Rebels : the Irish Rising of 1916

by Peter de Rosa

Rebels tells the exciting story of Easter 1916, a key date in the history of Irish Republicanism. The IRA always claim their authority comes from the martyred heroes of 1916. This book will enable the reader to judge finally whether this claim is true or not.

Genres: History, Ireland, Nonfiction, Irish Literature, Politics, War, 20th Century

536 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

De Rosa is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, focusing on Catholic and Irish history. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1956 but left the priesthood in 1970, after which he became a Staff Producer for the BBC and then a full-time writer. After living for thirty years in County Wicklow, Ireland, Peter now lives in Bournemouth, England.

Reviews

[Josh Graml · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book feels like one of those really good HBO miniseries. It's got a compelling story, a cast of weird and fantastic characters and is set in a suitably alien, but still familiar-enough, era. First World War era Dublin really does come alive as band of Irish revolutionaries debate, fight amongst themselves, and finally rise up against the English establishment. Fascinating, stuff. While the book is technically non-fiction, de Rosa does have a habit of conjuring up dialogue among the characters, making the book feel and read more like a novelization based heavily on fact. The Easter Rising comes alive. Highly recommended.

[Frédéric · Rating 1 out of 5]

Endless boring and would-be lyrical extrapolated details. No focus, no style.
All the interest I have in the topic isn't enough to justify that I should go to the end of this drag.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the Easter Rising... a bit cumbersome though as a result of the sheer amount of detail - on people, places, events - but bravo to de Rosa for pulling so many threads into one. A good read for those interested in Irish history.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hankin Peter de Rosan "Rebels : the Irish Rising of 1916" (Poolpeg, 2000) -teoksen hyllyyni käydessäni joitakin vuosia sitten Dublinissa. Kiinnostuin reissulla Irlannin historiasta ja etenkin maan itsenäistymiselle pohjaa luoneesta pääsiäiskapinasta vuona 1916.

Peter De Rosa kuvaa historiallisia tapahtumia dokumenttiromaanin keinoin, eli kuvaa historiallista tapahtumaketjua kaunokirjallisuuden keinoin.

Faktat ovat kunnossa ja lähdeteoksia löytyy kirjan lopusta useamman sivullisen verran. Niinpä pääsiäiskapinan vaiheita kuvataan tarkasti, teoksen alkupuolella ehkä vähän turhankin yksityiskohtaisesti. Suomalaiselle lukijalle ongelmia tuottaa myös henkilöhahmojen määrä, tai ainakin itse huomasin pariin otteeseen miettiväni, kenestä nyt oikein puhutaankaan.

Peter de Rosa kirjoittaa kiinnostavasti ja kunhan kirja pääsee vauhtiin, sitä lukee vallan mielellään, olkoonkin että teoksen sävy on hetkittäin vähän turhankin ylevä ja mahtipontinen kuvatessaan Patrick Pearsen, James Connellyn, Michael O'Rahillyn ja muiden kapinan johtajien viimeisiä vaiheita.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning

As I read this book I have finally come to understand the views expressed by those of an anti British view. How stupid the English can be and the clearly oppressive treatment of Irish people compared with others opposed to British rule is incredible. Although from a British background in Northern Ireland I now completely understand how the views of the people changed with the executions. Why England treated Ireland as their backyard I will never understand. That air of disrespect continues to this day I find in dealing with people"from the mainland". Highly recommended this book to anyone trying to comprehend the history of that particular sad period in the history of Ireland.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great! In 1916, a division of the Irish Brotherhood decided it was time to mount a rebellion. They hoped that their actions would inspire the rest of the nation to rise up as well. It was an event that I had heard of and knew the basics. This book took it on a whole new level.

The author tries to give as much of all the key players - both on the Irish side and the British. It got very confusing. I didn't love the first part of the book because I kept getting lost with all the names. I found that looking at the pictures of each person while I read their sections helped.

I did learn a lot of new things - I didn't know that they attempted to work with the Germans as they viewed Britain as both of their enemies. I didn't know all the details about the days of the siege. You could feel their heartbreak as the rest of the country didn't rise to revolt and even turned against them.

But the author made it very first person so you felt the pain and the struggle. The author did a lot of research. I think that this is a book that would do better on multiple reads and it was interesting enough that I would want to read it again.

