Watch the clip from Michael Collins…What can you see? What is happening? Who is fighting? Why might this cause problems in Ireland?

How important was the Easter Rising of 1916 in fuelling Irish Nationalism and what was Partition and why did it happen?

Lesson objectives… To identify the causes and aims of the Easter Rising in 1916 To investigate the consequences of the Easter Rising To consider the role of the Partition Treaty in the conflict in Ireland

Saved by the Great War… John Redmond (who took over as Nationalist leader from Parnell) and the Nationalists agreed that the problem of Home Rule could be set aside until the end of Word War One They thought that the war would not last long – afterwards they would force the British to set up an Irish Parliament Most Irish people accepted the delay and over 200,000 Irish men joined the British army to fight for King and Empire

Your task... Fill in your sheet in the relevant boxes throughout the lesson – the diagram shows you the link between the events, but you need to fill in the information

The Easter Rising 1916… The Revolutionary (militant) Nationalists rejected Redmond's idea of waiting and peaceful persuasion (Wolfe Tone was their hero) In 1916 (when the war was going badly for Britain) a small group of Fenians (IRB) organised an armed rising in Dublin on Easter Monday They took over the General Post Office and proclaimed Ireland an independent Republic This angered many Catholics who disliked the damage and shootings

End of the Easter Rising... Within a few days the rebels had been rounded up by the British Army and put in prison Many were executed (Because of the lack of Irish public support for the rising, many Fenians who had been involved were spat on as they were taken to prison) James Connelly was injured during the rising and later shot by a firing squad

A group of soldiers (officers) with the captured rebel flag

Soldiers guarding one of the Dublin streets Friends visiting Fenian prisoners

So why did it fuel Nationalism? It was the reaction of the British authorities to the rising that guaranteed its long term success and made the virtually unknown men who led it national heroes Hundreds of young Volunteers (Fenians) who hadn’t taken part jailed – caused anger and resentment Execution of 16 of the leaders, including the wounded James Connelly who was shot in a chair by firing squad – changed the mood of the country completely

Triumph of Sinn Fein... 1918 General Election – Home Rule not passed and Revolutionary Nationalists had more support than Parliamentary Nationalists The New Sinn Fein MPs refused to go to London – instead they declared Ireland an independent Republic and set up their own parliament, the Dail, in Dublin They also set up a government, police and law courts Shortly afterwards, the Irish Volunteers were reorganised and renamed “The Irish Republican Army” – the IRA

Irish War of Independence 1919-21... British sent in troops to put down Irish government Ulster Protestants supported British 2 year guerrilla war between British Army and IRA Worlds opinion was influenced by the tactics used by the British government to bring Ireland under control – indiscriminate shooting of civilians and burning of whole streets as reprisals for the shooting of British soldiers

Black and Tans Introduction of a para-military force to strike terror into the IRA (as the illegal Irish army was now known) and those who supported them Last desperate effort by British military to gain military victory Force was know as Black and Tans – because of a mixture of police and military uniform its members wore Used lawless tactics and did a lot to discredit British rule in Ireland e.g football match shooting

Ireland Divided - Partition In the end neither side got what it wanted and the British government decided that the only solution was to divide Ireland into 2 parts

Where do you draw the line? Look at the map. It shows the percentage of Catholics in each of the 9 counties of Ulster and its two biggest towns in 1920. Nationalists would want to make Northern Ireland as small as possible. Unionists would want to make it as big as possible. Where do you draw the line? Where do you draw the line?

Ireland Divided - Partition In the end neither side got what it wanted and the British government decided that the only solution was to divide Ireland into 2 parts North: 1920 – 6 most Protestant Ulster counties given own parliament and government – known as Stormont. Remained part of the UK South: Irish didn’t want a divided Ireland, but in 1921 group of leading Sinn Fein and IRA members signed treaty with British. The 26 countries of Southern Ireland became known as Irish Free State. Independent country, but part of British Empire

Lesson objectives… To identify the causes and aims of the Easter Rising in 1916 To investigate the consequences of the Easter Rising To consider the role of the Partition Treaty in the conflict in Ireland