Easter Uprising
The Easter Uprising, also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an independent Irish Republic while the United Kingdom was fighting the First World War.
Easter Uprising
Easter Uprising was the Irish republican insurrection against British government in Ireland, which began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, in Dublin. The insurrection was planned by Patrick Pearse, Tom Clarke, and several other leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which was a revolutionary society within the nationalist organisation called the Irish Volunteers; the latter had about 16,000 members and was armed with German weapons smuggled into the country in 1914. These two organisations were supplemented by the Irish Citizen Army, an association of Dublin workers formed after the failure of the general strike of 1913, and by the small Sinn Féin party.
British soldiers behind an improvised barricade of barrels during the Easter Rising, 1916.
Background
The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, abolishing the Irish Parliament and giving Ireland representation in the British Parliament. From early on, many Irish nationalists opposed the union and the continued lack of adequate political representation, along with the British government's handling of Ireland and Irish people, particularly the Great Irish Famine. Opposition took various forms: constitutional (the Repeal Association; the Home Rule League), social (disestablishment of the Church of Ireland; the Land League) and revolutionary (Rebellion of 1848; Fenian Rising). The Irish Home Rule movement sought to achieve self-government for Ireland, within the United Kingdom. In 1886, the Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell succeeded in having the First Home Rule Bill introduced in the British parliament, but it was defeated. The Second Home Rule Bill of 1893 was passed by the House of Commons but rejected by the House of Lords.
After the death of Parnell, younger and more radical nationalists became disillusioned with parliamentary politics and turned towards more extreme forms of separatism. The Gaelic Athletic Association, the Gaelic League and the cultural revival under W. B. Yeats and Augusta, Lady Gregory, together with the new political thinking of Arthur Griffith expressed in his newspaper Sinn Féin and organisations such as the National Council and the Sinn Féin League, led many Irish people to identify with the idea of an independent Gaelic Ireland. This was sometimes referred to by the generic term Sinn Féin, with the British authorities using it as a collective noun for republicans and advanced nationalists.
After the death of Parnell, younger and more radical nationalists became disillusioned with parliamentary politics and turned towards more extreme forms of separatism. The Gaelic Athletic Association, the Gaelic League and the cultural revival under W. B. Yeats and Augusta, Lady Gregory, together with the new political thinking of Arthur Griffith expressed in his newspaper Sinn Féin and organisations such as the National Council and the Sinn Féin League, led many Irish people to identify with the idea of an independent Gaelic Ireland. This was sometimes referred to by the generic term Sinn Féin, with the British authorities using it as a collective noun for republicans and advanced nationalists.
Herbert Henry Asquith, generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last prime minister to command a majority Liberal government, and he played a major role in the design and passage of major liberal legislation and a reduction of the power of the House of Lords. In August 1914, Asquith took Great Britain and the British Empire into the First World War. During 1915, his government was vigorously attacked for a shortage of munitions and the failure of the Gallipoli Campaign. He formed a coalition government with other parties, but failed to satisfy critics. As a result, he was forced to resign in December 1916, and never regained power.
Eoin MacNeill was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist, and politician. He established the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and served as its Chief-of-Staff of the remaining minority after its split in 1914 at the start of the World War. He held the position at the outbreak of the Easter Rising in 1916 but had no role in the Rising or its planning, which was carried out by infiltrators from the Irish Republican Brotherhood. MacNeill helped countermand the uprising on Easter Sunday after learning about it and confronting Patrick Pearse, by placing a last-minute news advertisement advising Volunteers not to take part. In 1918 he was elected to the First Dáil as a member of Sinn Féin.
James Craig was a prominent Irish unionist politician, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1921 until his death in 1940. He was created a baronet in 1918 and raised to the Peerage in 1927.
People to note:
The Third Home Rule Bill was introduced by British Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith in 1912. Irish Unionists, who were overwhelmingly Protestants, opposed it, as they did not want to be ruled by a Catholic-dominated Irish government. Led by Sir Edward Carson and James Craig, they formed the Ulster Volunteers (UVF) in January 1913. In response, Irish nationalists formed a rival paramilitary group, the Irish Volunteers, in November 1913. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was a driving force behind the Irish Volunteers and attempted to control it. Its leader was Eoin MacNeill, who was not an IRB member. The Irish Volunteers' stated goal was "to secure and to maintain the rights and liberties common to all the people of Ireland". It included people with a range of political views, and was open to "all able-bodied Irishmen without distinction of creed, politics or social group". Another militant group, the Irish Citizen Army, was formed by trade unionists as a result of the Dublin Lock-out of that year. British Army officers threatened to resign if they were ordered to take action against the UVF.