[Barksdale Penick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I expected more of a historical overview. This book is very detailed and seems to covers all the events of the 1916 Irish rebellion, from the ground up. Many chapters go back and forth in paragraphs between the English and Irish sides, and I had the impression that the author assumed the reader would remember all these names. I jut flowed along and could tell which side what which, but little idea whether a particular name was on one side or the other. There is very detailed coverage of the house to house fighting that took place as the English mopped up the rebels, but many died on each side. I don't know Dublin and had little idea of the locations of most of the action, so I didn't really get very much out of all that except that the rebels were brave and doomed.

The book's coverage of the build-up to the uprising doesn't jump back and forth as much, and it is interesting to red how the Germans tried to send arms to the rebels. But it again goes into too much detail for my level of interest. I think the most interesting part was reading how the English (and American) public recoiled against the executions carried out after the war, saying that the English treated the Irish worse than prisoners of war. I would have assumed in the midst of the Great War, English sentiment could only favor the harshest treatment to those conspiring with the Germans, but many executions were commuted, including that of Eamon de Valera, who became Prime Minister when the Irish state was portioned.

So all in all a little too much detail, but certainly quite readable.

[Luthien · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Ireland’s history is something the English should remember and the Irish should forget.

A monumental undertaking, Rebels attempts to tell the story of nearly every major player (and some minor ones) involved in the Easter Rising of 1916, in which a few thousand men took up arms in Dublin and declared Ireland to be a republic independent of the British Empire. It begins at the end–readers know going in that the rebel leaders’ ultimate fate is a tragic one–and circles back around, starting two years before the Rising when it was little more than a pipe dream and following the planning process to its dramatic and disastrous conclusion.

This book’s high Goodreads rating made me select it as the Easter Rising account I would read to mark the hundredth anniversary of the rising itself (April 24-29). Alas, I think I would do a bit more digging if I could choose again. I’m not as critical as this New York Times review, but I see where they were coming from.

Peter de Rosa is an academic, but not a historian; perhaps for that reason, his book reads like a novel, with lots of dialogue–most of which, I must assume, is fictitious; educated guesses regarding of what was actually said (and felt…and thought) by the principal actors in this drama. That was the book’s supreme downfall. I don’t necessarily want something dry and dull, but instead of being readable like a novel, Rebels was shot through with so many characters, so many events, so much everything–I got bogged down (rather than caught up) in all of it.

I started this book on St. Patrick’s Day, thinking that would give me plenty of time to finish it by the 100th anniversary. It did, but only just. Dear God, is it ever slow, slow, slow. I crawled through it, in part because I read other things in the meantime and in part because of the bogging down I mentioned earlier. Only skimming and force of will carried me through the last half of Rebels in a week.

The Easter Rising is a compelling tale, and I can hardly blame de Rosa for making characters out of the likes of Patrick Pearse, the dreamy, idealistic schoolmaster whose brainchild the Rising was, or of James Connolly, the rough-and-tumble socialist warrior. The problem was, he made characters out of all of them, introducing even the most minor figure in great detail, even if that person was rarely to be mentioned again. There were so many names that I stopped bothering to go back and double-check who they were, choosing to simply glean what I could from any given passage and keep reading instead.

The sections about the Rising itself and the aftermath of it were the tightest, most focused, and therefore the most effective parts of the book. Prior to that, I also thought de Rosa did a good job telling the story of the Aud, the disguised German steamer that carried arms to Ireland–only to be discovered by the British, further dooming the out-manned, outgunned rebels. And I did very much care for the leaders and their families by the end–for the Pearse bothers, for Connolly and his army of children; for the sickly Joe Plunkett, married in prison to his sweetheart Grace mere hours before his execution; for all the recklessly, selflessly brave men and women who rose up against impossible odds to end centuries of oppressive foreign rule.

I only wish the author had taken a few steps back reconsidered his approach before he began writing.

From a history book like this, dealing with a topic about which I have little background knowledge, I want a clear, concise narrative. I want facts and analysis, not guessed-at feelings and dialogue. However, I do feel like I understand the Easter Rising better after having read this, though it took a long time and a lot of effort and a lot of reading in between the lines. And though I don’t care for de Rosa’s style, he clearly did a great deal of research and felt that he came to know these people as people. (This is, of course, a detriment to his actual writing, since he makes a lot of assumptions and judgments in the narrative.) There’s a lot of heart in this book. So for those two reasons, I’m giving Rebels three and a half stars.

