunteers.

762
00:53:36,700 --> 00:53:38,220
Instead what they will do

763
00:53:38,220 --> 00:53:40,740
is they will draw a ring of steel
around them

764
00:53:40,740 --> 00:53:42,700
and basically tighten that ring...

765
00:53:44,140 --> 00:53:47,300
..so that the rebels will eventually
see that they have no option

766
00:53:47,300 --> 00:53:49,540
but to surrender or die.

767
00:53:57,180 --> 00:54:01,420
The British sail a gunboat,
the Helga, up the River Liffey,

768
00:54:01,420 --> 00:54:05,220
and begin shelling O'Connell Street
and the GPO.

769
00:54:16,900 --> 00:54:18,940
EXPLOSIONS

770
00:54:22,660 --> 00:54:24,900
EXPLOSIONS

771
00:54:35,180 --> 00:54:36,780
The assault intensifies

772
00:54:36,780 --> 00:54:39,740
as the British systematically
close down the city.

773
00:54:39,740 --> 00:54:44,420
Outside the GPO, as Connolly
tries to link with an outpost,

774
00:54:44,420 --> 00:54:46,660
a sniper's bullet
rips into his ankle.

775
00:54:51,260 --> 00:54:55,780
With some difficulty he manages to
drag himself back inside the GPO.

776
00:55:04,060 --> 00:55:06,580
Fire spreads rapidly from
building to building

777
00:55:06,580 --> 00:55:08,820
on the densely-packed
commercial street.

778
00:55:13,820 --> 00:55:19,260
As far as we could see, the sky was
just one enormous mass of flame.

779
00:55:20,540 --> 00:55:23,420
Tremendous, enormous mass of flame.

780
00:55:24,780 --> 00:55:27,060
And we felt that
the whole centre of the city

781
00:55:27,060 --> 00:55:28,820
was being destroyed by fire.

782
00:55:36,340 --> 00:55:39,220
With parts of the GPO
already on fire,

783
00:55:39,220 --> 00:55:43,260
Volunteer Eamon Dore has a meal
with some fellow rebels.

784
00:55:43,260 --> 00:55:46,300
The post office was, of course,
completely on fire at the time,

785
00:55:46,300 --> 00:55:48,180
it hadn't come quite down to
our room

786
00:55:48,180 --> 00:55:50,500
but it was all around us, though.

787
00:55:50,500 --> 00:55:54,980
I asked Tom Clarke, I said,
"What would you do if we won?"

788
00:55:54,980 --> 00:55:57,660
Well, he said,
"We won't win this time."

789
00:55:57,660 --> 00:56:00,580
I said, "IF we won,
what would you do?"

790
00:56:00,580 --> 00:56:03,460
He said, "I'd get a small cottage
with a big wall round it

791
00:56:03,460 --> 00:56:05,220
"and I'd grow flowers."

792
00:56:13,700 --> 00:56:15,380
At 2am on Friday morning,

793
00:56:15,380 --> 00:56:18,780
the newly appointed military
governor of Ireland,

794
00:56:18,780 --> 00:56:20,580
General Sir John Maxwell,

795
00:56:20,580 --> 00:56:22,900
sails up the Liffey into Dublin.

796
00:56:24,180 --> 00:56:27,940
"It looked as if the entire centre
of Dublin was in flames.

797
00:56:27,940 --> 00:56:30,660
"When we got to North Wall,
bullets were flying about -

798
00:56:30,660 --> 00:56:33,100
"the crackle of musketry
and machinegun fire

799
00:56:33,100 --> 00:56:35,020
"breaking out every other minute.

800
00:56:36,420 --> 00:56:39,900
"I think the signs are that
the rebels have had enough.

801
00:56:42,580 --> 00:56:44,980
"I will know for certain tonight."

802
00:56:53,420 --> 00:56:56,260
The garrison in the Four Courts
under the command

803
00:56:56,260 --> 00:56:59,820
of 25-year-old
Edward Daly has been surrounded.

804
00:57:02,220 --> 00:57:05,220
Daly and the Volunteers are
involved in fierce fighting

805
00:57:05,220 --> 00:57:07,740
with the British
along North King Street.

806
00:57:12,780 --> 00:57:15,580
Days of fighting have cost
the British dearly,

807
00:57:15,580 --> 00:57:18,500
with the loss of 11 men
and 32 wounded.

808
00:57:19,580 --> 00:57:22,420
When they finally
gain control of the street,

809
00:57:22,420 --> 00:57:25,540
their retaliation on some local
residents is merciless.

810
00:57:27,620 --> 00:57:30,100
"The men were brought into the back.