When the Irish Volunteers smuggled rifles into Dublin, the British Army attempted to stop them and shot into a crowd of civilians. By 1914, Ireland seemed to be on the brink of a civil war. This seemed to be averted in August of that year by the outbreak of the First World War, and Ireland's involvement in it. Nevertheless, on 18 September 1914 the Government of Ireland Act 1914 was enacted and placed on the statute book, but the Suspensory Act was passed at the same time, which deferred Irish Home Rule for one year, with powers for it to be suspended for further periods of six months so long as the war continued. It was widely believed at the time that the war would not last more than a few months. On 14 September 1915 an Order in Council was made under the Suspensory Act to suspend the Government of Ireland Act until 18 March 1916. Another such Order was made on 29 February 1916, suspending the Act for another six months.
When the Irish Volunteers smuggled rifles into Dublin, the British Army attempted to stop them and shot into a crowd of civilians. By 1914, Ireland seemed to be on the brink of a civil war. This seemed to be averted in August of that year by the outbreak of the First World War, and Ireland's involvement in it. Nevertheless, on 18 September 1914 the Government of Ireland Act 1914 was enacted and placed on the statute book, but the Suspensory Act was passed at the same time, which deferred Irish Home Rule for one year, with powers for it to be suspended for further periods of six months so long as the war continued. It was widely believed at the time that the war would not last more than a few months. On 14 September 1915 an Order in Council was made under the Suspensory Act to suspend the Government of Ireland Act until 18 March 1916. Another such Order was made on 29 February 1916, suspending the Act for another six months.
Planning the Rising
The Supreme Council of the IRB met on 5 September 1914, just over a month after the British government had declared war on Germany. At this meeting, they decided to stage an uprising before the war ended and to secure help from Germany. Responsibility for the planning of the rising was given to Tom Clarke and Seán Mac Diarmada. The Irish Volunteers—the smaller of the two forces resulting from the September 1914 split over support for the British war effort—set up a "headquarters staff" that included Patrick Pearse as Director of Military Organisation, Joseph Plunkett as Director of Military Operations and Thomas MacDonagh as Director of Training. Éamonn Ceannt was later added as Director of Communications.
In May 1915, Clarke and Mac Diarmada established a Military Committee or Military Council within the IRB, consisting of Pearse, Plunkett and Ceannt, to draw up plans for a rising. Clarke and Mac Diarmada joined it shortly after. The Military Council was able to promote its own policies and personnel independently of both the Volunteer Executive and the IRB Executive. Although the Volunteer and IRB leaders were not against a rising in principle, they were of the opinion that it was not opportune at that moment. Volunteer Chief-of-Staff Eoin MacNeill supported a rising only if the British government attempted to suppress the Volunteers or introduce conscription in Ireland, and if such a rising had some chance of success. IRB President Denis McCullough and prominent IRB member Bulmer Hobson held similar views. The Military Council kept its plans secret, so as to prevent the British authorities learning of the plans, and to thwart those within the organisation who might try to stop the rising. IRB members held officer rank in the Volunteers throughout the country and took their orders from the Military Council, not from MacNeill.
Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Roger Casement and Clan na Gael leader John Devoy met the German ambassador to the United States, Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, to discuss German backing for an uprising. Casement went to Germany and began negotiations with the German government and military. He persuaded the Germans to announce their support for Irish independence in November 1914. Casement also attempted to recruit an Irish Brigade, made up of Irish prisoners of war, which would be armed and sent to Ireland to join the uprising. However, only 56 men volunteered. Plunkett joined Casement in Germany the following year. Together, Plunkett and Casement presented a plan (the 'Ireland Report') in which a German expeditionary force would land on the west coast of Ireland, while a rising in Dublin diverted the British forces so that the Germans, with the help of local Volunteers, could secure the line of the River Shannon, before advancing on the capital. The German military rejected the plan, but agreed to ship arms and ammunition to the Volunteers.
