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Ireland's long history of occupation -

Up until the last century, the Emerald Isle was at different times invaded, occupied, annexed, and assimilated since the 12th century. The Irish fought against Anglo oppression for centuries, until their freedom was won.

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The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland -

The history of occupied Ireland is long and storied. It all began in the 12th century, when the Anglo-Norman ruling classes of England chose to invade and establish sovereignty over the isle of Ireland. The Anglo-Norman conquest was slow, and occurred over the course of months, but did eventually gain absolute authority over the fractured and mostly agrarian kingdoms of old Ireland.

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The Irish Revolutionary Period -

After centuries of occupation and unrest amongst the Irish, country-wide revolutionary dissemination reached its boiling point in the early 20th century. Most historians agree the revolutionary era began in 1912, after the passing of the Third Home Rule Bill, voted upon in the British parliament, which granted Ireland its own government while still ultimately under British rule.

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The Easter Rising -

The first major conflict of the Irish Revolution, often referred to as the birth of the Free State of Ireland, was the Easter Rising of April 1916. The uprising was instigated by a number of Irish revolutionary groups who captured strategic buildings throughout Dublin and declared a free state of Ireland.

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The Easter Rising -

The conflict lasted for six days, and while the revolutionaries fought valiantly, the British forces, far greater in number and equipped with state-of-the-art munitions, including artillery and gun boats, forced the revolutionaries to surrender after destroying sprawling amounts of the city. In total, 485 people perished, 260 of whom were civilians.

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The Irish rebels -

There were a number of revolutionary groups that took part in the Easter Rising and all of the conflicts that followed. The largest, for a time, were the Irish Volunteers. In the years leading up to the Easter Rising, they numbered around 200,000, but quickly splintered into smaller groups. There were about 1,000 Irish Volunteers fighting in Dublin during the Easter Rising, and another 200 soldiers from the Irish Citizen Army were also present.

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Cumann na mBan -

The Cumann na mBan, or the Irishwomen's Council, was a hugely influential women's revolutionary and paramilitary group. During the Easter Rising, members of the Irishwomen's Council ran reconnaissance missions, delivered messages and arms between revolutionary strongholds, and also engaged in firefights as snipers and as part of the infantry.

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The Irish War of Independence -

Although the Easter Rising was thoroughly extinguished by British occupation forces, the indiscriminate brutality doled out by British troops and police resulted in a massive surge of Irish Republican support from the masses. During the general United Kingdom elections in December, 1918, the republican Sinn Féin party won by a landslide, confirming that there was popular support for a revolutionary war.

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The Irish War of Independence -

The following January, the Sinn Féin government declared their independence from Great Britain. The Irish Republican Army (IRA), which had absorbed most of the earlier, smaller military groups, were ready for war with the British Army and the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC).

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The Irish War of Independence -

The war was fought mostly in urban areas, with both sides employing guerilla tactics. The IRA focused on capturing British military strongholds and building up an arsenal of weapons. Bombings, acts of sabotage, ambushes, and workers' disobedience were common. For instance, Irish railway workers refused to transport supplies or weaponry to British troops.

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British brutality -

The British government sent the "Black and Tans" paramilitary group to suppress the uprising. The Black and Tans are infamous for their unchecked brutality against Irish civilians, which included beatings, killings, and the destruction of homes and business. Pictured is a building in the southern city of Cork, burned to the ground by the Black and Tans in retaliation for earlier clashes with the IRA in the city.

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The Anglo-Irish Treaty -

The War of Independence raged on for two and a half years, until 1921. All in all, the war took the lives of around 2,000 people, 900 of whom were civilians. The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed on December 6, 1921, establishing the Irish Free State, with the stipulation that the six counties of Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom. The Treaty, as it is commonly known, was highly controversial. Many republicans insisted that the only free Ireland was a unified Ireland, including the six counties of Northern Ireland. This split between the pro-Treaty party and the anti-Treaty party would eventually lead to violence, and the start of the Irish Civil War.

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The Irish Civil War -

The Irish Civil War broke out in June 1922, after months of growing tensions and sporadic clashes between the Anti-Treaty IRA and Irish Free State forces. Members of the IRA, who had occupied the Four Courts building in Dublin, ignored an ultimatum given by the Free State government to surrender their garrison. This led to government forces bombarding and destroying the building (pictured). This is considered by historians to be the "point of no return" and the proper beginning of the Irish Civil War.

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The Irish Civil War -

The Civil War was profoundly upsetting for both the pro-Treaty "Staters" and the anti-Treaty "Irregulars." The war was fought between Irish revolutionaries who were, only a year ago, comrades and brothers in arms against British occupation.

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The Irish Civil War -

The Staters were supported by the British government, who provided arms, soldiers and supplies to the Free State government. The IRA Irregulars, on the other hand, had to rely on arsenal raids and the black market to arm themselves. Territories originally held by the Irregulars were quickly taken by the Staters, and most of the war was fought through guerilla tactics.

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The Irish Civil War -

In September of 1922, the Free State government adopted a policy of mass-imprisonment and executions of suspected Irregulars, civilians included. Around 12,000 republicans were arrested, and an estimated 153 people were executed by firing squad. By 1923, Irregular forces were severely compromised and began to see the war as an act of futility. A ceasefire was officially called on May 24, 1923.

So, who were the major players, heroes, and martyrs of the gruesome yet virtuous journey towards independence and peace in Ireland, and who are the influential figures that came after them?

