The Easter Rising Began in Dublin
On this day · 24 April 1916
On Easter Monday 1916, Irish rebels seized buildings across Dublin and proclaimed a republic against British rule.
On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, around a thousand members of the Irish Volunteers and the smaller Irish Citizen Army marched out across Dublin and seized a ring of strategic buildings. Their headquarters was the General Post Office on Sackville Street, where Patrick Pearse read aloud a Proclamation declaring an independent Irish Republic.
The rebellion was led by the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood. Seven men signed the Proclamation as a provisional government, among them Pearse, the socialist James Connolly, and the veteran organiser Tom Clarke.
A poet, a labour leader and a Fenian printer put their names to a republic that did not yet exist.
British forces poured into the city, and after nearly a week of street fighting the rebels surrendered on 29 April. The Rising killed hundreds, mostly civilians, and at first won little public sympathy. But the swift execution of its leaders transformed them into martyrs and helped reshape Irish politics toward full independence.
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