James Connolly—head of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), a group of armed socialist trade union men and women—was unaware of the IRB's plans, and threatened to start a rebellion on his own if other parties failed to act. If they had done it alone, the IRB and the Volunteers would possibly have come to their aid; however, the IRB leaders met with Connolly in January 1916 and convinced him to join forces with them. They agreed that they would launch a rising together at Easter and made Connolly the sixth member of the Military Council. Thomas MacDonagh would later become the seventh and final member.
The death of the old Fenian leader Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa in New York in August 1915 was an opportunity to mount a spectacular demonstration. His body was sent to Ireland for burial in Glasnevin Cemetery, with the Volunteers in charge of arrangements. Huge crowds lined the route and gathered at the graveside. Pearse made a dramatic funeral oration, a rallying call to republicans, which ended with the words "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace".
In May 1915, Clarke and Mac Diarmada established a Military Committee or Military Council within the IRB, consisting of Pearse, Plunkett and Ceannt, to draw up plans for a rising. Clarke and Mac Diarmada joined it shortly after. The Military Council was able to promote its own policies and personnel independently of both the Volunteer Executive and the IRB Executive. Although the Volunteer and IRB leaders were not against a rising in principle, they were of the opinion that it was not opportune at that moment. Volunteer Chief-of-Staff Eoin MacNeill supported a rising only if the British government attempted to suppress the Volunteers or introduce conscription in Ireland, and if such a rising had some chance of success. IRB President Denis McCullough and prominent IRB member Bulmer Hobson held similar views. The Military Council kept its plans secret, so as to prevent the British authorities learning of the plans, and to thwart those within the organisation who might try to stop the rising. IRB members held officer rank in the Volunteers throughout the country and took their orders from the Military Council, not from MacNeill.
Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Roger Casement and Clan na Gael leader John Devoy met the German ambassador to the United States, Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, to discuss German backing for an uprising. Casement went to Germany and began negotiations with the German government and military. He persuaded the Germans to announce their support for Irish independence in November 1914. Casement also attempted to recruit an Irish Brigade, made up of Irish prisoners of war, which would be armed and sent to Ireland to join the uprising. However, only 56 men volunteered. Plunkett joined Casement in Germany the following year. Together, Plunkett and Casement presented a plan (the 'Ireland Report') in which a German expeditionary force would land on the west coast of Ireland, while a rising in Dublin diverted the British forces so that the Germans, with the help of local Volunteers, could secure the line of the River Shannon, before advancing on the capital. The German military rejected the plan, but agreed to ship arms and ammunition to the Volunteers.
James Connolly—head of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), a group of armed socialist trade union men and women—was unaware of the IRB's plans, and threatened to start a rebellion on his own if other parties failed to act. If they had done it alone, the IRB and the Volunteers would possibly have come to their aid; however, the IRB leaders met with Connolly in January 1916 and convinced him to join forces with them. They agreed that they would launch a rising together at Easter and made Connolly the sixth member of the Military Council. Thomas MacDonagh would later become the seventh and final member.
The death of the old Fenian leader Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa in New York in August 1915 was an opportunity to mount a spectacular demonstration. His body was sent to Ireland for burial in Glasnevin Cemetery, with the Volunteers in charge of arrangements. Huge crowds lined the route and gathered at the graveside. Pearse made a dramatic funeral oration, a rallying call to republicans, which ended with the words "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace".
Build-up to Easter Week
In early April, Pearse issued orders to the Irish Volunteers for three days of "parades and manoeuvres" beginning on Easter Sunday. He had the authority to do this, as the Volunteers' Director of Organisation. The idea was that IRB members within the organisation would know these were orders to begin the rising, while men such as MacNeill and the British authorities would take it at face value.
On 9 April, the German Navy dispatched the SS Libau for County Kerry, disguised as the Norwegian ship Aud. It was loaded with 20,000 rifles, one million rounds of ammunition, and explosives. Casement also left for Ireland aboard the German submarine U-19. He was disappointed with the level of support offered by the Germans and he intended to stop or at least postpone the rising.
