This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, the rebellion for Irish Independence that changed the course of Ireland’s history which began on Easter Monday 1916. In recognition, here are 50 facts – some well known, others more obscure.
- On 24 April 1916, Patrick Pearse stood outside the General Post Office in Dublin and read a proclamation announcing the establishment of an Irish republic under a provisional government.
- MacDonagh and Plunkett were poets, Pearse was a poet and writer as well as a schoolteacher.
- Eamon de Valera, who participated in the Rising and later became the most prominent figure in Irish politics, was born in New York and therefore an American citizen. This fact that may have saved him from being executed with his brothers in arms, though historians disagree on this point.
- Joseph Plunkett married his fiance, Grace Gifford, at , Kilmainham Gael eight hours before his execution.
- The first gunshot of the 1916 rising was shot at a railworker because the rebels thought he was an English spy.
- James Connolly was born in Scotland
- If it wasn't for Cpt.Maxwell for extending the executions to ten days Ireland could still be under British Law.
- The Easter Rising made the front page of the New York times eight days in a row.
- By Friday April 28th 1916 the number of British troops rose to about 19,000 while the Irish Republic groups had only amassed 1600 fighters due to mass confusion over the date of the Rising.
- Mc Dermott wrote `` I feel happiness the like of which I have never experienced. I die that the Irish Nation might live! he wrote his execution.
- De Valera went onto break from Sinn Féin, form Fianna Fáil and serve as Taoiseach and later President of Ireland.
- Before his execution, McDermott wrote "I feel happiness the like of which I have never experienced. I die that the Irish Nation might live!"
- Two most important people in the IRB were Thomas Clarke and Sean McDermott.
- In Dublin, the deadliest battles took place on Mount Street bridge.
- Joseph Plunkett married his fiance, Grace Gifford eight hours before his execution.
- WB Yates wrote his famous poem "A terrible beauty " after hearing McDermott die.
Here is a picture of the 1916 Easter Rising proclamation read out by Patrick Pearse outside the GPO, 4 minutes past noon on April 24th 1916.
This year we are going to be doing a animated movie with 5th class and Anna.
This is the plot of the story we picked.
"A boy from the Tenements. Father is a member of IRB. Has a mother and a baby brother/sister. They are poor and hungry. Mother sends him to get food. He crosses through the city of Dublin. Passes by iconic 1916 places where there is fighting going on.A girl from a rich Victorian house. Lives with mother, baby brother/sister. Have servants. Her father is a general member of the IRC. They are British. She wants to go out but she is not allowed. One day looking out the window she sees the boy looking for food/wood. She gives him some of her food and they become friends and play together. Girls parents discover them and give out and kick him out of house/garden. Girl is sad and lonely. Two days later boys father is captured by British soldiers. Girl overhears father talking and escapes to tell her friend. They both go and release boy's father from jail. While the three of them are running there is a cross fire and both boy and girl are killed. Mother and father on both sides mourn their lost children together."
Alternative ending: "girl is injured while running away with boy and father and boy rescue her and bring her home where she is saved by a doctor. Her parents are very grateful and they let them stay in the big house"??
This is the plot of the story we picked.
"A boy from the Tenements. Father is a member of IRB. Has a mother and a baby brother/sister. They are poor and hungry. Mother sends him to get food. He crosses through the city of Dublin. Passes by iconic 1916 places where there is fighting going on.A girl from a rich Victorian house. Lives with mother, baby brother/sister. Have servants. Her father is a general member of the IRC. They are British. She wants to go out but she is not allowed. One day looking out the window she sees the boy looking for food/wood. She gives him some of her food and they become friends and play together. Girls parents discover them and give out and kick him out of house/garden. Girl is sad and lonely. Two days later boys father is captured by British soldiers. Girl overhears father talking and escapes to tell her friend. They both go and release boy's father from jail. While the three of them are running there is a cross fire and both boy and girl are killed. Mother and father on both sides mourn their lost children together."
Alternative ending: "girl is injured while running away with boy and father and boy rescue her and bring her home where she is saved by a doctor. Her parents are very grateful and they let them stay in the big house"??