The Irish in 1916 rebelled against the British Empire. Ireland was near to civil war before World War 1, the majority of
Irishmen demanded Home Rule whereas the minority in Ulster were prepared to resist by force of arms. Virtually all
Irishmen rallied to the defence of Belgium, a small country under threat. Home Rule was suspended for the duration of the war. Irishmen, both Catholic and Protestant, enlisted in the British Army. The Ulster Volunteers were absorbed intact into the British Army, the Red Hand of Ulster became an official military symbol. The Irish Volunteers, claiming their legal rights, were completely ignored. 10,000 Irish Volunteers broke away, sought German assistance through Sir Roger Casement, who was knighted for exposing Belgian crimes against humanity in the Belgian Congo, and made plans for
rebellion.The Aud, a German cargo ship loaded with Mauser rifles, and a German submarine with Sir Casement on board arrived at the South West coast of Ireland, just before Easter 1916. Casement was landed on shore, however, the Aud was scuttled in Cork Harbour when challenged by a British naval vessel. The rising was cancelled, in Dublin, nevertheless, a few leaders were determined to proceed, so 1,000 men turned out, they seized the G.P.O. and declared the Irish Republic. Five days of fighting followed. British guns devastated central Dublin. George Bernard Shaw, the playwright, remarked when he heard 17,000 tenements were destroyed said it was a pity it was not 77,000! On the Friday after Easter the insurgents surrendered. The rebels were unpopular, most people had friends or relatives serving in the British Army. General Maxwell, Commander–in-Chief of the British Army in Ireland, a Scot and fellow Celt, had 15 leaders of the rebellion executed by firing squad, completely turning the general population against the brutality of 700 years of British Rule. Sir Roger Casement was hanged in London. Meanwhile 3,000 Irishmen were sent, without trial, to concentration camps in England. How ironic, when Britain claimed to fight for the liberty of small nations? These internment camps became revolutionary universities where the planned for exit of British Crown Forces from Ireland and the declaration of the Irish Republic in January 1919 led to a military truce, July 1921, and the establishment of the Irish Free State on 22nd January 1922. This Irish success was the model on which other British colonies and dominions sought independence.