1.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
2.
Irish Republican Brotherhood
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The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an independent democratic republic in Ireland between 1858 and 1924. Its counterpart in the United States of America was organised by John OMahony, the members of both wings of the movement are often referred to as Fenians. As part of the New Departure of the 1870s–80s, IRB members attempted to democratise the Home Rule League, and its successor, the Irish Parliamentary Party, as well as taking part in the Land War. The IRB staged the Easter Rising in 1916, which led to the establishment of the first Dáil Éireann in 1919, the rebellion was suppressed, but the principles of the United Irishmen were to have a powerful influence on the course of Irish history. Following the collapse of the rebellion, the British prime minister William Pitt introduced a bill to abolish the Irish parliament and manufactured a Union between Ireland and Britain. Opposition from the Protestant oligarchy that controlled the parliament was countered by the widespread and open use of bribery. The Act of Union was passed, the Catholics, who had been excluded from the Irish parliament, were promised emancipation under the Union. This promise was never kept, and caused a protracted and bitter struggle for civil liberties and it was not until 1829 that the British government reluctantly conceded Catholic emancipation. Though leading to general emancipation, this process simultaneously disenfranchised the small tenants, known as ‘forty shilling freeholders’ and this resulted in the Irish Catholic electorate going from 216,000 voters to 37,000. A massive reduction in the number of Catholics being able to vote, Daniel O’Connell, who had led the emancipation campaign, then attempted the same methods in his campaign, to have the Act of Union with Britain repealed. Despite the use of petitions and public meetings which attracted vast popular support, during the early 1840s, the younger members of the repeal movement became impatient with O’Connells over-cautious policies, and began to question his intentions. Later they were what came to be known as the Young Ireland movement, in 1842 three of the Young Ireland leaders, Thomas Davis, Charles Gavan Duffy and John Blake Dillon, launched the Nation newspaper. In the paper they set out to create a spirit of pride, following the collapse of the Repeal Association and with the arrival of famine, the Young Irelanders broke away completely from O’Connell in 1846. The blight that destroyed the potato harvest between 1845 and 1849 was a human tragedy. An entire social class of farmers and labourers were to be virtually wiped out by hunger, disease. The laissez –faire economic thinking of the government ensured that help was slow, between 1845 and 1851 the population fell by almost two million. That the people starved while livestock and grain continued to be exported, quite often under military escort, left a legacy of bitterness and resentment among the survivors. Shocked by the scenes of starvation and greatly influenced by the revolutions then sweeping Europe, the attempted rebellion failed after a small skirmish in Ballingary, Co Tipperary, coupled with a few minor incidents else where. The government quickly rounded up many of the instigators, those who could, fled across the seas, a last flicker of revolt in 1849, led by among others James Fintan Lalor, was equally unsuccessful
3.
Patrick Pearse
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Patrick Henry Pearse was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Following his execution along with fifteen others, Pearse came to be seen by many as the embodiment of the rebellion, Pearse and his brother Willie and sisters Margaret and Mary Brigid were born at 27 Great Brunswick Street, Dublin, the street that is named after them today. It was here that their father, James Pearse, established a business in the 1850s. Pearses father was a mason and monumental sculptor, and originally a Unitarian from Birmingham in England, Pearses maternal grandfather Patrick was a supporter of the 1848 Young Ireland movement and was sworn in to the IRB. Pearses maternal grand uncle, James Savage fought in the American Civil War Pearse grew up surrounded by books and his father had had very little formal education, but was self-educated, he had two children Emily and James, from his first marriage. His second wife, Margaret Brady, was from Dublin, the Irish-speaking influence of Pearses great-aunt Margaret, together with his schooling at the CBS Westland Row, instilled in him an early love for the Irish language. Pearse was radicalised from an early age and he recalls that at the age of ten he prayed to God, promising him he would dedicate his life to Irish freedom. Pearse soon became involved in the Gaelic revival, in 1896, at the age of 16, he joined the Gaelic League, and in 1903, at the age of 23, he became editor of its newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis. Both had been Protestant, but it was from such men as these that the fervently Catholic Pearse drew inspiration for the rebellion of 1916. In 1900, Pearse was awarded a B. A. in Modern Languages by the Royal University of Ireland, in the same year, he was enrolled as a Barrister-at-Law at the Kings Inns. Pearse was called to the bar in 1901, in 1905, Pearse represented Neil McBride, a poet and songwriter from Feymore, Creeslough, Donegal, who had been fined for having his name displayed in illegible writing on his donkey cart. The appeal was heard before the Court of Kings Bench in Dublin and it was Pearses first and only court appearance as a barrister. The case was lost but it became a symbol of the struggle for Irish independence, in his June 27,1905 An Claidheamh Soluis column, Pearse wrote of the decision. it was in effect decided that Irish is a foreign language on the same level with Yiddish. As a cultural nationalist educated by the Irish Christian Brothers, like his younger brother Willie, the Irish school system, he believed, raised Irelands youth to be good Englishmen or obedient Irishmen, and an alternative was needed. Thus for him and other language revivalists saving the Irish language from extinction was a priority of the utmost importance. The key to saving the language, he felt, would be an education system. To show the way he started his own school for boys, St. Endas School in Cullenswood House in Ranelagh. The pupils were taught in both Irish and English, Cullenswood House is now the home of a Gaelscoil, Lios na nÓg
4.
