In 1800 the Act of Union Bill was passed which united Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom. This meant that there would be no Irish parliament and Ireland would be represented in Westminster , many attempts were made to counter this , such as Home Rule. Home Rule was basically an idea that Ireland should have its own parliament …show more content…
Asquith announcing his support of the bill in 1912 affected Ireland greatly however. People who wanted to remain part of Britain in Ireland were known as Unionists and they were primarily from Ulster. With the introduction of the bill many Unionists feared that they would be highly discriminated by a catholic government, this was simplified by the Unionist slogan “Home Rule means Rome Rule”. In response to this many Unionists lead by James Craig and Edward Carson signed the Solemn League and Covenant , which meant that they would oppose Home Rule no matter what, many signed the contract in blood. The Ulster Volunteer Force was also set up in 1913. In response to this Irish Nationalists set up the Irish Volunteers lead by Eoin MacNeill. A seven man military council called the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) sought to control the Irish Volunteers and to use them against the British, MacNeill was not a part of the IRB. The Volunteers aim was to protect the rights of the people of Ireland and they had no plans to directly attack the British. With the Irish Volunteers smuggling arms into Dublin and British army officers saying they would not confront the UVF Ireland was on the brink of civil war but it was …show more content…
Windows and doors were barricaded in buildings such as Jacobs Mill and barricades were set up on the street. Pearse marched on the GPO and hoisted two republican flags and read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic to passer-byers. Leaders such as Ned Daly occupied the Four Courts , Eamonn de Valera occupied Bolands Mill and Thomas MacDonagh occupied Jacobs Biscuit Factory. Telephone wires and rail lines were damaged in an attempt to delay reinforcements. James Connolly and his men lay siege on Dublin Castle where skirmishes occured resulting in the first few deaths of the rising. Fighting broke out across the city resulting in the deaths of Dublin Policemen , making the Chief of Police take all his men off the streets resulting in widespread looting across Dublin City Centre. The rebels had failed to capture Dublin Port and Dun Laoghaire so the Britsh were able to import men and weapons easily, by the end of the week there was more than 16,000 British troops in the City Centre. The gunboat the Helga was dispatched from Dun Laoghaire and began shelling the GPO from the river Liffey. After heavy shelling the rebels