For all the troubles and bloodshed in Ireland since the Rising happened a century ago, I do hope that Pearse and the rest, wherever they are, know that their dream of an independent Irish Republic did, eventually, become a reality. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty, and it’s still not perfect–but it’s real. In that way, I suppose their story–tragic as it is–has a happy ending after all.

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an appropriate read in this centennial anniversary year of this uprising, and it took on special poignancy in light of my visit to Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland last month. It is well-researched but is written with quite a bit of literary flair, and probably a bit of license as well, but the overall effect is cinematographic, as the author moves briskly from scene to scene, jumping from one mini-drama to another rather than narrating the events in historian's style, chronologically or topically. Were it not for the events that dominated Ireland in the early part of the next decade, the events of 1916 would seem almost pathetic, an ill-timed and poorly organized attempt at an insurrection that was doomed by lack of organization and popular support. As it happened, and thanks in no small part to the decision of British General Maxwell to execute more than a dozen of the rebellion's leaders within a few days of their defeat, the rebellion of 1916 blew the always smouldering embers of Irish resentment of British occupation into an inferno that cleared the way for the establishment of the Poblacht Na hEireann and the partition of the island. Most poignant of all though are the stories of the brave men and women who risked and in many cases sacrificed their lives on behalf of an effort they knew was doomed to fail, at least at first. That Connolly, McDermott, Kent, Plunkett, Clarke, and all the others are now revered in national lore does nothing to gainsay the extraordinary courage of conviction and of national destiny that motivated them to take on the might of empire. Most heartbreaking perhaps was the fate of Roger Casement, humanitarian and case study of how to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That he too is celebrated and revered in Ireland today does nothing to dispel the sense of sorrow one feels at his lonely and disgraced fate.

[Sangria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, every time I hear someone in politics cry white privilege I think "no Irish need apply" so much across the pond even led to this & was financed by a lot of Irish Americans. Fascinating read for anyone who enjoys history. I honestly would make this required reading in schools considering St. Patrick's Day is celebrated here and many of Americans have such a special relationship with our homeland.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. It epitomizes what Princess Leia said to General Tarkin "The more you squeeze the more systems will slip through your fingers. " To put it more bluntly the English suppressed the 1916 uprising but lost the war.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read many books about the leaders and times of 1916 Ireland but this is among the best. Melded it all together for me. Credulous dialogue of participants.

[Andy Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andy's review

Downloaded this because of the price and I have Irish blood - my paternal grandfather came from County Donegal - and I found it riveting.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Rebels” is the story of the men and women who saw in England’s War Ireland’s Opportunity and who planned, debated and carried out the Easter Rising of 1916. It depicts the Rising as more complex, more ambiguous and even more tragic than works and sites focusing merely on the rising in Dublin. It shows a conspiracy, and I use that in a non-pejorative sense, extending across Ireland and even to the ministries in Berlin.

The plan was for military forces across Ireland supplied weapons and ammunition by Germany to rise in so many areas that the British would be unable to divert enough men from the Western Front to suppress the rebellion, leaving them no choice but to grant Ireland its independence. As occurred in a long line of Irish rebellions the pieces did not fall into place. The 20,000 rifles the Germans had captured from the Russians were scuttled, the Rising was delayed from Easter then cancelled, but still a remnant in Dublin, seeing a failed rising as better than none at all, rose on Easter Monday. Resented by many in Dublin and throughout Ireland, their positions were gradually forced to surrender and their leaders shot by their British captors. Over time the reckless Rebels of 1916 would become the patriots whose brash, quixotic rebellion would be the catalyst that would spur the birth of an independent Ireland.

The characters are many and well developed. Sir Roger Casement, the Irish humanitarian, knocked on all available doors in search of German aid to Ireland’s cause, ultimately securing a shipment of the ill-fated Russian rifles. Patrick Pearse, the headmaster of St. Enda’s Irish-speaking school, thought Ireland’s freedom could only be won through a blood sacrifice. Joseph Plunkett, the tubercular poet who left his sick bed to answer the call to General Post Office, died by firing squad, but only after marrying his fiancée, Grace Gifford, the night before in Kilmainham Gaol. James Connolly, the Marxist trade unionist, saw all capitalists as enemies but especially those of the British empire who had enslaved Ireland. Tom Clarke, the tobacconist, had been a member of the underground Irish Republican Brotherhood since 1878. Eamon deValera, the New York born mathematics teacher, would escape execution, probably because of his U.S. citizenship. Countess Markievicz, the upper class convert to socialism, Irish nationalism and Catholicism took her place at St. Stephen’s Green but was denied her chance to die for Ireland due to her gender and social standing. Their tales are tragically brutal and comically civilized. Among the latter are the Volunteers who commandeered a tram at gun-point, and then paid their fare and the truce to permit the superintendent of St. Stephen’s Green to feed the ducks.