On Wednesday 19 April, Alderman Tom Kelly, a Sinn Féin member of Dublin Corporation, read out at a meeting of the corporation a document purportedly leaked from Dublin Castle, detailing plans by the British authorities to shortly arrest leaders of the Irish Volunteers, Sinn Féin and the Gaelic League, and occupy their premises. Although the British authorities said the "Castle Document" was fake, MacNeill ordered the Volunteers to prepare to resist. Unbeknownst to MacNeill, the document had been forged by the Military Council to persuade moderates of the need for their planned uprising. It was an edited version of a real document outlining British plans in the event of conscription. That same day, the Military Council informed senior Volunteer officers that the rising would begin on Easter Sunday. However, it chose not to inform the rank-and-file, or moderates such as MacNeill, until the last minute.
The following day, MacNeill got wind that a rising was about to be launched and threatened to do everything he could to prevent it, short of informing the British. MacNeill was briefly persuaded to go along with some sort of action when Mac Diarmada revealed to him that a German arms shipment was about to land in County Kerry. MacNeill believed that when the British learned of the shipment they would immediately suppress the Volunteers, thus the Volunteers would be justified in taking defensive action, including the planned manoeuvres.
The Aud and the U-19 reached the coast of Kerry on Good Friday, 21 April. This was earlier than the Volunteers expected and so none were there to meet the vessels. The Royal Navy had known about the arms shipment and intercepted the Aud, prompting the captain to scuttle the ship. Furthermore, Casement was captured shortly after he landed at Banna Strand.
When MacNeill learned from Volunteer Patrick Whelan that the arms shipment had been lost, he reverted to his original position. With the support of other leaders of like mind, notably Bulmer Hobson and The O'Rahilly, he issued a countermand to all Volunteers, cancelling all actions for Sunday. This countermanding order was relayed to Volunteer officers and printed in the Sunday morning newspapers. It succeeded only in delaying the rising for a day, although it greatly reduced the number of Volunteers who turned out.
British Naval Intelligence had been aware of the arms shipment, Casement's return, and the Easter date for the rising through radio messages between Germany and its embassy in the United States that were intercepted by the Royal Navy and deciphered in Room 40 of the Admiralty. The information was passed to the Under-Secretary for Ireland, Sir Matthew Nathan, on 17 April, but without revealing its source and Nathan was doubtful about its accuracy. When news reached Dublin of the capture of the Aud and the arrest of Casement, Nathan conferred with the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Wimborne. Nathan proposed to raid Liberty Hall, headquarters of the Citizen Army, and Volunteer properties at Father Matthew Park and at Kimmage, but Wimborne insisted on wholesale arrests of the leaders. It was decided to postpone action until after Easter Monday, and in the meantime, Nathan telegraphed the Chief Secretary, Augustine Birrell, in London seeking his approval. By the time Birrell cabled his reply authorising the action, at noon on Monday 24 April 1916, the Rising had already begun.
On the morning of Easter Sunday, 23 April, the Military Council met at Liberty Hall to discuss what to do in light of MacNeill's countermanding order. They decided that the Rising would go ahead the following day, Easter Monday, and that the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army would go into action as the 'Army of the Irish Republic'. They elected Pearse as president of the Irish Republic, and also as Commander-in-Chief of the army; Connolly became Commandant of the Dublin Brigade. Messengers were then sent to all units informing them of the new orders.
On 9 April, the German Navy dispatched the SS Libau for County Kerry, disguised as the Norwegian ship Aud. It was loaded with 20,000 rifles, one million rounds of ammunition, and explosives. Casement also left for Ireland aboard the German submarine U-19. He was disappointed with the level of support offered by the Germans and he intended to stop or at least postpone the rising.
On Wednesday 19 April, Alderman Tom Kelly, a Sinn Féin member of Dublin Corporation, read out at a meeting of the corporation a document purportedly leaked from Dublin Castle, detailing plans by the British authorities to shortly arrest leaders of the Irish Volunteers, Sinn Féin and the Gaelic League, and occupy their premises. Although the British authorities said the "Castle Document" was fake, MacNeill ordered the Volunteers to prepare to resist. Unbeknownst to MacNeill, the document had been forged by the Military Council to persuade moderates of the need for their planned uprising. It was an edited version of a real document outlining British plans in the event of conscription. That same day, the Military Council informed senior Volunteer officers that the rising would begin on Easter Sunday. However, it chose not to inform the rank-and-file, or moderates such as MacNeill, until the last minute.