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Kathleen Clarke -

Kathleen Clarke was one of the founding members of Cumann na mBan and remained a leading figure of the Irish Republicans throughout the war, and after. In her own words, "Other risings left only despair, and efforts towards freedom left to the next generation. I would make every effort to keep the ball rolling, and in some way continue the fight for freedom, and not let it end with the [Easter] Rising." In 1939, she became the first female Lord Mayor of Dublin.

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Pádraic Pearse -

The primary organizer of the Easter Rising, lauded to this day as a national hero, was one Pádraic Pearse. An educator and poet by trade, Pearse founded one of Ireland's first bilingual school for boys, St. Edna's School, which taught in both English and Irish. For Pearse, and many other Irish language enthusiasts of the time, preserving the Irish language was paramount in preserving Irish culture in general.

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Pádraic Pearse -

Pearse was also the main writer of the first Proclamation of the Irish Republic, which he read out loud to a mass of republicans and revolutionaries on the morning of April 24, 1916, marking the official start of the Easter Rising and the War for Independence at large.

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Pádraic Pearse -

One of the leading figures of the Irish War for Independence, starting from his involvement in the organization and execution of the Easter Rising, Pearse was at once the face of liberation for some and the face of unrest and tragedy for others. He was quickly named the first president of Ireland. Tragically, his part in the revolution was cut short. Pearse, along with the 14 other organizers of the Easter Rising, were arrested and executed by firing squad mere weeks after their surrender.

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Michael Collins -

One of the most important and influential leaders in Ireland, from before the War of Independence until his death during the Irish Civil War, is Michael Collins. His experience highlights the moral quandaries and crises of allegiance that permeated throughout the Irish Revolutionary Period.

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Michael Collins -

During the Irish War of Independence, Collins was a leading member of the Irish resistance, serving as Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and building a reputation as an excellent strategist. The lion's share of the IRA's most successful guerilla operations were planned and spearheaded by Collins, making him a hero in the eyes of Irish republicans.

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Michael Collins -

Collins was also one of the primary signatories of the controversial Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. He was then appointed as Chairman of the Cabinet of the Free State of Ireland, effectively making him prime minister. As a leader of the Free State, he was forced to fight against his revolutionary brethren in the Irish Civil War. Collins' personal diaries and letters reveal his profound dismay that he had, to a degree, failed the revolutionary republicans he once led. Collins was killed in an Irregulars ambush on his way to his home in County Cork on August 22, 1922, at the age of 31.

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Éamon de Valera -

Born in the United States, Éamon de Valera returned to his ancestral homeland at the age of two and became one of the most respected and influential figures of the Irish Revolutionary Period.

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Éamon de Valera -

De Valera served as a captain of the Irish Volunteers and participated in the Easter Rising of 1916. He was imprisoned as a result, and only narrowly escaped execution for various reasons. In 1917, after his release, he was elected as president of the republican Sinn Féin party. He sent Michael Collins, among others, to sign the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Despite his position of power, he detested the outcome of the treaty, particularly the required oath of allegiance to the British King George V.

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Éamon de Valera -

De Valera resigned from his position after the signing of the Treaty. At the start of the Civil War, he reenlisted as an "ordinary volunteer" of the anti-Treaty IRA, pitting him against his once-comrade Michael Collins. Surviving the Civil War, he would go on to pen and sign the Irish Constitution in 1930. Éamon de Valera lived until the ripe old age of 92 in 1975.

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John Hume -

Born in the Northern Irish city of Derry, John Hume was instrumental in putting an end to the Troubles and negotiating a ceasefire with the Provisional IRA, for which he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, the Gandhi Peace Prize, and the Martin Luther King Award.

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John Hume -

Hume was a co-founder and leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party of Northern Ireland, which advocates for a unified Ireland. He served as the party leader from 1979 to 2001.

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John Hume -

In addition to his numerous accolades, Hume was also voted as "Ireland's Greatest" in a nationwide poll carried out by the Irish RTE broadcasting company. His is considered one of the greatest heroes of the entire Emerald Isle, for his instrumental participation in bringing the IRA and loyalist militants to a peace agreement.

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Bobby Sands -

Widely considered a martyr of the IRA movement during The Troubles, a period of civil unrest that occurred from 1968 to 1981, Bobby Sands is one of the most famous, or, arguably, infamous, figures in modern Irish history.

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Bobby Sands -

Famed for his imprisonment and subsequent hunger strike, Sands was a leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a new iteration of the IRA that has been labeled by some world leaders as a terrorist organization. Sands himself planned and executed the 1976 bombing of a furniture store in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that inadvertently killed four civilians, including two children. Sands, along with his accomplices, were arrested fleeing the scene.

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Bobby Sands -

Sands was ultimately kept in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison, where he became the de facto leader of imprisoned IRA members. Maze Prison was notorious for its inhumane treatment of prisoners, and Sands initiated the famous 1981 hunger strike, along with other prisoners, to protest their mistreatment. Shortly after the hunger strike began, he was elected as the youngest member of parliament in Ireland's history, while still imprisoned and on hunger strike. Sands died of starvation weeks later, after 66 days on hunger strike, at the age of 27. News of his death incited widespread riots across Ireland, and he has since become a martyr of the Irish republican cause, despite his morally questionable past.

Sources: (The Irish Story) (BBC) (Britannica)

See also: Ireland, forever the "Emerald Isle"

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