Although I had read about the Rising before, I gained a much deeper understanding of the nuances of goals and means, motives and loyalties and savage fighting amidst intense religious fervor. I recommend “Rebels” to anyone with an interest in the Easter Rising or who plans to tour in Ireland as this seminal event in the long road to Irish freedom.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know much about the Irish Rising in 1916, other than seeing the bullet holes that still stand on the big post office building on O'Connell Street in Dublin. It was an interesting history and drew more parallels to the poor doomed young men in Les Miserable than I had previously known. Rebels is certainly biased in favor of the Sinn Feiners, but doesn't shy away from critiques of their naive and blind faith that the rest of Ireland was with them. The lead-up to the Easter Rebellion was a little boring, but the author's style made the battle and the aftermath of the battle especially sad and heartbreaking. Spoiler alert: it's a lot of death, including Dubliners who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

de Rosa described this book as "faction," and he certainly takes some liberties with his prose to the point of questioning his reliability as historian. Did the Countess really talk that way? He says that one of the American Irish figures had the tenacity of a Philadelphia lawyer, a comparison that I didn't know was a thing but made me laugh out loud. It was an overall enjoyable read, and a nice break from the fiction that I always read.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rising takes place during a time of political tension and Britain’s reluctance to implement Home Rule under the Government of Ireland Act 1914 because of the outbreak of WW1 and the tension caused by the question of military conscription. Home Rule had been a live issue in British politics for nearly 100yrs. Previous to that there had been the Dublin Lockout in 1913 which was put down by considerable police brutality. At first the Rising had little public support: the book opens with Irish women complaining about the inconvenience to their benefits: They received a Separation Allowance and old soldiers received a Service Pension and Old Age Pension and lastly the St Patrick’s Day marches caused major traffic jams. Later, however, public opinion shifted and the executed leaders were hailed as martyrs.

I enjoyed the flow of the book but subtracted a star because the maps did not display all the places cited and I felt that the last Chapter, after the Battle was too long on glorification of the Rebels and their subsequent martyrdom in contrast to the more concise vignettes or observations of the previous chapters.

[Edward Boyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't worth your time. de Rosa easily loses the reader by not being clear who is on what side, where the various locations are, and he quickly skips around trying to stay close to chronology in a very confusing way. He makes it sound like the Irish rebels are extremely religious, making their Easter duty (which he doesn't explain), saying rosaries, etc. while the English are bloodthirsty. Funny since in reality many of the English troops were actually Irish. If you know the story then you can make sense of this, and if you are Green, which I am, you will feel like you are on the only right side, and if you don't mind boredom, which exists for almost half the book, you'll be happy. Again, this work isn't worth your time and I'm sure there are better accounts of the Easter uprising out there.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author gives a detailed, chronological account of his best effort I feel at being honest throughout. At times he employs empathy to infer the motivations of the key players, but places the events into the context of the time to provide justification.

I don't know if it's possible to be impartial on this topic, but with him being an English man long living in Ireland, he makes a decent stab. He doesn't demonise one faction nor the other, but at the same time he allows the actions of certain individuals to exposed to the glare of future reader's gaze.

I cannot give a historical account five stars without knowing for a fact that everything is correct (hmm...who can). Fours stars when I feel the research is thorough & and the motivation honest.

In short, the book is probably even more authentic than Julia Robert's Irish accent in 'Michael Collins'.

[Tim.Larocco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very engaging and unique book. There was insight into private conversations (and even private thoughts) that I have to believe de Rosa took some literary imagination with--or else was incredibly endowed with source material over the years between the Easter Rising and when Rebels was published.

It read like a mix between an historical fiction novel and an historical play-by-play account of the weeks leading up to the rising, the rising itself, and the executions in the days after Maxwell put the rising down.