811
00:57:30,100 --> 00:57:33,380
"We heard poor Christie
pleading for his father's life.

812
00:57:34,940 --> 00:57:36,700
" 'Oh, don't kill Father.'

813
00:57:39,340 --> 00:57:41,540
"Shots rang out."

814
00:57:45,580 --> 00:57:49,820
That night, in houses along
North King Street,

815
00:57:49,820 --> 00:57:53,420
British soldiers execute
15 innocent civilians.

816
00:58:23,140 --> 00:58:26,540
Pearse ordered the garrison
be assembled in the main hall

817
00:58:26,540 --> 00:58:29,620
of the GPO on Friday afternoon.

818
00:58:29,620 --> 00:58:35,860
We knew that the end was near
and he said, then, that...

819
00:58:35,860 --> 00:58:39,220
"Win it we will,
although we may win it in death."

820
00:58:42,020 --> 00:58:46,820
By Friday evening it is clear
that the GPO must be evacuated.

821
00:58:46,820 --> 00:58:51,380
The O'Rahilly volunteers to lead
in advance party down Moore Street,

822
00:58:51,380 --> 00:58:54,700
to set up a position to provide
cover for the next wave of rebels

823
00:58:54,700 --> 00:58:56,380
abandoning the GPO.

824
00:58:57,820 --> 00:58:59,780
But the British are waiting.

825
00:59:01,580 --> 00:59:04,620
They waited until the last of us
came around the corner

826
00:59:04,620 --> 00:59:08,380
from Henry Street, and then
they let it all loose on us.

827
00:59:09,820 --> 00:59:12,300
Incessant heavy fire.

828
00:59:12,300 --> 00:59:17,300
An awful lot fell near me -
three or four of my friends.

829
00:59:17,300 --> 00:59:19,100
Lieutenant Paddy Shortis -

830
00:59:19,100 --> 00:59:22,380
I had chummed up with him
only the previous day -

831
00:59:22,380 --> 00:59:25,380
we were friends for a
very brief duration,

832
00:59:25,380 --> 00:59:29,180
he was shot dead beside me,
and two or three others.

833
00:59:29,180 --> 00:59:33,860
Myself and about six others veered
to the left-hand side of the street

834
00:59:33,860 --> 00:59:38,460
and The O'Rahilly was well
in front and was shot there.

835
00:59:39,660 --> 00:59:41,780
I saw him fall on his face

836
00:59:41,780 --> 00:59:44,740
and the sword
fall out of his hand.

837
00:59:44,740 --> 00:59:47,380
And I saw him then
turn on his left side,

838
00:59:47,380 --> 00:59:50,940
he was in great pain and
he made the sign of the cross.

839
00:59:55,460 --> 00:59:58,620
When Pearse and the remaining rebels
evacuate the GPO,

840
00:59:58,620 --> 01:00:00,620
they, too, come under heavy fire

841
01:00:00,620 --> 01:00:04,220
and are forced to take cover
in houses in Moore Street.

842
01:00:25,060 --> 01:00:27,060
By daybreak on Saturday,

843
01:00:27,060 --> 01:00:31,180
the commander of the British forces
in Ireland, Brigadier-General Lowe,

844
01:00:31,180 --> 01:00:34,500
has effectively
cordoned off the city centre.

845
01:00:34,500 --> 01:00:36,500
The noose has closed.

846
01:00:38,940 --> 01:00:42,420
In a building on Moore Street,
Padraig Pearse sees something

847
01:00:42,420 --> 01:00:45,100
that finally convinces him
to end the fight.

848
01:00:46,660 --> 01:00:50,420
On the street outside
three old men lie dead...

849
01:00:51,940 --> 01:00:54,100
..holding white flags
in their hands.

850
01:00:56,500 --> 01:01:00,260
This, according to Sean Mac Diarmada
is the moment that Pearse decides

851
01:01:00,260 --> 01:01:02,900
to save the lives
of further civilians

852
01:01:02,900 --> 01:01:05,220
by calling an end to the Rising.

853
01:01:07,820 --> 01:01:12,260
At 2:30pm, Pearse meets Lowe
at the top of Moore Street,

854
01:01:12,260 --> 01:01:16,580
presenting his sword, and with it
the formal, unconditional surrender

855
01:01:16,580 --> 01:01:20,700
of the Provisional Irish Government
and the Irish Republican Army.

856
01:01:23,260 --> 01:01:27,820
The Irish Republic
has lasted for just six days.

857
01:01:55,380 --> 01:01:58,220
Though sporadic
resistance continues,

858
01:01:58,220 --> 01:02:02,060
by Sunday, all the main rebel
garrisons have surrendered.