The following day, MacNeill got wind that a rising was about to be launched and threatened to do everything he could to prevent it, short of informing the British. MacNeill was briefly persuaded to go along with some sort of action when Mac Diarmada revealed to him that a German arms shipment was about to land in County Kerry. MacNeill believed that when the British learned of the shipment they would immediately suppress the Volunteers, thus the Volunteers would be justified in taking defensive action, including the planned manoeuvres.
The Aud and the U-19 reached the coast of Kerry on Good Friday, 21 April. This was earlier than the Volunteers expected and so none were there to meet the vessels. The Royal Navy had known about the arms shipment and intercepted the Aud, prompting the captain to scuttle the ship. Furthermore, Casement was captured shortly after he landed at Banna Strand.
When MacNeill learned from Volunteer Patrick Whelan that the arms shipment had been lost, he reverted to his original position. With the support of other leaders of like mind, notably Bulmer Hobson and The O'Rahilly, he issued a countermand to all Volunteers, cancelling all actions for Sunday. This countermanding order was relayed to Volunteer officers and printed in the Sunday morning newspapers. It succeeded only in delaying the rising for a day, although it greatly reduced the number of Volunteers who turned out.
British Naval Intelligence had been aware of the arms shipment, Casement's return, and the Easter date for the rising through radio messages between Germany and its embassy in the United States that were intercepted by the Royal Navy and deciphered in Room 40 of the Admiralty. The information was passed to the Under-Secretary for Ireland, Sir Matthew Nathan, on 17 April, but without revealing its source and Nathan was doubtful about its accuracy. When news reached Dublin of the capture of the Aud and the arrest of Casement, Nathan conferred with the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Wimborne. Nathan proposed to raid Liberty Hall, headquarters of the Citizen Army, and Volunteer properties at Father Matthew Park and at Kimmage, but Wimborne insisted on wholesale arrests of the leaders. It was decided to postpone action until after Easter Monday, and in the meantime, Nathan telegraphed the Chief Secretary, Augustine Birrell, in London seeking his approval. By the time Birrell cabled his reply authorising the action, at noon on Monday 24 April 1916, the Rising had already begun.
On the morning of Easter Sunday, 23 April, the Military Council met at Liberty Hall to discuss what to do in light of MacNeill's countermanding order. They decided that the Rising would go ahead the following day, Easter Monday, and that the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army would go into action as the 'Army of the Irish Republic'. They elected Pearse as president of the Irish Republic, and also as Commander-in-Chief of the army; Connolly became Commandant of the Dublin Brigade. Messengers were then sent to all units informing them of the new orders.
Easter Rising: April 1916
The uprising was planned to be nationwide in scope, but a series of mishaps led to its being confined to Dublin alone. The British had learned of the planned uprising and on April 21 arrested Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement in County Kerry for running arms for the rebels. Eoin MacNeill, the leader of the Irish Volunteers, therefore cancelled mobilisation orders for the insurgents, but Pearse and Clarke went ahead with about 1,560 Irish Volunteers and a 200-man contingent of the Citizen Army. On April 24 their forces seized the Dublin General Post Office and other strategic points in Dublin’s city centre, and Pearse read aloud a proclamation announcing the birth of the Irish republic. British troops soon arrived to put down the rebellion, and for nearly a week Dublin was paralysed by street fighting. British artillery bombardments compelled Pearse and his colleagues to surrender on April 29.
Pearse and 14 other leaders of the rebellion were court-martialed and executed by British authorities in the weeks that followed. Though the uprising itself had been unpopular with most of the Irish people, these executions excited a wave of revulsion against the British authorities and turned the dead republican leaders into martyred heroes. The Easter Rising signalled the start of the republican revolution in Ireland. Because Eamon de Valera was the senior survivor of the rising, he gained much of his personal popularity with the Irish people from that event.
Dr Fearghal McGarry, from Queen's University Belfast, said although there was very little support for the rising at the time, it was enormously successful in terms of what the organisers of the rising wanted to achieve.
