To What Extent Was the Failure of the Easter Rising Due To Internal Divisions?

... TO WHAT EXTENT WAS THE FAILURE OF THE EASTER RISING DUE TO INTERNAL DIVISIONS? The Easter Rising of 1916 had profound and far-reaching effects on Ireland's subsequent history. It has been referred to as "The Irish War of Independence" and was the pivotal event in ultimately securing independence for the Republic of Ireland. Hindsight has its defects as well as its advantages. Because the 1916 rising has lodged itself so firmly in the mythology of Irish revolution it has been easy to regard it as inevitable. But it was far from inevitable. Apart altogether from the internal divisions among the leaders which almost paralysed it at the start, the conditions precedent for a truly national insurrection were simply not in evidence. This was the point above all others that Macneill had tried to drive into the heads of his colleagues when in February 1916 he set down on paper the pros

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