On Monday, April 24, 1916, a small group of Irish revolutionaries staged an armed revolt against British authorities in Dublin. Although the revolt was put down only a few days later, the revolutionaries’ heroic gesture, combined with outrage against the excessive force used to defeat them, gradually turned the tide of public opinion in Ireland. Three years later, a much larger military campaign erupted, triggering the Anglo-Irish War that eventually secured independence for three quarters of Ireland and led to the formation of the Irish Free State, now known as the Republic of Ireland.

Although direct plans for the Easter Rising did not begin until 1915, the seeds of the movement go back much further. At the turn of the twentieth century, there was no shortage of nationalist societies

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Citation: Cusack, George. "Easter Rising". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 June 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=304, accessed 23 November 2024.]