859
01:02:03,500 --> 01:02:07,780
Gravely injured, Connolly is moved
to a hospital ward in Dublin Castle.

860
01:02:10,380 --> 01:02:13,460
The other leaders,
along with many of the rebels,

861
01:02:13,460 --> 01:02:15,540
are taken to Richmond Barracks.

862
01:02:16,660 --> 01:02:20,700
Hundreds of us,
very dishevelled men, I remember.

863
01:02:20,700 --> 01:02:23,380
Unshaven, soiled, tired-looking

864
01:02:23,380 --> 01:02:26,220
but a marvellous spirit of defiance.

865
01:02:27,700 --> 01:02:32,900
It seems very eerie going down
such a silent O'Connell Street.

866
01:02:32,900 --> 01:02:38,180
There was hardly a sound, and at the
GPO, smoke still rising from it.

867
01:02:39,340 --> 01:02:43,220
I thought to myself, that's
like our dreams, in ruins now.

868
01:03:09,900 --> 01:03:13,380
As the smoke rises from
the devastated city centre

869
01:03:13,380 --> 01:03:15,780
the immediate cost is clear.

870
01:03:15,780 --> 01:03:20,820
65 rebels and 140 British troops
are dead...

871
01:03:20,820 --> 01:03:25,420
but by far the largest group of
casualties are Dublin civilians.

872
01:03:25,420 --> 01:03:30,420
At least 300 men, women and
children have lost their lives.

873
01:03:33,260 --> 01:03:35,500
The word chivalry has often
been used

874
01:03:35,500 --> 01:03:37,780
in relation to the
conduct of the fight.

875
01:03:37,780 --> 01:03:40,580
I don't think you can make
a sweeping assertion

876
01:03:40,580 --> 01:03:42,580
about the conduct of the fight -

877
01:03:42,580 --> 01:03:45,500
particularly when you consider
that there were in the region

878
01:03:45,500 --> 01:03:49,740
of 40 children killed over the
course of Easter week 1916.

879
01:03:51,780 --> 01:03:54,380
Those children did not ask
to die for Ireland.

880
01:04:05,660 --> 01:04:08,500
There was a whole
series of demonstrations

881
01:04:08,500 --> 01:04:11,060
while we were marched down.

882
01:04:11,060 --> 01:04:14,500
Some of the women there shouted
all sorts of expletives at us,

883
01:04:14,500 --> 01:04:19,060
told the soldiers to
"shoot the bastards".

884
01:04:20,580 --> 01:04:24,540
So I can say this much, definitely,
that the Rising in Dublin

885
01:04:24,540 --> 01:04:26,780
was not popular in 1916.

886
01:04:32,180 --> 01:04:36,180
Mainstream nationalist Ireland
deeply disapproved.

887
01:04:36,180 --> 01:04:39,300
Not only was the action condemned
as a stab in the back,

888
01:04:39,300 --> 01:04:41,620
a treachery,
irresponsible and worse,

889
01:04:41,620 --> 01:04:43,340
but there were further calls

890
01:04:43,340 --> 01:04:47,060
for the most severe penalties
to be meted out to the ringleaders.

891
01:04:55,140 --> 01:04:58,580
By now Ireland is being
governed under martial law

892
01:04:58,580 --> 01:05:01,300
by British General Sir John Maxwell.

893
01:05:02,420 --> 01:05:04,620
Maxwell is in no mood for mercy.

894
01:05:06,700 --> 01:05:09,740
He rounds up the rank and file
of the Irish Volunteers

895
01:05:09,740 --> 01:05:13,900
and the Irish Citizen Army and sends
them to prison camps in Britain.

896
01:05:16,660 --> 01:05:19,100
The leaders would be
court-martialled.

897
01:05:31,900 --> 01:05:36,900
Asquith's eldest son,
his most brilliant son, Raymond,

898
01:05:36,900 --> 01:05:39,260
he was killed in the Great War.

899
01:05:39,260 --> 01:05:43,700
Many of his cabinet ministers
had lost sons by 1916,

900
01:05:43,700 --> 01:05:45,900
and, therefore,

901
01:05:45,900 --> 01:05:50,500
what's the execution
of the Irish leaders in 1916,

902
01:05:50,500 --> 01:05:52,220
when people are being killed

903
01:05:52,220 --> 01:05:54,900
in their hundreds, their thousands,
every day?

904
01:05:56,100 --> 01:05:59,460
And that, I think...

905
01:05:59,460 --> 01:06:04,740
it coarsens
the British reaction to 1916,

906
01:06:04,740 --> 01:06:07,940
it blunts their political antennae.

