h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Would really like your ineffable critques on my first serious guide entry,because you are so ...cool...and stuff.....*ticks flattery from his list*

anyhoo found at A3815200,wanted some advice before PR.

Well done, it was a very informative piece on a subject I've been interested in, I saw the film Michael Collins which started at the end of the easter Uprising so it's nice to know the 'Other Side' if you know what I mean

The only thing I can recommend is that you run it through a Spell and Grammer Checker, I did notice quite a few spelling mistakes, punctuation mistakes and the like

Be warned they can be VERY pedantic in Peer Review, I always feel like I'm back at school

Are you going to do one about the following years with Michael Collins and Eamon DeValera taking over the struggle?

*wipes virtual sweat from his virtual forehead*

Thanks.As for the spell checker I'll try to do it.

I hope to write a bit of a series about 1916-1922.

If you want I'll do the spell checking it's easy enough to do

I'll look forward to the 1916-1922 piece

I'm throwing my toys out of the pram in Peer review at the moment, pedantic lot are going on about my punctuation (or lack of it) I pointed out it never bothered Jack Kerouac so why are they being so fussy about it

If you could run the spell check it would be mucho appreciated.

As to punctuation I will qoute Byron "To be used when required,and discarded when in a sensible mood"

I hate pedantic people

Ok I copied this straight off the guide entry so you are going to have to tinker with it for it to go back into Guide ML, my checker wouldn't let the Gaelic spellings through so I ignored them, the final bits with the numbers are the footnotes

Here it is

The 1916 Easter Rising




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A Quick Summary

The Easter Rising took place on the 24th of April 1916.A republican organization, the IRB, had incited a rising in Dublin of about 1,600 rebels. The rising was quickly crushed by Crown Forces. The handling of the rebels however created mass sympathy.
The consequences of this rebellion are still felt in Irish and International politics.
The Main Players

The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB)

This was a secret oath bound organization that would only be content with an armed struggle against the British forces. The IRB infiltrated several other Gaelic Revivalist organisations like the Gaelic Athletic Association(GAA),Gaelic League, Cumman na mBan and the Irish Volunteer Forces(IVF)1,through these they recruited young men and women to join they're cause.
Irish Volunteer Force

This body was formed to protect the indoctrination of Home Rule into Ireland in 19142, after another organisation in Northern Ireland, the UVF, vowed to destroy home rule. This was a militant organisation which became disillusioned with the Democratic system as Home Rule wasn’t introduced in 1914.
The Irish Citizens Army

This was another militant republican faction but one which leant more towards Marxism and socialism. It was founded during the 1913 lockout to protect the trade unionists. Its founder and leader was James Connolly.3He was still viewed by many working class people with equal amounts of suspicion and admiration. The citizen army never matched the IVF in numbers4but it still formed a core part of the rising
Séin Féin

Although they took no part what so ever in 1916 they got associated with it because newspapers, magazines and even the British government referred to the rising as the "Séin Féin Rising".Its leader, Arthur Griffith was thrown in jail for suspected involvement.
The British Army

The British army was not very numerous in Dublin at the time. Quite a few of the 20,000 soldiers were Irishmen. For this reason, and because of the widespread destruction of property, at first the rebels were hated by the ordinary Irish person
Planning a Rising

In 1915 the IRB set up a Military Council to draw up plans for a rebellion using the IVF. The council included Thomas Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada, Thomas McDonagh, Joseph Mary Plunkett, Eaoman Ceannt and Páidrig Pearse. One noticeable absent person was the commander in chief and founder of the IVF Eoin Mac Neill, the IRB knew that he would never allow an all out rebellion.
In January of 1916, the IRB learned that James Connolly was beginning to plan a rebellion of his own with The Irish Citizen Army. They "kidnapped" him and asked him to join their rebellion...understandably he did.
The IRB had managed to get Germany to pledge 20,000 rifles and bullets for them for the rebellion, to be landed at Inch strand in Co. Kerry one week prior to the rebellion.
On Wednesday of holy week, the IRB forged a letter from Dublin Castle5, known as the "Castle Document", that ordered the execution of Eoin Mac Neil, they showed this to Mac Neil who then was very easily persuaded to give an order to the IVF "To resist any British action against them".This was the order that the IRB needed to go ahead with the rebellion.
Meanwhile the German ship the "Aud" was intercepted by the Royal Navy. The captain6 scuttled the ship. The 20,000 rifles and their bullets were lost and the rebellion had no chance of succeding.7
On Holy Thursday things went from bad to worse, Mac Neill realised that the "Castle Document" was a fake! He put and advertisement in the Irish Independent which told all IVF members that "No parades, marches or other movements of the volunteers will take place"
This cancellation caused the IRB to move back the rebellion one day to Easter Monday 24th of April 1916.All the leaders realised that they were going to die, they still went ahead with it so that it "May inspire future generations".
The Rising

