Les grands ne sont grands que parce que nous sommes à genoux: Levons-nous.
Ní uasal aon uasal ach sinne bheith íseal: Éirímis.
The great appear great because we are on our knees: Let us rise.
--18th century French saying on a statue of James "Big Jim" Larkin, Dublin 1913 lockout and union organizer, and stands on O'Connel Street in Dublin.
We met at The International bar and though it was not yet noon, we imbibed just to fortify ourselves for the walk and to meet the others on the walk as well!
Suffice it to say that I am fascinated with Ireland's march toward independence as evidence by some of our prior tourist ambles to the GPO, Kilmainham Jail and other discussions on this blog. We were all very excited to hear a version of the story from a local expert as well as to visit some relevant sites in the city!
For those of you new to my blog and/or Irish history, let me give you a two-sentence overview of the Easter Rising so that you have a bit of context when I tell you about our walking tour.
The Easter rising (Éirí Amach na Cásca) was an armed insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week of 1916. The rising was mounted by Irish Republicans (those in favor of Home Rule or an independent Irish Republic). The rising, despite a rocky start as there was an attempt to put it off because a delivery of weapons didn't make it, began on Easter Monday of 1916 and lasted for 16 days. Lead by the Irish Republican Brotherhood and joined by the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly and 200 members of Cumann na mBan, the rebels seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed the Irish Republic independent of the United Kingdom.
STOP ONE: Trinity College
Our first stop on the tour was at Trinity college where we pulled over and Lorcan talked about the buildings that the rebels took and some of the relevant places. The rebels had only surprise on their side, so the buildings they chose in which to stake positions against the British were very important. The major positions included the General Post Office (GPO), the Four Courts, Jacob's factory and Boland's mill. They similarly held a position at St. Stephen's Green.
Across from St. Stephen's Green the British placed snipers in the Shelbourne Hotel and so the rebels retreated to the Royal College of Surgeons which was "riddled" with gunfire.
The 3rd Battalion under Commandant Eamon de Valera occupied Boland’s Mill around the corner from the flour mills, one mile to the south-east of the GPO, on Grand Canal Dock. The battalion was at a key location as it controlled the railway line and the main road from Dun Laoghaire (then Kingstown) to the city center.
Jacob’s Biscuit Factory was a triangular structure with two towers and, of course, biscuits!
The Four Courts: controlled the main route between the military barracks and the GPO.
The GPO: Five members of the Provisional Government were located at the GPO during the Rising — Pearse, Connolly, Clarke, MacDiarmada and Plunkett — in a 350-strong garrison which also included Cumann na mBan and Irish Citizen Army members. James Connolly was in charge of the defense of the GPO and directed operations. The GPO garrison barricaded surrounding streets and occupied adjoining buildings.
Connolly believed that the British would not use artillery in city areas.
By Friday night the GPO was on fire, at which point it was evacuated.
STOP TWO: The Thomas Moore statue.
At our next stop, Lorcan Collins showed us where the British might have launched their 18lb Howitzers at the GPO. The cannons were completely unreliable, but you could see from the statute how they might have aimed at Nelson's Pillar (torn down by the IRA in 1966 and replaced with the Spire) and often missed their target.
It was on the street in front of the building that the leaders of the rising assembled before their march to the GPO.
The building was rebuilt and for some time was the tallest building in Dublin** rising 16 floors: one for everyone executed for the Easter Rising.
STOP FOUR: O'Connell Statue
STOP FIVE: The General Post Office
Here's a short clip of Lorcan describing the bullet holes.
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| Hole from the Horwitzer on the GPO Column. |
STOP SIX: The Liffey with a view of the Four Courts
STOP SEVEN: Over the Grattan Bridge
STOP EIGHT: City Hall
Dublin was left in ruins after the rising. Here are a couple of pictures from the National Library of the "Sackstreet" (which would become O'Connell) GPO and Nelson's Pillar.
_after_the_1916_Easter_Rising.JPG)
Michael Joseph O’Rahilly, (here's the Wikipedia link for him) one of the founding members of the Irish Volunteers had tried to put a stop to the rising (once it seemed obvious that it would fail because of the lost munitions). Once he saw that it was happening anyway, he joined in.
Yeats put it very well in his poem The O'Rahilly:
‘Because I helped wind the clock, I come to hear it strike.’
O'Rahilly was shot twice during the Rising. While dying, he scribbled out a note to his wife in which he said
Written after I was shot. Darling Nancy I was shot leading a rush up Moore Street and took refuge in a doorway. While I was there I heard the men pointing out where I was and made a bolt for the laneway I am in now.
I got more [than] one bullet I think. Tons and tons of love dearie to you and the boys and to Nell and Anna. It was a good fight anyhow. Please deliver this to Nannie O' Rahilly, 40 Herbert Park, Dublin. Goodbye Darling.
It was as though he understood that the fight itself, even though the rising was successful, would have larger implications for the struggle for Home Rule and the (future) Republic of Ireland.
The aftermath of the Rising, and in particular the British reaction to it, helped to sway a large section of Irish nationalist opinion away from hostility or ambivalence and towards support for the rebels of Easter 1916.
*Mr. Collins was excellent. Not only did he know his history, but he had a great flare to his talk and filled the story in with loads of historical nuggets and anecdotes that brought the history to life.
He was born and raised in Dublin and is the author of The Easter Rising (2000) and is the editor of a series of books about the lives of 16 men who were executed on and around the Easter Rising. Collins has published the first in the series about James Connolly.
**The tallest building in Dublin now is the Google building.
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