907
01:06:13,340 --> 01:06:16,220
The first to face Britain's justice

908
01:06:16,220 --> 01:06:21,300
are Padraig Pearse, Tom Clarke
and Thomas MacDonagh.

909
01:06:23,020 --> 01:06:26,060
All three are found guilty
of rebellion against the Crown

910
01:06:26,060 --> 01:06:28,780
and sentenced to death
by firing squad.

911
01:06:30,620 --> 01:06:33,140
Transferred to Dublin's
Kilmainham Gaol,

912
01:06:33,140 --> 01:06:36,900
they were informed that they
will be shot at dawn.

913
01:06:39,060 --> 01:06:43,100
Their families are to be
allowed one last visit.

914
01:06:43,100 --> 01:06:46,220
But neither the Pearse family nor
Muriel MacDonagh

915
01:06:46,220 --> 01:06:47,860
receive the news in time.

916
01:06:49,980 --> 01:06:54,180
A Capuchin priest, Father Aloysius,
is allowed to visit.

917
01:06:56,620 --> 01:06:59,340
"The bare cell was lighted
from a candle

918
01:06:59,340 --> 01:07:02,180
"at a small opening in
the cell wall.

919
01:07:02,180 --> 01:07:05,140
"I had barely light to read
the ritual,

920
01:07:05,140 --> 01:07:09,140
"but the man, Pearse, as he
lifted up to receive his God,

921
01:07:09,140 --> 01:07:11,300
"seemed to beam with light.

922
01:07:12,540 --> 01:07:15,900
"The same description would apply
to Thomas MacDonagh.

923
01:07:15,900 --> 01:07:17,700
"Both assured me they were happy.

924
01:07:18,980 --> 01:07:22,460
"I left Pearse and MacDonagh
in the most edifying disposition.

925
01:07:23,660 --> 01:07:26,260
"Pearse was anxious
that his mother should get a letter

926
01:07:26,260 --> 01:07:28,140
"he had just written."

927
01:07:30,780 --> 01:07:32,180
"My dearest mother,

928
01:07:32,180 --> 01:07:36,060
"I had been hoping that it would be
possible to see you again,

929
01:07:36,060 --> 01:07:38,020
"but it does not seem possible.

930
01:07:39,620 --> 01:07:42,100
"I have just received
Holy Communion.

931
01:07:42,100 --> 01:07:45,220
"I am happy, except for the
great grief of parting from you.

932
01:07:46,740 --> 01:07:48,980
"This is the death I should have
asked for

933
01:07:48,980 --> 01:07:51,460
"if God had given me the choice of
all deaths -

934
01:07:51,460 --> 01:07:53,460
"to die a soldier's death
for freedom.

935
01:07:55,060 --> 01:07:58,900
"Goodbye, dear, dear mother."

936
01:08:05,380 --> 01:08:07,740
That same night in a nearby cell

937
01:08:07,740 --> 01:08:10,740
Thomas MacDonagh
writes a note to his son.

938
01:08:12,540 --> 01:08:17,020
"Don, darling little boy,
remember me kindly.

939
01:08:18,180 --> 01:08:19,420
"Take my hope.

940
01:08:20,700 --> 01:08:24,500
"You will recognise, I think, I have
done a great thing for Ireland...

941
01:08:26,220 --> 01:08:28,620
"..won the first step
for her freedom.

942
01:08:31,260 --> 01:08:33,580
"God bless you, my son."

943
01:08:38,180 --> 01:08:40,980
Only Tom Clarke's wife, Kathleen,

944
01:08:40,980 --> 01:08:44,940
herself a prisoner in Dublin Castle,
gets there in time.

945
01:08:46,300 --> 01:08:48,140
We got about an hour.

946
01:08:48,140 --> 01:08:53,340
Well, even then we didn't talk
about anything about ourselves,

947
01:08:53,340 --> 01:08:55,220
we talked about the future.

948
01:08:57,300 --> 01:08:59,620
And the future of the country.

949
01:08:59,620 --> 01:09:02,620
And he said...

950
01:09:02,620 --> 01:09:06,020
"We, all of us that are
going out tonight," he said,

951
01:09:06,020 --> 01:09:08,860
"believe that we have saved
the soul of Ireland...

952
01:09:10,300 --> 01:09:14,540
"..that we have struck the first
successful blow to freedom,

953
01:09:14,540 --> 01:09:16,740
"but between this and freedom,"
he said,

954
01:09:16,740 --> 01:09:18,900
"Ireland would go through hell."

955
01:09:20,460 --> 01:09:23,820
"But," he said, "Ireland would
never lie down again."

