Easter Rising facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Easter Rising Éirí Amach na Cásca
Part of the Irish revolutionary period
Henry Street, Dublin, after the Rising. The shell of the GPO is on the left.
Date 24–29 April 1916 Location Mostly Dublin Skirmishes in counties Meath, Galway, Louth, Wexford, Cork. Result Unconditional surrender of rebel forces, execution of most leaders
Belligerents
Irish rebel forces:  Irish Volunteers  Irish Citizen Army  Fianna Éireann  Cumann na mBan  Hibernian Rifles	British forces: British Army Royal Irish Constabulary
Commanders and leaders
Patrick Pearse James Connolly Tom Clarke Seán MacDermott Joseph Plunkett Éamonn Ceannt Thomas MacDonagh	Lord Wimborne Augustine Birrell Matthew Nathan Lord French Lovick Friend John Maxwell William Lowe
Strength
1,250 in Dublin, ~2,000–3,000 Volunteers elsewhere but they took little part in the fighting.	16,000 British troops and 1,000 armed RIC in Dublin by the end of the week.
Casualties and losses
66 killed 16 executed unknown wounded	143 killed 397 wounded
260 civilians killed 2,200+ civilians wounded (including unknown number of rebels) Total killed: 485

The Easter Rising was a rebellion in Dublin, Ireland at Easter in 1916. It started on April 24, 1916 and ended on April 29, 1916. It was carried out by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and members of the Irish Citizens Army. It was done to protest against British rule in Ireland. It was the first uprising in Ireland since the 1798 rebellion.

At first, the Irish had planned to have a larger amount of men to attack the city. But a man called Sir Roger Casement was captured on the way back from Germany with guns and the Irish had very few guns. As a result, only about 1,250 men took part in the rising. Out of these about 300 went into the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly. Other groups took over different parts of the city, for example St. Stephen's Green, Shelbourne Hotel, Boland's Mills and Jacobs Factory. At first the British put up no resistance because of Easter public holiday, but soon more of them came into Dublin to fight the Irish.

The biggest fighting happened at Bolands Mills where Éamon de Valera had his men open fire on British soldiers called Sherwood Foresters while they landed in the city. The shootings here killed about 200 people and wounded several more. St. Stephen's Green was a big part of the fighting as well where the Irish lost a lot of men. After six days the Irish were exhausted and were being shot at by huge artillery pieces mounted onto a British ship called HMS Helga. The General Post Office was badly hit and soon the Irish surrendered. Sixteen of the Irish leaders were shot by firing squad after the Rising.

The British admitted that they lost 155 men to Irish gunfire and 200 were wounded. The Irish rebels lost at least 70 men and over 1,000 of them were wounded. At least 100 Irish citizens were killed in the crossfire as well. After the rising, Dublin was in very bad shape and several hundred people had been killed.

After the rebellion

After the Easter Rising conflict, the leaders of the rebellion were given trials in British courts and were sentenced to death. Fourteen were executed by British soldiers at Kilmainham jail in Dublin. The prisoners eyes were covered with blindfolds and they were shot. Among them were the leaders, Patrick Pearse and James Connolly. Another leader, Thomas Kent was later shot in Cork, Ireland. Roger Casement was hanged in London, England.

At first the people in Dublin were confused and angry, because many had died and food supplies were cut off. But after the British shot the leaders, some of the Irish people began to follow and support them in sympathy for their cause. The Easter Rising was a major reason for the creation of the Irish Republic and the Irish War of Independence.

Images for kids

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  Members of the Irish Citizen Army outside Liberty Hall, under the slogan "We serve neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland"

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  Proclamation of the Republic, Easter 1916

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  The General Post Office in Dublin – the rebel headquarters

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  Positions of rebel and British forces in central Dublin

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  A street barricade erected by the rebels in Dublin during the Rising

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  British armoured truck, hastily built from the smokeboxes of several steam locomotives at Inchicore railway works

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  British soldiers in position behind a stack of barrels during the Rising in Dublin

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  Birth of the Irish Republic by Walter Paget, depicting the GPO during the shelling

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  British soldiers marching rebel prisoners away after the surrender

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  Irish War News, produced by the rebels during the Rising

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  Enniscorthy in the 1890s

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  Memorial in Deansgrange Cemetery, where various civilians and members of the Irish Volunteer Army, Irish Citizen Army and British Army are buried

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  Ruins of the Metropole Hotel on Sackville Street, next to the GPO

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  The spot at Kilmainham Gaol where most of the leaders were executed

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  The burial spot of the leaders of the Rising, in the old prison yard of Arbour Hill Prison. The Proclamation of 1916 is inscribed on the wall in both Irish and English

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  British soldiers searching the River Tolka in Dublin for arms and ammunition after the Easter Rising. May 1916

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  View of O'Connell Bridge, 1916, on a German postcard. The caption reads: Rising of the Sinn Feiners in Ireland. O'Connell bridge with Dublin city, where the fiercest clashes took place.

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  Commemoration of Connolly's execution, 12 May 1917

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  Crowds in Dublin waiting to welcome republican prisoners released in 1917

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  Document from the 1940s which lists the deceased members of the Stephen's Green garrison

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  Plaque commemorating the Easter Rising at the General Post Office, Dublin, with the Irish text in Gaelic script, and the English text in regular Latin script

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  Memorial in Cobh, County Cork, to the Volunteers from that town

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  Mural in Belfast depicting the Easter Rising of 1916

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  Memorial in Clonmacnoise commemorating men of County Offaly (then King's County) who fought in 1916: James Kenny, Kieran Kenny and Paddy McDonnell are named

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  Flag and copy of the Proclamation in Clonegal