Throughout the beginning of May 15, 1916 Rebels were executed by firing squad. Thousands of people accused of supporting the rebellion, either directly or indirectly, were imprisoned. Many others were sent to England and detained without a trial. These drawn out executions, mass arrests, and perpetuated martial law sparked the flames of anger in the Irish people towards the British. This made the Irish people care about what was said on the steps of the GPO on Easter. The British tried to squelch the hearts of the Irish independence movement , but they made the fire swell. In 1916-17 all of the Easter rising prisoners were released in the hopes of restarting home rule negotiations. Many of these prisoners joined the Sinn Fein party and helped lead an extremely popular campaign with the Irish People.
Aftermath of the Easter Rebellion
In 1918, during the parliamentary elections of the United Kingdom, The Sinn Fein won the majority of the Irish seats in Parliament with 73 out of 105 seats. The Sinn fein desired a free Republic of Ireland. The elected members then refused to take their seats in British Parliament. In January 1919. These members met in Dublin to convene an Irish Parliament. This was known as the Dail Eireann and its purpose was to declare an Irish Republic. This meeting happened despite more than half of the Sinn Fein members were imprisoned at the time. This marked the start of the Bloody conflict of the Irish War for Indepenence. |