956
01:09:28,180 --> 01:09:31,500
Three days after the Rising,
the British authorities announced

957
01:09:31,500 --> 01:09:35,140
that three leaders,
Clarke, MacDonagh and Pearse

958
01:09:35,140 --> 01:09:36,820
had been executed.

959
01:09:46,340 --> 01:09:49,660
The population of Dublin were not
aware of what was going on,

960
01:09:49,660 --> 01:09:51,900
because the court martials
were held in secret...

961
01:09:53,380 --> 01:09:56,340
..and hearing volleys of shots
from Kilmainham prison

962
01:09:56,340 --> 01:09:58,740
was not calculated to
appease the concerns

963
01:09:58,740 --> 01:10:02,020
of those who knew that hundreds
of people had been rounded-up

964
01:10:02,020 --> 01:10:05,180
and, for all they knew, hundreds of
people were going to be executed.

965
01:10:05,180 --> 01:10:09,180
In the following days,
the executions continue.

966
01:10:09,180 --> 01:10:14,460
On Wednesday 4th,
Edward Daly, Michael O'Hanrahan,

967
01:10:14,460 --> 01:10:16,580
Joseph Mary Plunkett

968
01:10:16,580 --> 01:10:20,060
and Pearse's younger brother,
Willie, face the firing squad.

969
01:10:23,060 --> 01:10:27,020
May 5th,
Major John MacBride is executed.

970
01:10:29,020 --> 01:10:32,060
May 8th, four more executions -

971
01:10:32,060 --> 01:10:34,500
Conn Colbert, Eamonn Ceannt,

972
01:10:34,500 --> 01:10:36,780
Sean Heuston and Michael Mallin.

973
01:10:38,180 --> 01:10:40,620
"My darling wife,
pulse of my heart...

974
01:10:43,220 --> 01:10:46,340
"..this is the end of
all things earthly.

975
01:10:46,340 --> 01:10:49,860
"I enclose the buttons
off my sleeve.

976
01:10:49,860 --> 01:10:51,740
"Keep them in memory of me."

977
01:11:01,380 --> 01:11:04,420
Machiavelli used to always say
if you had bad news

978
01:11:04,420 --> 01:11:06,860
you should get it
all over in one go.

979
01:11:06,860 --> 01:11:09,860
If they were going to execute, they
would have been much better off

980
01:11:09,860 --> 01:11:12,740
carrying out the executions
one day, bang - that.

981
01:11:12,740 --> 01:11:15,380
Instead of which,
nobody knows what's happening,

982
01:11:15,380 --> 01:11:17,420
there's very strict censorship -

983
01:11:17,420 --> 01:11:19,900
and the impact upon
Irish public opinion

984
01:11:19,900 --> 01:11:23,300
has been well likened to watching

985
01:11:23,300 --> 01:11:27,500
blood slowly seeping from
under a locked prison door.

986
01:11:34,060 --> 01:11:36,180
Irish politician John Dillon,

987
01:11:36,180 --> 01:11:38,780
a senior figure in the
Home Rule Party,

988
01:11:38,780 --> 01:11:41,660
delivers an angry speech
in the House of Commons

989
01:11:41,660 --> 01:11:43,820
that provokes shock and outrage.

990
01:11:43,820 --> 01:11:48,660
His target - the British government
and its policy of retribution.

991
01:11:48,660 --> 01:11:51,620
"You are letting loose
a river of blood.

992
01:11:51,620 --> 01:11:54,340
"It is the first rebellion that
ever took place in Ireland

993
01:11:54,340 --> 01:11:56,420
"where you had the majority
on your side.

994
01:11:57,580 --> 01:12:01,260
"It is not murderers who are being
executed, it is insurgents

995
01:12:01,260 --> 01:12:05,340
"who have fought a clean fight -
a brave fight, however misguided."

996
01:12:13,900 --> 01:12:17,060
In America, people are beginning
to pay attention.

997
01:12:18,820 --> 01:12:23,620
What's interesting about the
coverage of the Easter Rising

998
01:12:23,620 --> 01:12:28,620
in American newspapers
is the extensive nature of it.

999
01:12:28,620 --> 01:12:32,180
The New York Times
devoted 14 days

1000
01:12:32,180 --> 01:12:36,660
to coverage of the Easter Rising
on its front page.

1001
01:12:38,500 --> 01:12:44,980
Then you see American public opinion
swung in favour of the Irish

1002
01:12:44,980 --> 01:12:47,340
and against the British.