On the 24th of April Easter Monday 1,600 IVF and Citizen Army personnel took over several key buildings in Dublin. The plan was simple, hold of the British for as long as possible. The buildings they took over included, the four courts, Bolands mills, Jacobs biscuit factory, the Royal College of surgeons, the Mendacity Institute and most famously the GPO (General Post Office).8
Pearse and Connolly read out "The Proclamation of The Republic" on the steps of the GPO, to a small crowd of bemused Dubliners. The Tri colour was raised over the GPO...the rising had started.
The British Response

The British government in Ireland was shocked by the rebellion, the capture of the Aud and the cancellation order of Mac Neills had sent them into false sense of security. More than that. There were only 2,000 soldiers in the Dublin area. Quickly viscous street battles occurred on the streets of Dublin. Often these were viewed upon as a kind of spectator sport by the public, which would applaud at a particularly good shot or boo at bad tactics. One of the most famous tales is of 9 volunteers holding off 3 battalions of British troops while being applauded by particularly brave spectators. Within 2 days there were 20,000 British soldiers in Dublin9 and a gun boat, called "Helga", was sailed up the Liffey and had started to shell rebel positions. Most of the centre of Dublin was ruined, especially around the Sackville street area.10
On Thursday the GPO was evacuated as the roof had caught fire due to incendiary shells. Seeing the terrible devastation, Pearse soon ordered the surrender of the IVF and Citizen Army. By Saturday the rising was over.
Retaliation

British Army Commander General Maxwell, obviously feeling betrayed by this act of treason in the "Home Isles", was determined to show the rebels no mercy. Military courts were opened; men and women were sentenced to death.
The executions began with:
3rd-May Pearse, McDonagh and Clarke.
4th-May Willie Pearse, Paidrig Pearse's brother who had no part in the rising, he was executed. Joseph Mary Plunkett hours after his marriage, in Kilmainim Gaol Chapel, to his fiancé. Edward Daly and Michael Hanrahan were also shot.
5th May-John MacBride.
8thM ay-Two innocent men Corneileus Colbert and Sean Heuston were shot along with Eamon Ceannt and Michael Mallin
9th May-Thomas Kent
12th May-James Connolly had been severely wounded in the GPO in the leg. During his stay in jail it had gone gangrenous due to the lack of medical care. When his execution day arrived he was taken from his death bed, tied to a chair and shot. He was delirious from his wound and didn't really know what was going on.
75 others were sentenced to death.
Countess Markievicz11 and Eamon DeVelera were acquitted of their death sentences. Markievicz because she was married to a polish count, DeValera because he had an American passport.12
Public Reaction

At the beginning the vast majority hated the rebels, opinion changed very rapidly soon afterwards for a number of reasons
1) The execution of a crippled Connolly generated widespread sympathy
2)3,500 people were arrested even though only 1,600 people took part in the rebellion
3) The British army maintained marshal law and a curfew for a very long time
4) Arthur Griffith, leader of Séin Féin was thrown jail for suspected involvement, even though he had no part in it
The Risings Implications

It inspired a whole new generation of republicans. The Likes Michael Collins were junior officers in 1916 soon became the leaders of the War of Independence. Sein Fein grew greatly in popularity; in contrast the Home Rule party lost most of its seats in the next elections.
An Opinion

1916 was a bloody mess. The death of hundreds of men for a rebellion that was badly planed badly executed and badly supplied. A frontal assault on the might of the British forces was suicide. Another group will say that it was a glorious sacrifice.
"Now and in time to be,
Whenever green is worn,
A changed, changed utterly,
A terrible beauty is born"-W.B. Yeats, Easter, 1916

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Most of the leaders of the IVF were IRB by the time of the rising
2 Home Rule was never put in place because of WW1
3 He also founded the first Irish trade union, the ITGWU and co-founded, with "Big Jim" James Larkin, the Labour Party
4 IVF had 150,000 at its peak although most of these had enlisted with British army after the Home Rule party leader, John Redmond, told them to "Join the cause of small countries", roughly 11,000 IVF were left by 1916
5 The British administrative building in Ireland
6 Karl Spindler
7 When the Aud was intercepted, the Irish representative was captured. He was Sir Rodger Casement who was later executed, partly because of his involvement in the rising, partly because of his blatant homosexuality
8 bullet holes can still be found on the walls of the GPO
9 A lot of them Irish, some former volunteers
10 Now O'Connell Street
11 The 1st female elected to a parliament and Minister for labour in the first Dáil
12 He was born on a boat crossing the Atlantic to America. He was half Irish, half Spanish and had an American passport

Also igrone the what is h2 etc etc I thought I'd deleted that bit sorry

That looked like that waisted a lot of time.

Thanks a million though.

To use Cork slang,"Your sound out".

Thanks

It did take that long

Well its in,and with good reviews so far *keeps fingers,toes,eyes,ears,and knees crossed*

Ooh I'll have a look