"They did not expect it to win power, what they planned was a spectacle, a gesture to transform public opinion," he said. "They knew they would not win, they knew some of them would die."
He said that, in political terms, the rising achieved everything that the organisers thought it would.
"It destroyed the Irish Parliamentary Party's credibility and it derailed Home Rule," he said. "It exposed the oppressive nature of British rule and it transformed public opinion by winning public support for republicanism. What might have surprised the leaders was how quickly all this happened. Within a year and a half republicanism had become the most important movement in Ireland."
Dr McGarry suggests that, for many Irish people, the significance of the rising lies less in the events of Easter week than in their longer term legacy.
"I think for most Irish, certainly people south of the border, the event's significance is not primarily centred on the week-long violence that took place in Dublin," he said. "Rather it's focused on the attainment of Irish sovereignty, self-determination. It's bound up with national identity. In contrast, the rising's significance for many northern nationalists over the past century reflects partition and the failure to achieve a united Irish Republic. In the south, the rising is increasingly seen as history, not politics."
Pearse and 14 other leaders of the rebellion were court-martialed and executed by British authorities in the weeks that followed. Though the uprising itself had been unpopular with most of the Irish people, these executions excited a wave of revulsion against the British authorities and turned the dead republican leaders into martyred heroes. The Easter Rising signalled the start of the republican revolution in Ireland. Because Eamon de Valera was the senior survivor of the rising, he gained much of his personal popularity with the Irish people from that event.
Dr Fearghal McGarry, from Queen's University Belfast, said although there was very little support for the rising at the time, it was enormously successful in terms of what the organisers of the rising wanted to achieve.
"They did not expect it to win power, what they planned was a spectacle, a gesture to transform public opinion," he said. "They knew they would not win, they knew some of them would die."
He said that, in political terms, the rising achieved everything that the organisers thought it would.
"It destroyed the Irish Parliamentary Party's credibility and it derailed Home Rule," he said. "It exposed the oppressive nature of British rule and it transformed public opinion by winning public support for republicanism. What might have surprised the leaders was how quickly all this happened. Within a year and a half republicanism had become the most important movement in Ireland."
Dr McGarry suggests that, for many Irish people, the significance of the rising lies less in the events of Easter week than in their longer term legacy.
"I think for most Irish, certainly people south of the border, the event's significance is not primarily centred on the week-long violence that took place in Dublin," he said. "Rather it's focused on the attainment of Irish sovereignty, self-determination. It's bound up with national identity. In contrast, the rising's significance for many northern nationalists over the past century reflects partition and the failure to achieve a united Irish Republic. In the south, the rising is increasingly seen as history, not politics."
Irish Volunteers barricade Townsend Street, Dublin, to slow down the advance of troops, during the Easter Rising.
Crowds in Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street) can be seen next to the General Post Office showing damage from shelling following the Easter Uprising.
Exercises:
1. Re-read the text, make up a list of necessary vocabulary and answer the following questions:
1) Why did the Easter Uprising happen?
2) What difficulties did the Irish rebels face when planning it?
3) How did this uprising end?
4) Did the uprising achieve the goals set by the masterminds behind it?
5) What was the impact of the uprising on the Irish national identity?
2. Find in the text the following words and word combinations, find a Russian equivalent for them and add them to your working vocabulary:
insurrection; smuggled; disillusioned; paramilitary group; conscription; purportedly; leaked; countermand; confined.
3. Use the words from the Exercise 2 in your own sentences.
4. Write your summary of the text, emphasising in it:
a) its subject matter,
b) the facts discussed,
c) the author's point of view on these facts.
1) Why did the Easter Uprising happen?
2) What difficulties did the Irish rebels face when planning it?
3) How did this uprising end?
4) Did the uprising achieve the goals set by the masterminds behind it?
5) What was the impact of the uprising on the Irish national identity?
2. Find in the text the following words and word combinations, find a Russian equivalent for them and add them to your working vocabulary:
insurrection; smuggled; disillusioned; paramilitary group; conscription; purportedly; leaked; countermand; confined.
3. Use the words from the Exercise 2 in your own sentences.
4. Write your summary of the text, emphasising in it:
a) its subject matter,
b) the facts discussed,
c) the author's point of view on these facts.