1003
01:12:48,460 --> 01:12:51,780
So that you would have
monster meetings,

1004
01:12:51,780 --> 01:12:54,140
gatherings of Irish-Americans

1005
01:12:54,140 --> 01:12:57,900
and those who were supporting
Irish independence,

1006
01:12:57,900 --> 01:13:04,060
and the then ambassador from
Great Britain to the United States

1007
01:13:04,060 --> 01:13:06,900
is watching very closely,

1008
01:13:06,900 --> 01:13:09,740
and right after the executions

1009
01:13:09,740 --> 01:13:13,180
he says that,
"When they look our way,"

1010
01:13:13,180 --> 01:13:18,660
meaning the Irish in America,
"they have blood in their eyes."

1011
01:13:23,900 --> 01:13:27,220
With Irish and international
pressure mounting,

1012
01:13:27,220 --> 01:13:30,380
many rebels,
including three prominent leaders,

1013
01:13:30,380 --> 01:13:33,700
Eamon de Valera, Countess Markievicz

1014
01:13:33,700 --> 01:13:37,500
and WT Cosgrave are taken
off the execution list.

1015
01:13:41,540 --> 01:13:45,500
For the two remaining signatories
of the proclamation, however,

1016
01:13:45,500 --> 01:13:47,740
there will be no mercy.

1017
01:13:49,780 --> 01:13:53,700
On 11th May,
James Connolly and Sean Mac Diarmada

1018
01:13:53,700 --> 01:13:56,900
are court-martialled and sentenced
to death by firing squad.

1019
01:13:59,980 --> 01:14:03,380
James Connolly is still in the
Red Cross Hospital in Dublin Castle,

1020
01:14:03,380 --> 01:14:05,380
being treated for his wounds.

1021
01:14:07,260 --> 01:14:10,140
About midnight
Connolly's wife, Lily,

1022
01:14:10,140 --> 01:14:12,660
and daughter, Nora,
are brought to see him.

1023
01:14:14,060 --> 01:14:17,140
Well, we got ready, and we went down
and we were taken in a...

1024
01:14:17,140 --> 01:14:21,660
an army lorry, coming down through
O'Connell Street and all the...

1025
01:14:23,060 --> 01:14:25,740
You still smell burning and all...

1026
01:14:25,740 --> 01:14:27,180
they still had that

1027
01:14:27,180 --> 01:14:28,580
horrible smell of burning.

1028
01:14:30,980 --> 01:14:34,540
So when we got in to my father,
he said,

1029
01:14:34,540 --> 01:14:39,100
"Well, Lily," he said, "I
suppose you know what this means?

1030
01:14:39,100 --> 01:14:42,060
And she said, "Oh, no.
Oh, no, not that."

1031
01:14:42,060 --> 01:14:43,980
He said, "Yes, Lily."

1032
01:14:43,980 --> 01:14:46,940
She broke down, then, and she said,

1033
01:14:46,940 --> 01:14:51,460
"But your beautiful life, James,"
she says, "your beautiful life."

1034
01:14:53,020 --> 01:14:58,220
He said, "Wasn't it a full life
Lillian, isn't this a good end?"

1035
01:14:59,820 --> 01:15:02,900
And she broke, but she still cried,
so he says, "Look, Lily,

1036
01:15:02,900 --> 01:15:05,540
"please don't cry,"
he says, "you'll unman me."

1037
01:15:07,100 --> 01:15:09,020
So she tried to control herself.

1038
01:15:09,020 --> 01:15:11,220
I was trying to control myself, too.

1039
01:15:12,580 --> 01:15:16,380
And he was trying to plan our life
for after he was gone, and...

1040
01:15:19,220 --> 01:15:22,220
Then they told us...

1041
01:15:22,220 --> 01:15:24,500
time is up, and we'd have to go,

1042
01:15:24,500 --> 01:15:26,900
he was to be shot at dawn,
you see.

1043
01:15:32,540 --> 01:15:35,700
On May 12th, James Connolly
and Sean Mac Diarmada

1044
01:15:35,700 --> 01:15:39,020
are the last of the leaders
to be shot by firing squad.

1045
01:15:44,740 --> 01:15:48,460
Having been found guilty
of treason on the 3rd of August,

1046
01:15:48,460 --> 01:15:52,220
Roger Casement is hanged
in Pentonville Prison in London.

1047
01:15:55,300 --> 01:15:58,300
Casement's death brings
the executions to an end...

1048
01:15:59,500 --> 01:16:01,580
..but it also marks a beginning.

1049
01:16:13,820 --> 01:16:17,820
I think that Pearse imagined
execution as, in fact,

1050
01:16:17,820 --> 01:16:21,300
a great weapon,
a great rebel weapon.

1051
01:16:21,300 --> 01:16:23,140
"Yes, they'll kill us,

1052
01:16:23,140 --> 01:16:24,820
"but our fame will live on."

