The Irish Story archive on the Easter Rising

This is an archive of Irish Story articles on the 1916 Rising from 2010 onwards, including articles, interview and book reviews. 

Articles

 

Overview articles

• An Overview of the Easter Rising – laying out the need-to-know facts.
• Twenty Sixteen, Commemorating the Rising, What does it all mean? By John Dorney
• Did the Easter Rising kill Home Rule? By John Dorney
• What Future did the Men of 1916 Dream of? By John Dorney
•  ‘Slaves or Freemen’, Sean McDermott, the IRB and the psychology of the Easter Rising, tries to delve into IRB thinking about nationalism and revolution before the rebellion. By John Dorney.
• The Sinn Fein Rebellion? Arthur Griffith’s Easter Rising, by Gerard Shannon.

The Lead Up to the Rising

•  ‘To maintain the rights and Liberties Common to all the People of Ireland’, Liam Hogan on the founding of the Volunteers in Limerick.
• The Hibernian Rifles – A Short History, by Padraig Og O Ruairc.
• The Formation of the Irish Citizen Army, a talk by Brian Hanley, reported on by John Dorney
• The Howth Gun Running, by John Dorney
• The Fools, the fools’ – the O’Donovan Rossa funeral, August 1, 1915 by John Dorney
• Weapons of the Easter Rising by John Dorney
• Conspiracy or Intelligence Failure? how did the British let the Easter Rising happen? by John Dorney

The week’s events;

• The first day of the Rising – April 24.  The rebels occupy their positions, both the British and the Dublin public are taken by surprise.
• The next day, Tuesday the 25th. Fighting continues, civilians suffer. By Eoin Purcell.
• The Battle at Mount Street, April 26th. The bloodiest day of the Rising for the British, at Mount Street Bridge.
• The Rabble and the Republic, how the insurgents clashed with the Dublin underclass, by John Dorney
• The Battle at Mendicity Institute – By Paul O’Brien.
• The Battle at South Dublin Union, By John Dorney.
• Cabra in 1916, by John Dorney.
• The Life and Death of Micheal O’Rahilly – John Dorney
• The Helga and the Shelling of Liberty Hall, by Michael Barry
• The Surrender – April 30th, 1916. Over three days, the rebels in Dublin and elsewhere surrender. By John Dorney
• Airbrushed out of History? – Elizabeth O’Farrell and Pearse’s Surrender, by Michael Barry.
• The Easter Rising in County Wexford, by John Dorney
• The Easter Rising in Galway, by John Dorney
• The Easter Rising in Louth, by Ailbhe Rogers
• The North King Street Massacre -the worst atrocity of the week, By John Dorney
• To Cost you in Blood, Rory O’Connor’s 1916 Rising and Aftermath, by Gerard Shannon.
• Sean Russell and the Easter Rising by Gerard Shannon
•   The Death of Muriel MacDonagh, by Gerard Shannon.
• ‘A Faithful Soldier of the Republic’, the story of Jinny Shanahan, by John Dorney

• Sixteen Glasgow Volunteers in the Irish Revolution, by Thomas Tormey
• Today in Irish History, August 3, 1916, Roger Casement is Executed, by John Dorney.

Perspective and Commemoration

• Commemorating the Easter Rising 1917-1934, by John Dorney
• Commemorating the Rising 1945-2006, By John Dorney
• Cathal Brennan’s article –A TV pageant – the Rising commemorations in 1966 – looks at the public marking of the Rising 50 years later.
• The Decade of Centenaries – A Reflection, by John Dorney
• The 2016 centenary by John Dorney

Interviews and Lectures

• The People’s College Lectures on the Rising 2016.
• Fearghal McGarry on the Easter Rising – historian Fearghal McGarry discusses his book ‘The Rising’.
• Perspectives on the Easter Rising, Part I, Rebels – Fearghal McGarry and Padraig Yeates talk about the planning of the Rising.
• Perspectives on the Easter Rising Part II, Combat – McGarry and Yeates talk about the fighting in Easter week.
• Perspectives on the Easter Rising Part III, Aftermath – McGarry and Yeates discuss the long term and short term consequences of the rebellion.
• 1916 A Military Falure? – Author Paul O’Brien gives his thoughts on the Rising as a military operation.
• Discussion of the Easter Rising on Near 90 FM
• People’s College Lectures on the Rising by Brian Crowley and Ann Mathews.

Book Reviews

• Rebels by Fearghal McGarry, Reviewed by John Dorney – a collection of eyewitness testimony from veterans.
• A City in Wartime by Padraig Yeates, Reviewed by John Dorney. This book on Dublin in 1914-18 contains a meaty chapter on the Rising.
• Turning Points in Twentieth Century Irish History – Reviewed by John Dorney – Includes a provocative chapter by Peter Hart on 1916.
• Unlikely Rebels by Anne Clare – On the Gifford sisters and their role in the Easter Rising. Reviewed by Mairead Carew.
• The Story of the Easter Rising, By John Dorney, Reviewed by Cathal Brennan.
• The Rising, Ireland, 1916, by Fearghal McGarry, Reviewed by John Dorney.
• Crossfire – the Battle of the Four Courts, 1916, by Paul O’Brien, Reviewed by John Dorney.
• Battleground the GPO and 1916, by Paul O’Brien, reviewed by Daniel Murray.
• The Easter Rising a New Illustrated History by Conor McNamra, and According to their Lights, Irishmen in the British Army in Dublin, 1916 by Neil Richardson. Reviewed by John Dorney.
• The Labour Hercules, The Irish Citizen Army, by Jeffrey Leddin, reviewed by Daniel Murray.
• Proclaiming a Republic, by Darragh Gannon, reviewed by Daniel Murray
• Monteith the Making of a Rebel, by Catherine Smyth, reviewed by Daniel Murray