The Irish Revolution, 1916-1923 by Marie Coleman Read Free Book Online Page A

‘bloodshed is a cleansing and sanctifying thing’. However, the notion that his main aim in planning the Rising was to sacrifice himself to advance the cause of Ireland ignores the in-depth planning undertaken by the military council. Pearse was serious about trying to mount a rebellion for reasons other than a mere symbolic blood sacrifice and the decision to proceed with the doomed insurrection stemmed more from the view that ‘action was preferable to inaction’ (McGarry, 2010: 52, 96, 101).

    Mobilisation orders were dispatched to units of the Dublin Brigade of the Volunteers to assemble on Easter Monday, but the confusion between these and MacNeill's order resulted in only about 1,600 Volunteers assembling for the delayed insurrection (Augusteijn, 2010: 308). Mobilisation was slow on Monday morning. Aside from the confusion generated by MacNeill's and Pearse's contradictory orders, some Volunteers overslept, some were at the big race meeting in Fairyhouse where the Irish Grand National was being held, while others feared the consequences of taking part in a futile exercise that was doomed to fail (McGarry, 2010: 126–8; Townshend, 2005: 153–4). Nevertheless, by about noon the rebels had occupied the buildings they had targeted. The main garrison was based in the General Post Office (GPO) on Sackville (now O’Connell) Street, Dublin's main thoroughfare, and consisted of a mixture of Volunteers and ICA commanded by Pearse and Connolly.
    The four Dublin City battalions of the Volunteers occupied different geographical zones of the city. Ned Daly's First Battalion was based at the Four Courts on the north-west quays and covered the surrounding areas including North King Street, Church Street and the North Dublin Union (the Richmond Hospital). Approximately 130 men of the Third Battalion under Eamon de Valera occupied Boland's Mills and also seized Westland Row railway station. A similar sized force, led by Eamonn Ceannt, took the 50-acre South Dublin Union site (now St James's Hospital) along with the Jameson Distillery in Marrowbone Lane and the surrounding streets. The last unit, Thomas MacDonagh's Second Battalion, had intended to cover the area north-east of the city around Fairview, but much of it was redeployed back to the city centre and remained in occupation of the Jacob's factory south of the river on Bishop Street. The bulk of the ICA, which was unaffected by MacNeill's countermanding order and as such mobilised to near its full strength, took up positions in St Stephen's Green, a 22-acre public park (Townshend, 2005: 165–80).
    A number of factors explain the choice of these locations. With regard to the Volunteers they largely remained within their own localities. The positions were strategically located near important transport depots. The Four Courts garrison was close to Broadstone railway station, the terminus for the trains from Athlone, where the army's artillery was housed. The original location of MacDonagh's Second Battalion included Amiens Street (now Connolly) Station, the base for the Dublin–Belfast railway service, while the South Dublin Union was close to the terminus for southern trains at Kingsbridge (now Heuston) Station. Yet, the only battalion to seize a railway station was de Valera's, which occupied Westland Row. Daly's and MacDonagh's failure to take Broadstone and Amiens Street made it much easier for the army to respond quickly by bringing reinforcements from Belfast and 18-pound field guns from Athlone that were crucial to the quelling of the rebellion.These failures were possibly due to inadequate manpower, rather than poor strategic planning. The four city locations might also have been chosen to give the Volunteers a good vantage point to cover the four main army barracks within the city limits, Richmond, Portobello, Marlborough and the Royal (Townshend, 2005: 153–83; Hayes-McCoy, 1969: 260–1).
    The non-occupation of the principal railway stations was compounded by the