1053
01:16:24,820 --> 01:16:27,220
Execution means drama.

1054
01:16:27,220 --> 01:16:30,700
You might almost say,
it is great theatre -

1055
01:16:30,700 --> 01:16:33,700
except it's great theatre
where the losers die.

1056
01:16:35,180 --> 01:16:36,980
But the way they die,

1057
01:16:36,980 --> 01:16:41,020
and what they leave after them,
then resonates with those to come.

1058
01:16:44,260 --> 01:16:48,580
Violence polarises situations, and
when ordinary Irish nationalists,

1059
01:16:48,580 --> 01:16:51,060
people who had been hostile
to the rebellion,

1060
01:16:51,060 --> 01:16:53,740
have to choose which side
their sympathies are with,

1061
01:16:53,740 --> 01:16:56,860
it's not for the execution
squads of the British Army

1062
01:16:56,860 --> 01:16:59,580
but for people who are,
after all, their own blood.

1063
01:17:02,580 --> 01:17:05,180
People began to see
the rebels differently,

1064
01:17:05,180 --> 01:17:08,860
they began to understand
and get ideas of self-sacrifice

1065
01:17:08,860 --> 01:17:13,140
and heroism and courage and
they began, as a result of that,

1066
01:17:13,140 --> 01:17:16,380
to try and understand
what it was that drove them

1067
01:17:16,380 --> 01:17:20,620
to this extremity when it was clear
that they couldn't possibly win.

1068
01:17:22,460 --> 01:17:25,060
INTERVIEWER: What effect did
the executions have on you?

1069
01:17:25,060 --> 01:17:27,180
The same as it had on
everybody else,

1070
01:17:27,180 --> 01:17:29,780
made me completely and
absolutely pro them,

1071
01:17:29,780 --> 01:17:33,380
and I became a political
Irishman from that day.

1072
01:17:35,300 --> 01:17:39,260
The executions of the leaders
did a lot of political damage,

1073
01:17:39,260 --> 01:17:42,140
but the arrests of
a lot of ordinary people

1074
01:17:42,140 --> 01:17:45,980
did at least as much damage
and spread it wider.

1075
01:17:45,980 --> 01:17:49,460
The British forces went into areas
which hadn't seen an insurrection

1076
01:17:49,460 --> 01:17:53,420
and arrested large numbers of people
in the weeks after the Rising.

1077
01:17:55,220 --> 01:17:57,860
They brought together people
who'd never met each other,

1078
01:17:57,860 --> 01:18:00,820
and had no public influence
before, nothing in common.

1079
01:18:01,980 --> 01:18:06,340
By doing so they greatly broadened
the new revolutionary elite.

1080
01:18:18,020 --> 01:18:22,780
Late in 1916, most of the internal
prisoners are set free.

1081
01:18:24,540 --> 01:18:27,020
The rest are released
the following year.

1082
01:18:28,380 --> 01:18:31,940
In the months that follow,
in a remarkable change of heart,

1083
01:18:31,940 --> 01:18:34,660
the majority sentiment
comes to support the cause

1084
01:18:34,660 --> 01:18:38,140
for which the rebels of 1916
had fought and died.

1085
01:18:47,580 --> 01:18:51,140
When the Great War ends
tens of thousands of Irish soldiers

1086
01:18:51,140 --> 01:18:53,860
return to a transformed Ireland.

1087
01:18:53,860 --> 01:18:58,940
Having fought under a British flag,
some find themselves ostracised.

1088
01:19:00,380 --> 01:19:04,060
Their sacrifice at the
front line no longer valued.

1089
01:19:04,060 --> 01:19:06,940
Others joined the republican cause

1090
01:19:06,940 --> 01:19:11,020
and devote themselves fully to
achieving Irish independence.

1091
01:19:16,620 --> 01:19:20,340
In the general election of 1918,
Sinn Fein,

1092
01:19:20,340 --> 01:19:23,020
the political party that
rejects Home Rule

1093
01:19:23,020 --> 01:19:25,460
in favour of separatist
republicanism,

1094
01:19:25,460 --> 01:19:27,420
wins a landslide victory,

1095
01:19:27,420 --> 01:19:29,740
gaining almost three quarters
of the seats.

1096
01:19:31,940 --> 01:19:35,540
One third of the newly elected
Sinn Fein representatives

1097
01:19:35,540 --> 01:19:37,740
had fought in 1916.

1098
01:19:39,820 --> 01:19:43,420
Significantly, this is the first
time in Irish history

1099
01:19:43,420 --> 01:19:47,260
that women are given the right to
vote in parliamentary elections.

