The birth of the Irish Republic was a tumultuous one as the British did not want to let go, and the remnants of this birth are still with the British even today. World War I was most inconvenient for those who wanted some level of autonomy for Ireland as it put a halt on efforts to provide Ireland with home rule; or to be more correct, it delayed the matter.

As always, you'll have factions that are not happy with things and in this case, they decided to take matters into their own hands and force the issue. These folks launched a rebellion on Easter Monday in 1916 and proclaimed the existence of the Irish Republic. Naturally, the British responded with military force and a violent street fight ensued that lasted through the week with many casualties, most of them British. The result was that the leaders were put through a farce of a trial and summarily executed while thousands of sympathizers were jailed in Britain, where they learned the skills necessary to pull off a more successful revolt a few years later. As in most of these cases, various atrocities committed by the British were ignored or overlooked, with the perpetrators quickly removed to posts in the UK where they could not be identified by local citizenry or retired and sent overseas to live.

Michael McNally does a superlative job of telling both the origins of the campaign as well as the events of the days that followed. A detailed look at the leaders involved, their plans and the men they had available to them are covered. All of this is superbly illustrated by Peter Dennis who brings some of the more important events to life. This is further enhanced by period photos and superb maps and diagrams.

Little known outside the British Isles, this is a fascinating read that I can highly recommend to you.

April 2007

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