1916 rising

• When analysing markets, a range of assumptions are made about the rationality of economic agents involved in the transactions
• The Wealth of Nations was written

  1776
• Rational


  (in classical economic theory) economic agents are able to consider the outcome of their choices and recognise the net benefits of each one
• Producers act rationally by


  Selling goods/services in a way that maximises their profits
• Workers act rationally by


  Balancing welfare at work with consideration of both pay and benefits
• Governments act rationally by


  Placing the interests of the people they serve first in order to maximise their welfare
• Groups assumed to act rationally


  • Consumers
  • Producers
  • Workers
  • Governments
• Rationality in classical economic theory is a flawed assumption as people usually don't act rationally
• If you add up marginal utility for each unit you get total utility
• Planning a Rising
• Thin the becauses me satish ary was issy insing
• They said that : England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity
• Military Council


  • Organised the rising
  • Controlled the Volunteers
• Members of the Military Council

  • Thomas Clarke
  • Seán Mc Dermott
  • Patrick Pearse
  • Joseph Plunkett
  • Eamon Ceannt
  • Thomas MacDonagh
• They wanted to keep their plans a secret because of the danger of spies from the British government
• The Military Council decided a rising would take place at Easter


  Jan 1916
• James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army later joined after the Military Council persuaded him
• Sinn Fein Volunteers


  • They had their own army
  • They could get help from Britain's enemy Germany
• They sent Roger Casement to get German help- but the Germans would only send a ship full of arms (20,000 rifles, 190 machine guns and ammunition)
• The ship called the AUD was supposed to arrive, which would be the signal for the Rising to begin on Easter Sunday

  Good Friday 1916
• Because the MC wanted to keep their plans a secret, they deceived Eoin MacNeill and the Irish Volunteers
• MacNeill was always opposed to a rising as he felt Irish people did not want that and we should only have a rising if Britain attacked us first
• The Castle Document was a forged document which stated that the British government was preparing to disarm the Volunteers and sent to Mac Neill
• As a result, MacNeill decided to allow the Volunteers to go ahead with the drills and manoeuvres planned for Easter Sunday
• Padraig Pearse


  • Actively involved in the Gaelic Revival
  • Joined the Gaelic League in 1895
  • Became Editor of the League's journal, An Claidheamh Soluis in 1903
  • Used these pages to attack the increasing Anglicisation of Ireland
  • Promoted the revival of the Irish language
  • Excellent writer who wrote articles, plays and poems
  • Called the Irish Education System "The Murder Machine"
  • Opened Scoil Eanna/ St Endas in Rathfarnham, Dublin
  • His school was bilingual and he implemented a broad curriculum that included drama and nature study
  • Strongly promoted Irish history and culture
  • Extreme nationalist who believed in a complete independent Ireland and force would be necessary to achieve this
  • Became a founder member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913
  • Joined the IRB and became a member of the Military Council
  • Responsible for helping organise the 1916 Rising
  • Used Christian and nationalist imagery to rouse people's feelings
  • Believed that his own martyrdom would help the cause of Irish freedom
  • Passionate about "blood sacrifice' - the view that the spilling of blood for the cause of freedom was a necessary and cleansing act
  • Occupied the GPO during the 1916 Rising
  • Read the 'proclamation of the Irish Republic" from its steps
  • Ordered the rebels to surrender on Friday 28° April 1916
  • Executed at Kilmainham Jail on 3 May 1916
• Joseph Plunkett


  • Born in 1887 in Dublin
  • Son of a papal count, educated in England and Ireland
  • Had poor health but helped establish an Irish national theatre
  • Joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913, and later became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
  • Travelled to Germany to meet Roger Casement in 1915
  • Appointed Director of Military Operations, with overall responsibility for military strategy during the Rising
  • One of the rebels stationed in the G. P. O. during the 1916 Rising
  • Married Grace Gifford while in Kilmainham Gaol and was executed on the 4th of May 1916
• Eoin Mac Neill


  • Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, nationalist activist and Sinn Féin politician
  • Co-founded the Gaelic League with Douglas Hyde in 1893
  • Founder of the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and served as Chief-of-Staff
  • Pearse proposed MacNeill as head of the Volunteers
  • MacNeill's strategy was to organise an insurrection if there were adequate reasons and when circumstances seemed favourable
  • As a result of MacNeill's countermand, the 1916 Rising was almost entirely confined to Dublin
  • Tried by court-martial and sentenced to penal servitude for life but was released under amnesty in June 1917
• Sean Mac Diarmiada


  • Born in Leitrim in 1883
  • Involved in multiple Irish separatist movements including the Gaelic League, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and Sinn Féin
  • Heavily influenced by his father who was a Fenian in Leitrim
  • Became manager of the radical newspaper Irish Freedom in 1910
  • Met Thomas Clarke in 1907 and they formed a close bond
  • Crippled by polio from 1912 onwards
  • Fought in the G.P.O. during the 1916 Rising
  • Read out Pearse's letter of surrender
  • Almost escaped execution but was identified as 'the most dangerous man after Clarke'
  • Executed on the same day as Connolly
  • Sean McDermott Street in Dublin is named after him
• James Connolly


  • Driven by the idea of a Workers' Republic
  • Linked the fight for Irish freedom to the need to uproot capitalism
  • First person to conceive of an Irish Labour Party
  • Born in Scotland to Irish immigrant parents
  • Educated in a Catholic primary school until age 10
  • Joined the British Army at age 14 under the name 'Reid'
  • Deserted the Army while stationed in Ireland
  • Hatred of the British Army that he held for the rest of his life
• James Connolly


  • Founder of the Irish Citizens' Army
  • Set up the Socialist Labour Party
  • Played a massive role in the fight against police brutality and the idea of a fully independent and socialist Irish nation
• Connolly and the Irish Volunteers

  • While both groups despised British imperialism and wanted a free Ireland, their mutual interests ended there
  • Connolly believed the Volunteers (and Irish Republican Brotherhood) were too 'bourgeois' and not concerned enough about Ireland's economic independence
• When Connolly and the Irish Citizens' Army threatened to go up against the British

  IRB leaders including Thomas Clarke and Pádraig Pearse were forced into an agreement with Connolly that the IRB and ICA would act together in Easter of 1916
• Connolly


  • De facto commander-in-chief of the Rising
  • Commandant of the Dublin Brigade
  • Focal point and leader for the rebels at the G.P.O.
  • Such a strong figurehead that Michael Collins commented he would have followed him 'to hell'
• After his capture


  • The Irish employer classes wanted him executed as much as the British
  • Due to his Marxist views and qualities of leadership, Connolly was as much of a threat to wealthy Irish employers as he was to the occupying British
• Connolly was so badly injured during fighting that he may well have died anyway
• He was not held in Kilmainham Gaol - instead, he was kept in a first-aid station at the State Apartments in Dublin Castle until his execution was ordered
• He was unable to stand to face his executioners; instead, he was placed in a chair, tied up, and then shot
• He was survived by his wife Lillie and several children
• His daughter Nora became an influential writer and prominent Irish Republican
• Both Nora and her brother Roddy would become a part of the Oireachtas