Causes Even by 1916 most Nationalists wanted Home Rule rather than independence. Some Nationalists saw World War One as an opportunity to attempt to gain independence for Ireland. They were hoping to use the Irish Volunteer Force to achieve this. They arranged for guns to be delivered from Germany. This failed and most of the IVF did not turn out to fight. However a few, led by men such as Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, carried on and launched the Rising on Easter Monday They probably expected to be defeated and may have even wanted to become martyrs.

Events The rebels mobilised on Easter Monday They made the Post Office their headquarters. Originally about 1000 rebels faced 400 troops, showing how the authorities were caught by surprise. During the following week there were a number of ferocious street battles. By the following Friday about 20,000 soldiers had been drafted in to face the rebels. On the Saturday there was a significant artillery barrage of the centre of Dublin. This forced the leaders of the Rising to seek an unconditional surrender. About 450 people were killed. Most were civilians. Only about 60 rebels were killed as they were well trained and had been in well defended positions.

Effects At first many people were hostile towards the rebels. However, there was also some sympathy as people felt that they had fought a good and fair fight. The British reaction was to execute 15 of the rebels and imprison over 1000 more, many of whom had not been involved in the Rising. Public opinion in Ireland reacted very negatively to this as it was felt that the punishments were unnecessarily harsh. By December 1916 the rebels were reorganising and rearming. Moderate nationalists did very badly in elections and were replaced by militants who now wanted independence rather than Home Rule.