The Impact Of The GAA On The Easter Rising

The Easter Uprising of 1916 was an event that happened at the tail end of a long list of events that would forever change Ireland. The Uprising or Rising, as some call it, took place mostly in Dublin but was felt throughout Ireland. The point was to gain independence from Great Britain who had ruled Ireland for the past couple hundred years. At the turn of the 19th century England believed that Ireland had too much independence and made the Act of Union. “The result was the Act of Union of 1801: the Irish parliament voted itself out of existence and England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were formally politically unified for the first time” (Hegarty 2). Around the time of the First World War, Ireland began

The start of the Irish’ peoples struggles began when the British came and destroyed their way of life. The Penal laws of 1691 stripped Irish Catholics of their freedoms by taking away their rights to become officers

Before the famine in the mid-1800s, “many English politicians and social reformers began to think that Ireland was a nation in need of transformation, that it’s people now needed to be yanked into the modern world by tossing out the old Gaelic traditions” (The History Place-Before the Famine). The English reformers wanted to end Ireland’s “cycle” of poverty and misfortune because in the “1800s poverty was thought to be caused by bad moral character” (The History Place- Before the Famine). The English politicians and social reformers also wanted to change the laid-back lifestyle of the Irish peasants. “ They professed the virtues of hard work, thrift and self-reliance and regarded the Irish as totally lacking in these qualities, a point of view also shared by many British officials and politicians” (The History Place-Before the Famine).

Years of British occupation and oppression led to a sustained campaign to regain freedom from Britain beginning in the early twentieth century. Both the loyalist (supporters of the Union with Britain) and the republicans (supporters of a united Ireland) were willing to use violence for their cause. This took form in the 1916 Easter Rising, where Irish rebels declared the independence of the Irish Republic and fought in Dublin against the British to regain control of their homeland. The rebels were unsuccessful and were forced to surrender. This lead to the later Irish War of Independence, and the introduction of the Government of Ireland Act in 1920 and the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which resulted in the partitioning of Ireland into six counties in the North ruled by Britain and twenty-six counties in the south, newly named the Irish Free State. However, a significant minority in the North of around forty percent were Irish nationalists who wanted independence from Britain. “Therefore, from its creation in 1920, Northern Ireland was a state whose citizens differed over their national allegiance.” This situation in the North caused a great deal of tension, as the leaders of the Protestant, unionist majority discriminated against the Catholic, nationalist minority. So, by the 1960s, Catholic nationalist frustration was manifested in a campaign for civil rights, to which the state responded with vicious intensity. Those who were

The alleged origin of the Irish Republican Army could be traced back to the Easter Rising of 1916 (Alonso, 2001; Arena & Arrigo, 2004; Filardo-Llamas, 2013; Hart, 1997; Page & Smith, 2000). Radical nationalists, who were part of a group called the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), took the opportunity to take up arms against the British during the war in Europe (Filardo-Llamas, 2013). The Irish Republican Brotherhood was the precursor of the modern IRA. They were a secret society who was

The Effectiveness of Irish Catholic and Nationalist Leaders in Advancing Their Cause in the Years 1801 and On

During the British invasion and colonization, the Irish endured decades of violence and oppression. During this time, the Irish were stereotyped and made out to be inferior to their British counterparts in an attempt to justify their right to rule. The Irish people were depicted as violent drunks who were more animal than human. They were often likened to pigs, portrayed as poor, dirty, and stupid. Obviously, this contributed to the animosity between the native Irish and their Anglo-Irish neighbors. The country lacked any sort of unified national identity. Even after Ireland received full independence, the effects of this long term injustice definitely left its mark. Once they received full autonomy, Irish society

This subject is one that is mirrored in both social and political tensions. It is not a simple as whether or not Ireland was a willing participant in the colonizing, but also a reflection on the methods and motivation of

The Irish had suffered long before in the hands of the English when Cromwell had been in control and had taken away land held by the catholic majority of the country to members of the protestant minority. This created a large tension among the population with the oppressed majority and the rather entitled minority who by Trevelyan’s snooty tone did indeed see themselves as the superior people in the country. (Trevelyan’s tone is probably the most dismissive when in discussion of the Irish, mayhaps showing his own true dislike.) (Trevelyan, p. 116-

Citizens were often brought to military check points, bomb searched, and many lost their lives in bloody & gruesome ways during the years of the conflict. It was an extremely difficult time for the inhabitants of Northern Ireland. Catholics and protestants had to be extremely careful and keep their beliefs and religion hushed to avoid confrontation and trouble from the opposing religious group. Houses and cars would be set on fire and people could even be shot if they were thought to be proclaiming their views too publically. They kept to themselves, living in housing estates where the vast majority were of their own religion and sending their children to separate schools. According to our research, even though the Troubles are officially over, it is still very much divided in Northern Ireland and protestants and catholics still don’t mix all too much, even if it is only a question of habit.

Furthermore, Duffy argues that even if Brian’s role in the Battle of Clontarf was not as triumphant or as magnanimous as it is often made out to be, its impression on the Irish people is not

Other members of the GAA in Dublin were also badly wounded during the Rising and were shown a leniency of sorts by the British Authorities in Ireland. Frank Henderson later claimed "Cathal Brugha had been so severely wounded during the fighting in the South Dublin Union that the British authorities had released him believing him to be physically incapable of further activities."24

However, the Troubles represent a fascinating part of Ireland’s history with a large number of deaths, injuries, and destruction but also a huge political and social change (McKittrick and McVea 2002). By 1998 the Good Friday Agreement was signed by both Nationalist and Unionists as a peace process within Northern Ireland. Research carried out

The GAA in Dublin had a large increase in the number of clubs affiliated to it since the 1915 convention, with seventy clubs listed at the Annual Convention of 1916 which was held on 14 January 1917. Some of the new clubs were named in memory of those killed during the 1916.1 William Nolan notes that the Volunteers from North Dublin, founded the Thomas Weafer GAA Club, in memory of the Wexford-born member of the GPO Garrison, whose brother Patrick, a member of St Laurence O Tooles GAA club who had also fought in the same Garrison.2 It is also important to note that Erin's Isle GAA club in Finglas, was founded in January 1917 by a number of men involved in the Volunteers with direct links to those who fought in the Easter

During 1916, Patrick Pearse had certain ideologies connected with him like the believe that the Irish cause was somehow connected or similar with Christ’s sacrifice which appealed to certain people like Thomas MacDonagh, an Irish political activist and a prominent leader of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and Joseph Plunkett who was an Irish nationalist and part of the IRB . Before the Easter Uprising James Connolly had his own realistic ideas about internationalist socialism which is the belief that capitalism is a global system so in order to defeat it the working class must act as a global class . Connolly played no part in the original plans of the IRB Military Council who aim was to push redistribution and collective ideals . It was said that Connolly “had a notion that once a stand was made, however brief, in Dublin the country would turn in a mass against the British government and overthrow it ” (Modern Ireland; 478). Connolly eventually agreed to join in the Easter Uprising . Sean MacDermotts, an Irish political leader and activist who was one of the several leaders in the Easter Uprising saw a connection between IRB nationalism and socialism . There were certain practical individuals who saw the Irish Volunteers as a type of military machine who would fight for Britain