1100
01:19:49,100 --> 01:19:50,540
In the north of Ireland,

1101
01:19:50,540 --> 01:19:53,740
Ulster Unionists are by far
the most successful party,

1102
01:19:53,740 --> 01:19:57,220
setting the scene for the
future partition of the island.

1103
01:20:27,740 --> 01:20:31,220
Refusing to take their seats
in the parliament in London,

1104
01:20:31,220 --> 01:20:33,300
on the 21st of January, 1919,

1105
01:20:33,300 --> 01:20:37,140
the elected Sinn Fein
representatives not imprisoned

1106
01:20:37,140 --> 01:20:39,740
gather at Dublin's Mansion house,

1107
01:20:39,740 --> 01:20:42,380
where they declare
an Irish Republic,

1108
01:20:42,380 --> 01:20:45,260
establishing the first independent
Irish parliament,

1109
01:20:45,260 --> 01:20:47,740
which they name Dail Eireann.

1110
01:20:51,300 --> 01:20:55,500
The Irish people have asserted
their democratic right

1111
01:20:55,500 --> 01:20:57,340
to govern themselves.

1112
01:21:12,980 --> 01:21:14,420
Ireland's future,

1113
01:21:14,420 --> 01:21:18,260
as she takes her place among
the free nations of the world,

1114
01:21:18,260 --> 01:21:22,940
will involve a protracted and,
at times, disillusioning process.

1115
01:21:26,340 --> 01:21:28,580
It will bring a guerrilla war...

1116
01:21:30,500 --> 01:21:32,340
..negotiations,

1117
01:21:32,340 --> 01:21:34,620
compromises...

1118
01:21:36,340 --> 01:21:38,100
..a bitter civil war...

1119
01:21:42,100 --> 01:21:44,500
..and the partitioning of Ireland,

1120
01:21:44,500 --> 01:21:47,980
with six counties of Ulster
to be called Northern Ireland,

1121
01:21:47,980 --> 01:21:50,380
remaining within the United Kingdom.

1122
01:21:57,060 --> 01:21:59,300
The rebellion leaves behind

1123
01:21:59,300 --> 01:22:02,300
a complex and, at times,
contested legacy.

1124
01:22:11,940 --> 01:22:17,540
And yet, with 1916,
the decisive step had been taken.

1125
01:22:21,860 --> 01:22:26,220
Its historical significance
would reverberate around the world,

1126
01:22:26,220 --> 01:22:30,100
providing a catalyst
for the irreversible dismantling

1127
01:22:30,100 --> 01:22:34,100
of old colonial powers
throughout the rest of the century.

1128
01:22:37,300 --> 01:22:40,620
You can almost feel, in 1916,

1129
01:22:40,620 --> 01:22:43,980
the clock of civilisation
is beginning to turn.

1130
01:22:43,980 --> 01:22:48,140
The old British Empire is beginning
to come apart at the seams...

1131
01:22:49,660 --> 01:22:52,780
..and part of that is
the 1916 Rising. Why?

1132
01:22:52,780 --> 01:22:56,260
It's the first time
since America in 1776

1133
01:22:56,260 --> 01:23:00,940
that, almost at the heart of their
Empire, there's a resistance.

1134
01:23:05,060 --> 01:23:08,780
And the rest of the 20th century
the sound of the globe

1135
01:23:08,780 --> 01:23:13,260
is of bits of the Empire falling off
and the huge British dominance

1136
01:23:13,260 --> 01:23:17,500
across the globe beginning to
shrink back to its old island basis.

1137
01:23:42,740 --> 01:23:48,860
100 years on, the ideals that
animated the men and women of 1916,

1138
01:23:48,860 --> 01:23:53,420
ideas of freedom, equality
and civil and religious liberty

1139
01:23:53,420 --> 01:23:57,860
continue to exercise,
challenge and inspire us today...

1140
01:23:59,540 --> 01:24:03,820
..and may well resonate among
the generations of the future.

1141
01:24:06,540 --> 01:24:10,260
"The Proclamation, it lives.

1142
01:24:11,700 --> 01:24:15,580
"From minds alive with Ireland's
visit intellect it sprang.

1143
01:24:15,580 --> 01:24:18,660
"Such documents do not die."

1144
01:24:26,820 --> 01:24:28,980
"We have done right.

1145
01:24:28,980 --> 01:24:32,260
"People will say
hard things of us now

1146
01:24:32,260 --> 01:24:34,940
"but later on they will praise us.

1147
01:24:34,940 --> 01:24:37,180
"Do not grieve for all this.

1148
01:24:38,380 --> 01:24:43,220
"Think of it as a sacrifice which
God asked of me...

1149
01:24:43,220 --> 01:24:45,540
"and of you."