How Ireland Became Bitterly Divided | Irish War of Independence

Comments · 1K

• CL

  @ClosedGame75 · 3 months ago

  I lived in Dublin from 2011 to 2013. I&apos;m Danish, and worked there for a big, international company down in the southern part of the city. I&apos;m a historian by education but getting a job in those days in any kind of cultural field was impossible ... the effects of the recession was still going strong, so I got a job where my only needed qualification was &quot;speaking Danish fluently&quot;.<br><br>A few years before the recession, my parents had visited Dublin for a holiday and had brought me home not only a postcard with the speech declaring Irish independence printed on it ... the one Padraig Pearse read aloud on the stairs of the GPO ... but also a book about the Easter Rising itself. A nice, thick volume of history for me to dig my teeth into. <br><br>I was absolutely gobsmacked. Up until that point I knew next to nothing about the Rising. I had a big focus on the First World War, professionally, but the Rising in Ireland was ... a side-note, at best. After all, it didn&apos;t work, did it? <br><br>Then I read the declaration and I sat there, staring at it for an hour afterwards, realising how beautiful the language was ... how elegant and eloquent it was in its wording, for Ireland to take its place amongst the brotherhood of nations. <br><br>FREE nations!<br><br>And then I read the book. <br><br>I realized about five pages in, that if I ever got to see Dublin with my own eyes, I had so many places I had to go, so many things I needed to see, so many stories I needed to hear and learn about. <br><br>When I did move there, I did not forget. I went to Faiche Stiabhna on my second day in the country, map in hand, trying to look for where the trenches had been dug, and figuring out where the tall building that the British had used for sniping positions was located. <br><br>I felt sick to my stomach. The men and women (after all, the Countess Markievicz was very active at the Green) who fought there were in a terrible position, but at the same time, it did need to be held. It was the centre of the city. <br><br>Then I walked down Grafton Street, map still in hand, and towards the GPO. I stood there, watching the bulletholes in the building, and felt my throat constrict. I went inside and saw the damage on the walls there and I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the chaos of holding that position with British forces firing field-guns at it, from up the street.<br><br>It made me shudder. <br><br>Then I went back down O&apos;Connell Street to the eponymous statue, and I realized that one of the Graces that surround the man himself, still had a bullethole straight through one of her breasts. A wound that would have been near instantly fatal if she hadn&apos;t been made of bronze, but flesh and blood. <br><br>At that point, I admit I couldn&apos;t hold back the tears anymore. <br><br>But that was absolutely nothing compared to a week later when I went to Kilmainham Gaol and took the guided tour. It made my knees buckle several times but when we got to the last courtyard, and the little black cross still stands where those Irishmen were shot ... including one of my personal heroes, James Connolly, who was so far gone in fever from septicemia that he had to be tied to a chair for the British to be able to take aim at him (an act so vile and so brutal it finally made a LOT of hitherto &quot;neutral&quot; Irishmen stand up and say &quot;Okay, that&apos;s a step too far! The man was feckin&apos; dyin&apos; already and you still had to drag him there on a stretcher just to shoot him for what? To prove WHAT point, exactly?!&quot; ... <br><br>... when we got there, I broke down in floods of tears. It was way, way too much. It was overwhelming and awful and what was done to those men was wrong. Plain wrong. <br><br>I choose to think that by dying the way he did, James Connolly probably did more for Irish independence than he had managed during his already extraordinary life. <br><br>It is a story of unbounded tragedy ... and unbelievable moral courage and I salute every man and woman who did their bid for Irish independence that day. The British ... or at least the normals ...came over with Richard de Clare, the man known as &quot;Strongbow&quot; by most people who know anything about Irish history or the struggle for independence. <br><br>Ireland was mistreated and languished under eight centuries of a mixture of complete indifference and utter brutality from the English, treated like they were barely human, looked down upon and discriminated against ACTIVELY within the United Kingdom. When the potato famine hit and people started talking about helping the Irish, there were politicians in Whitehall who openly and proudly took the stance that &quot;the world will be a better place with a few million Irishmen less in it!&quot; <br><br>It is a country of about four and a half million people, who in the year 1800 had a census taken, where there were NINE million people living on the Island. <br><br>Not many countries half their population in 226 years. But mass emigration and the famine ... and being used as canon-fodder by the British army in any war they felt they needed to fight for whatever imperialist BS reason ... that&apos;ll do it.<br><br>I love that island. I love the people there. I have seen few places as stunningly beautiful as what I have seen all over that place. <br><br>I&apos;ve sat on the Hills of Tara in late summer, early autumn as the sun went down and FELT the place. Really felt it. <br><br>Every single person who picked up his or her weapon or equipment and took part on that Easter Monday until it came to an end is a hero, and deserve to be remembered as such. <br><br>Every single one of them.

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• SY

  @SynapseDriven · 3 years ago

  Ireland didnt become divided, it was divided.

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• EI

  @eivorthewolfkissed7672 · 3 years ago

  Oliver Cromwell must really hate these types of documentary

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• HJ

  @HJRsa · 2 years ago

  Ireland And &nbsp;South Africa forever &nbsp;WITHOUT the violence and hatred. &nbsp;☝️🙌😢❤

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• TH

  @thomasseery7570 · 3 years ago

  Erin Go Bragh ! One day we shall be free !!! 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

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• ST

  @stevebrindle1724 · 3 years ago

  I am English, of working-class background and I have visited Ireland many times. I love the Irish people and hate the UK ruling class probably even more than the Irish Republicans do! Please do not tar all of us with the same brush. God bless the Irish people and I hope one day the whole of Ireland is united as one country ruling itself! James Connolly is one of my heroes!

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• IN

  @insiderreality491 · 2 years ago

  Great to see a proper documentary that doesn’t treat the north like some shadow in the background that get a passing mention. Most people in the south don’t even know Connolly lived in Belfast, Larkin, Jack White and Casement were very active in Belfast and Clarke was a Tyrone man. Jack White, although maybe not a main character needs recognition for his very colourful life. He was the Protestant opposition to Carson and helped firm the Irish volunteers, campaigned to help Connolly when captured and even fought the fascists in Spain.

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• GE

  @geoffburnett4211 · 2 years ago

  Being English you dont get told the other side of the story. Thank you for the insight

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• IR

  @irish.Andykáne · 3 years ago

  Let the people sing ☘️

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• LC

  @lc9462 · 2 years ago

  Erin Go Bragh 💜💜💜💜💜

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• RI

  @ricardomcmahon5658 · 3 years ago (edited)

  Iv seen loads of YouTube videos about the early 1900s in Ireland but this video explains it better than them all..thank you...😊

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• PO

  @PonderingDolphin · 3 years ago

  Fantastic content , excellent quality and incredibly informative

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