Book description
On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, a force of Irish men and women
under arms, estimated at between 1,000 and 1,500, attempted to seize
Dublin, with the ultimate intention of bringing to an end British rule
in Ireland and creating an independent Irish republic, to include all
thirty-two counties of Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connaught. Their
leaders, Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, knew that their chances of
success were slight, yet they fought, and paid with their lives. This
book seeks to explain why. Illuminating every aspect of that fateful
Easter week, The Easter Rising is based on an impressive range or
original sources, and has been fully revised and expanded in the light
of hundreds of witness statements only released by the Irish Bureau of
Military History in 2004. It is a vivid description of the
personalities and actions of the leaders on both sides, and provides
an exceptional account of a city at war.
