The Easter Rising of 1916
During World War I, Irish citizens had to choose between helping the British and French defeat Germany and working to undermine the British government for the sake of an independent Irish Republic. Leaders of the independence movement planned to challenge British authority, which they assumed was stretched thin by the war. From April 24 to 30, 1916, the Irish Republican Brotherhood conducted an armed uprising in Dublin that became known as the Easter Rising. Unfortunately for the IRB, the Great War had not distracted the British government from events in Ireland. The British deployed 16,000 troops and a naval gunboat to combat about 1,200 Irish rebels. The week of fighting left 450 people killed and 2,000 wounded. After the failed uprising, many leaders of the Irish independence movement joined Sinn Féin, which won elections in 1917 and 1918 that led to the Irish War for Independence from 1919 to 1921.