General Post Office, Dublin
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The General Post Office in Dublin is the headquarters of the Irish Post Office, An Post, and Dublins principal post office. Sited in the centre of OConnell Street, the main thoroughfare, it is one of Irelands most famous buildings. On 6 January 1818, the new post-office in Sackville Street was opened for business, the structure was completed in the short space of three years for the sum of £50,000. The front, which extends 67.1 metres, has an Ionic portico, the frieze of the entablature is highly enriched, and in the tympanum of the pediment were the royal arms until removed following restoration in the 1920s. The entablature, with the exception of the architrave, is continued along the rest of the front, a balustrade surmounts the cornice of the building, which is 15.2 metres from the ground. With the exception of the portico, which is of Portland stone, during the Easter Rising of 1916, the GPO served as the headquarters of the uprisings leaders. The building was destroyed by fire in the course of the rebellion, the facade is all that remains of the original building. The museum closed at the end of May 2015 being replaced by a new centre to commemorate the 1916 Rising, GPO Witness History. The building has remained a symbol of Irish nationalism, the statue was featured on the Irish ten shilling coin of 1966, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Rising. Despite its fame as an place of Irish freedom, ground rent for the GPO continued to be paid to English. The broadcasting studios of 2RN, which later became Radio Éireann, were located at the GPO from 1928 until 1974, draws for Prize Bonds are held weekly, on Fridays, in the building. Nelsons Pillar was formerly located in the centre of OConnell Street adjacent to the GPO, however the Pillar was destroyed by Irish republicans in an explosion in 1966. The Spire of Dublin now takes a dominant position on the site of the Pillar
5.
O'Connell Street
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OConnell Street is Dublins main thoroughfare. It measures 49 m in width at its end,46 m at the north. During the 17th century it was a street known as Drogheda Street. Situated just north of the River Liffey, the street has a fine axial positioning, running close to a north-south orientation. OConnell Street Upper by contrast retains something of its original 18th century character, with the western side conforming to original plot widths, the streets layout is simple but elegant. A paved median space runs down the centre of the street, featuring monuments, both structures are addressed by a large civic plaza space, traversed by the streets two roadways. It also serves as a bus route artery through the city centre. The modern tram, the Luas, is undergoing an extension and it will only travel in one direction, the return loop, to link the system at St. Stephens Green, will run via Marlborough Street, parallel with and east of OConnell Street. OConnell Street has its origins in a street named Drogheda Street dating from the 17th century. In the 1740s, a banker and property speculator by the name of Luke Gardiner acquired the upper part of Drogheda Street extending down to Henry Street as part of a much larger land deal. He demolished the side of Drogheda Street creating an exclusive elongated residential square 46m in width. Gardiner also laid out a mall down the section of the street, lined with low granite walls. It was planted with trees a few years later and he titled the new development Sackville Street after the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lionel Cranfield Sackville, Duke of Dorset. It was also known as Sackville Mall, Gardiners Mall or simply The Mall and it had been Gardiners intention to eventually break this grand new street through to the river, however he died in 1755, with his son taking over the estate. It was not until 1777 that the body in the city. For the next 10 years work progressed in demolishing a myriad of dwellings and other buildings, laying out the new roadway, 1785–90, one of the finest streets in Europe had been created. The street became a success upon the opening of Carlisle Bridge, designed by James Gandon. Sackville Street prospered in the 1800s, though an invisible boundary seems to have maintained for some time between the Upper and Lower street
6.