I enjoyed reading it and felt very attached to the characters towards the end and why they were fighting. If you know your history, you know how this story ends. There was a great quote on the cover from a critic who wrote (paraphrasing): "A mix of tragedy and comedy that is the hallmark of Irish history." -- So true.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much bias and too much caricature.

Difficult to give this book an accurate rating, as history it's between a one and a two star, as a novel portrayal of events it's a readable three star.
If you are going to read this to understand what the events of 1916 mean to Irish history, then don't. There are far better books out there that will give you a much better understanding of the who, what, and why. They will also be without the bias and ridiculous caricatures of the participants.
However, if you are looking for "history lite", then "Rebels" is a perfectly entertaining read and will not disappoint.

[R. Reddebrek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough and yet thrilling history of a very confusing week in Irish history. The Easter Rising has become a myth in Ireland and largely ignored in Britain so its hard to find an account that covers all the angles as it were.

Rosa's layout gives all the main participants their say and an account of their conduct and attitudes as the political situation kept pivoting almost daily. A good portion of the text is dedicated to the lives of Dublin civilians caught up in the fighting, the most often overlook people in this event. Well worth reading for an overview of that week and some of the preparations that went into to it, materially and ideologically.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A factual book written in a way that creates interest in the major phases of the 1916 Dublin uprising. The effort to get German support for weapons and Irish POWs was new to someone like me who has little background in the subject. The actual uprising is intense and covers the major points of action. The aftermath and British response is covered in how the British overreact and manage to turn initial sympathy against them. The style makes it a page turner. However, Kindle version is rife with editing errors and misspelling so not quite a 5 star effort. Worth a read if you have interest in that time.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s history in it, but it’s mostly fiction. I’ll have to read a great deal more about the period and the people to have any idea whether de Rosa’s characterizations are anywhere near accurate and his dialogue anything more than the fruit of imagination. I confess that I can put but little credence in the utterances of the historical figures as presented and I put no credence at all in de Rosa’s exploration of their thoughts. The book is stirring in its own way - lovely theater - but only if the reader can suspend every shred of disbelief.

[Delia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best written historical narratives I've ever read. Having visited Dublin twice, I was able to visit the GPO and Kilmainham Jail and walk along the streets that saw intense action during the rising. Reading this superb account of the Easter Rising puts me back in Ireland, peeking through the cell that once held Grace Plunkett or staring at the markers in the courtyard where the leaders of the rebellion were executed. I hope to go back someday, glad to know I have a better understanding of her history.

[Jamie Calladine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cracking book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Yes I did possess an interest in Irish history and the Easter Rising which certainly helped for the opening chapter that dealt primarily with the context on the Rising and its earliest whisperings. After persevering through the early sections which included a lot of name-dropping the later sections were brilliantly written and with a unique style that reads more like a spy novel (obvious potential for some slight inaccuracies but overall true to the facts). Stick with it, this book is certainly worth it!

[Tamara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to admit that I wasn't able to finish this book. I started and stopped it several times but I just couldn't finish. I love Irish history and I have read a lot of books on the subject. Mostly what made this book so hard for me was that I got 200 pages in and the book was still mostly focused on the German part of the Irish rebellion. While I appreciate that the Germans are part of this story, I was looking forward to learning more of the Irish rebellion, not a German wartime action.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gets bogged down in military detail that is uninteresting to me, and takes a lot of leaps into the interority of its subjects that I do not like in nonfiction. But the last section, which covers the last few days of the leaders of the Rebellion and their wives, mothers, and sisters coming to say goodbyes and deal with the aftermath of the Rising, is beautifully rendered and a lovely correction to the way women and children’s stories are often erased from historical narratives

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Something of a hagiography for the Irish participants

Well written but the Irish volunteers are all gallant heroes who can do do no wrong, and the forces of the crown servants of darkness. A more balanced narrative would have been better

[Peter Jeffrey]

Required reading

For all British subjects……not pleasant to read, but then any war can’t be easy reading. This is hard going and a credit to the research of the author, what the British have done to the Irish over the years is quite unbelievable.

[Yoly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

Pude aprender bastante de la historia de Irlanda. Es bastante específico pero no aburre.

Algunas partes se sienten densas, pero no imposibles de leer.

Creo que un resumen de los nombres y personajes al principio del libro hubiese sido de gran ayuda.