Sunday, April 8, 2007

l9l6-2007


Tomorrow is Easter Monday and the 91st anniversary of the Easter Rising in Dublin, which eventually brought forth an independent Irish state. In the words of the balladier,

"Oh the bravest fell, and the requiem bell rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide in the springing of the year
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men, but few
Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew."

As with the Russian revolutions, I doubt the Irish rebels would have had an opportunity to launch this campaign without the reality of a grinding, costly and all-consuming struggle on the western front...they hit the British government at a moment of maximum vulnerability. No Great War, no Communist Russia, and likely no Irish Republic, either, at least not so soon into the 20th century.

2 comments:

german said...

thats true but do or did they ever really stand out and away from british thought on anything serious.i guess what i am trying to say is did they ever disagree with the english on anything that concerned a world issue

moville said...

yes, they did, after independence--prior to that, of course, only individual irish could be heard, certainly no one official dissented. the big moment came in world war II, when the Irish could've contributed troops to the effort, yet remained neutral.

things are different now...everyone is in the EU, the northern ireland problem is on the verge of being solved, and the two nations have a lot of the same problems, like regulating immigration.