Today I went on the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour that begins at the International Bar. I had learned a lot of the rebellion from my time in Ireland, but it was still confusing to me. And to be honest, what rebellion is not confusing? Nothing in life is black and white and that applies to rebellions for sure.
The 1916 Rebellion, or the Easter Rising, took place during Easter week in 1916. Irish took up arms to get rid of British rule. There was many different groups involved like the Irish Republic Brotherhood, Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Cumann na mBan, among others. Just like there was many different groups of Irish, there were just as many different beliefs about the rebellion. Some wanted just wanted home rule while others wanted to establish a republic. This added to the confusion of the rebellion.
From history, most people know that Ireland "won" and established its own republic. But it wasn't the glorious fight and victory that a Hollywood movie would make it out to be.
Not all Irish supported the rebellion. Because of this, the rebels didn't number much. Only a couple hundred Irish were willing to take a stand.
But the couple hundred made a very powerful statement. Since it was a sacred holiday and since no action had taken place on the date that the Irish said something would happen, the British left Dublin not that secured. The Irish saw this and made it to their advantage. They stormed and occupied Dublin Castle, City Hall, The Four Courts, the General Post Office among other buildings throughout the city. British soon got word of this and sent reinforcements.
Over the next week fighting took place all over the city. It was so intense that most of Dublin was destroyed. The last place to stand was the General Post Office. Soon that too fell to the British.
Today, most Irish would consider the rebels heroes, but that wasn't the case at the time of 1916. Most of the Irish didn't support the rebels, but the British changed that. They treated the imprisoned rebels inhumanely and it was this poor treatment of the prisoners that won the support of the Irish to the rebels. That is why today they are heroes.
The 1916 Rebellion Tour takes people around the city, showing them the sites that were key points in the rebellion. These sights include, Dublin Castle, City Hall, Four Courts; a walk along the River Liffey and finally stopping at the General Post Office.
Like stated before, the tour starts at the International Bar. This is a great place to get a cup of coffee before the tour starts. It costs 12 Euros and takes around 2 hours. It might seem like a long time, but the history and the nice pace of walking make it go by fast.
The tour is based on the book, "The Easter Rising- A Guide to Dublin in 1916" by Lorcan Collins and Conor Kostick. Usually the author Lorcan gives the tour, but when I went there was a different person, still very knowledgeable!
I would highly recommend the tour to anyone wanting to learn about the rebellion. It is a great way to see the city and get a picture of what happened during that dramatic week. The tour really helped me make more sense of the rebellion.
Visit www.1916rising.com for more information about the tour, including tour schedules.
Tomorrow I will post some pictures from the tour :)
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