The Crisis of 1912-14 and the First World War

Chronology

BBC website

I. The Crisis of 1912-14
A. Parliament
   John Redmond (1856-1918)
   Henry Asquith, Liberal PM (1908-1915) [bio]
   Home Rule Bill of 1912
   Parliament Act of 1911

redmond
John Redmond

B. Ulster
   Sir Edward Carson (1854-1935) [bio]
        Ulster Unionist Council [BBC]
        Solemn League and Covenant (Sept 1912) [text]
   Ulster Volunteer Force (1913): approximately 90,000 [BBC]
   Curragh mutiny (1914)
   Larne gunrunning (Apr 1914)
carson
Unionist meeting in Sept 1912; Carson is in the middle.
C.  Nationalists

   Eoin MacNeill (1867-1945) and the Irish National Volunteers (Nov 1913) [BBC]
macneill

   the Irish Republican Brotherhood [BBC]

clarke
Tom Clarke
(1858-1916)
pearse
Patrick Pearse
(1879-1916)
bio
Speech
devalera
Eamon de Valera (1882-1975) [bio]

   Sinn Fein (1905) [BBC]

II. The First World War


  
Home Rule Bill of 1914

Edward Carson and the UVF
      36th (Ulster) Division: 30,000
      Battle of the Somme
  
John Redmond and the INV  

enlistment
      approx. 200,000 Irishmen
      10th and 16th Divisions (predominantly Catholic)
      1,000,000 Dominion troops (13-19% of white male population)
      1,400,000 Indian troops + 50,000 African troops
     
split in the INV

National Volunteers vs. Irish Volunteers (12-15,000)

gunrunning (summer 1914)


casement
Roger Casement


III. The Easter Rising

Pearse's Speech at the Grave of O'Donovan Rossa [text]

James Connolly [bio] and the Irish Citizen Army

Easter Monday, 1916

c. 1800 rebels

dublin


The Proclamation of the Irish Republic, 1916   [clip]

gpo
Dublin GPO, 1916


      

Kilmainham Gaol courtyard 
 

Easter 1916