Liberty Hall
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Liberty Hall, in Dublin, Ireland, is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union. It was formerly the tallest storeyed building in the state, at 59.4 metres, high until it was superseded by the County Hall outside Cork city, Liberty Hall is now the third tallest building in Dublin, after Montevetro and the Millennium Tower in Grand Canal Dock. Standing on Beresford Place and Eden Quay, near the Custom House, during the 1913 Dublin Lock-out a soup kitchen for workers families was run there by Maud Gonne and Constance Markievicz. Following the outbreak of the First World War a banner reading We Serve Neither King nor Kaiser, But Ireland was hung on its front wall, the newspaper was shut down by the British government for sedition under the Defence of the Realm Act. It was replaced for a time by a paper called The Worker until that too was banned. Connolly edited a paper, The Workers Republic, from 1915 until the Easter Rising in 1916. Until the Easter Rising Liberty Hall also served as a munitions factory and it was on the street in front of the building that the leaders of the Rising assembled before their march to the General Post Office on Easter Monday. They left the building vacant throughout Easter Week, an unknown to the British authorities. It was completely levelled by British artillery during the Rising, in the late 1950s Liberty Hall was declared unsafe and promptly demolished. The present building, which has sixteen storeys, was constructed between 1961 and 1965. It was originally fitted with windows of glass, but after they were damaged by a UVF car bomb in 1972 they were replaced with windows of reflective glass. The viewing platform, which had recently been opened, was also closed after the car bomb. On 19 October 2006 it was announced that SIPTU was seeking planning permission to demolish Liberty Hall, by October 2007 SIPTU had selected a shortlist of architects to design the new building and was planning to demolish the current building in 2009. The new building would have included office space, a theatre, however, in November 2012 the planning permission was overturned by An Bord Pleanála, which ruled unanimously that the new building would be unacceptably dominant in the city. Liberty Hall was the subject of a documentary broadcast on RTÉ One in May 2009
7.
Tom Clarke (Irish republican)
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Thomas James Tom Clarke was an Irish republican revolutionary leader from Dungannon, County Tyrone. Clarke was arguably the person most responsible for the 1916 Easter Rising, a proponent of armed revolution for most of his life, he spent 15 years in English prisons prior to his role in the Easter Rising, and was executed after it was quashed. Clarke was born at Hurst Castle, Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire, England opposite the Isle of Wight to Irish parents, Mary Palmer and James Clarke, who was a sergeant in the British Army. In 1865, after spending years in South Africa, Sgt. Clarke was transferred to Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland. In 1878, at the age of 20, he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood following the visit to Dungannon of John Daly and they were driven back, however, and Clarke, fearing arrest, fled to the United States. He was arrested, and along with three others, he was tried and sentenced to servitude for life on 28 May 1883 at Londons Old Bailey. He subsequently served 15 years in Pentonville and other British prisons, in 1896, he was one of five remaining Fenian prisoners in British jails and a series of public meetings in Ireland called for their release. At one meeting, John Redmond MP, leader of the Parnellite Irish National League, said of him, I have learned in my many visits to Portland for five years to love, honour and respect Henry Wilson. I have seen day after day how his spirit was keeping him alive. I have seen year after year the fading away of his physical strength, Henry Wilson was, as historian Dermot Meleady points out, the alias of Tom Clarke. Following his release in 1898 he moved to Brooklyn in the United States where he married Kathleen Daly,21 years his junior, whose uncle, John Daly, Clarke worked for the Clan na Gael under John Devoy. In 1906 the couple moved to a 30-acre farm in Manorville, New York, Clarke had a very close kinship with Hobson, who along with Sean MacDermott, became his protegé. Nevertheless, with MacDermott, Hobson, and other IRB members such as Eamonn Ceannt taking important roles in the Volunteers, it was clear that the IRB would have substantial, if not total, control. Though most of the hard-liners stood against this, Redmonds decree was accepted, Clarke never forgave him for what he considered a treasonous act. Following Clarkes falling out with Hobson, MacDermott and Clarke became almost inseparable, the two of them, as secretary and treasurer, respectively, de facto ran the IRB, although it was still under the nominal head of other men, James Deakin, and later McCullough. In 1915 Clarke and MacDermott established the Military Committee of the IRB to plan what became the Easter Rising. The members were Pearse, Ceannt and Joseph Plunkett, with Clarke, when the old Fenian Jeremiah ODonovan Rossa, died in 1915, Clarke used his funeral to mobilise the Volunteers and heighten expectation of imminent action. When an agreement was reached with James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army in January 1916, Connolly was added to the committee and these seven men were the signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic, with Clarke as the first signatory
8.
