239. Ireland’s Fight For Freedom: The Rise of The IRA (Ep 2)

The Irish republicans who led the Easter Rising of 1916 are tried for treason by the British government, and sentenced to death. Some are so unwell they have to be tied to a chair to be killed, and the brutality of these executions turns the tide of public opinion in Ireland, increasing support for the Republican cause.

The remaining revolutionaries are carted off to prisons and internment camps, where they come up with new ideas for the next fight for independence. The British press has misrepresented the Easter Rising as “The Sinn Féin Rebellion”, but this accidental branding gives the political party a newfound prominence, and its leaders seek to turn it into a national republican organisation. In 1918, during the first British general election where women can vote, Sinn Fein candidates win 73 seats in the Houses of Parliament. But they refuse to go to Westminster. They create their own parliament and declare themselves an independent Irish Republic. Meanwhile, the newly-named Irish Republican Army launches guerrilla attacks on the police force upholding British rule in Ireland. A new war of independence has begun…

Listen as William and Anita are joined once again by Diarmaid Ferriter, author of A Nation Not A Rabble, to discuss the significance of the Irish War of Independence.

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