James Connolly
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James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader, aligned to syndicalism and the Industrial Workers of the World. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland and he left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of his day. He also took a role in Scottish and American politics and he was executed by a British firing squad because of his leadership role in the Easter Rising of 1916. Connolly was born in an Irish immigrant slum in Edinburgh in 1868 and his parents had moved to Scotland from Monaghan, Ireland and settled in Cowgate, an Irish ghetto where thousands of Irish people lived. He spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life and he was born in St Patricks Roman Catholic parish, in the Cowgate district of Edinburgh known as Little Ireland. His father and grandfathers were labourers and he had an education up to the age of about ten in the local Catholic primary school. He then left and worked in labouring jobs, because of the economic difficulties he was having, like his eldest brother John, he joined the British Army. He enlisted in the British Army at age 14, falsifying his age and giving his name as Reid and he served in Ireland with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scots Regiment for nearly seven years, during a turbulent period in rural areas known as the Land War. He would later involved in the land issue. He developed a hatred for the British Army that lasted his entire life. When he heard that his regiment was being transferred to India, Connolly had another reason for not wanting to go to India, a young woman by the name of Lillie Reynolds. Lillie moved to Scotland with James after he left the army, there, Connolly began to get involved in the Scottish Socialist Federation, but with a young family to support, he needed a way to provide for them. He briefly established a shop in 1895, but this failed after a few months as his shoe-mending skills were insufficient. He was also active with the socialist movement at the time. He became secretary of the Scottish Socialist Federation, during this time, Connolly became involved with the Independent Labour Party which Keir Hardie had formed in 1893. At some time during this period, he took up the study of, and advocated the use of, by 1892 he was involved in the Scottish Socialist Federation, acting as its secretary from 1895. Two months after the birth of his daughter, word came to Connolly that the Dublin Socialist Club was looking for a full-time secretary. Connolly and his moved to Dublin, where he took up the position
9.
Treason
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In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against ones nation or sovereign. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a lesser superior was petty treason. A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor, orans Dictionary of the Law defines treason as a citizens actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the. In many nations, it is often considered treason to attempt or conspire to overthrow the government. At times, the term traitor has been used as a political epithet, in a civil war or insurrection, the winners may deem the losers to be traitors. In certain cases, as with the Dolchstoßlegende, the accusation of treason towards a group of people can be a unifying political message. Treason is considered to be different and on occasions a separate charge from treasonable felony in many parts of the world. In English law, high treason was punishable by being hanged, drawn and quartered or burnt at the stake and those penalties were abolished in 1814,1790 and 1973 respectively. The penalty was used by later monarchs against people who could reasonably be called traitors, many of them would now just be considered dissidents. His treachery is considered so notorious that his name has long been synonymous with traitor, christian theology and political thinking until after the Enlightenment considered treason and blasphemy as synonymous, as it challenged both the state and the will of God. Kings were considered chosen by God, and to ones country was to do the work of Satan. Many nations laws mention various types of treason, Crimes Related to Insurrection is the internal treason, and may include a coup detat. Crimes Related to Foreign Aggression is the treason of cooperating with foreign aggression positively regardless of the national inside and outside, Crimes Related to inducement of Foreign Aggression is the crime of communicating with aliens secretly to cause foreign aggression or menace. Depending on a country, conspiracy is added to these, in Japan, the application of Crimes Related to Insurrection was considered about Aum Shinrikyo cult which caused religious terrorism. A person is not guilty of treason under paragraphs, or if their assistance or intended assistance is purely humanitarian in nature, the only permissible penalty for treason is life imprisonment. Section 24AA of the Crimes Act 1914 creates the offence of treachery. The Treason Act 1351, the Treason Act 1795 and the Treason Act 1817 form part of the law of New South Wales, Section 16 provides that nothing in Part 2 repeals or affects anything enacted by the Treason Act 1351. This section reproduces section 6 of the Treason Felony Act 1848, the offence of treason was created by section 9A of the Crimes Act 1958
10.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
