Product Description

When the outbreak of World War I delayed home rule for Ireland, a faction of Irish nationalists - the Irish Republican Brotherhood - decided to take direct action. On Easter Monday 1916, a rebellion was launched from the steps of the Dublin General Post Office and Patrick Pearse proclaimed the existence of an Irish Republic and the establishment of a Provisional Government. The British response was a military one and over the next five days they drove the rebels back in violent street fighting until the Provisional Government surrendered on 29 April. Central Dublin was left in ruins. Covering in detail this important milestone in the ongoing Anglo-Irish struggle, bestselling author Michael McNally thoroughly examines the politics and tactics employed, to provide a well-researched study of the roots and outcome of this conflict. Furthermore, the array of unique photographs depicting this calamitous event help to bring to life one of the key episodes that shaped Irish history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #339646 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

Honest book, gorgeous illustrations, but could be better
This is not a bad book. I do not regret that I bought it and I am happy that I read it. The story is rather well told and the colour plates are stunningly beautiful. But there are some reasons for which I can not give it five stars. The first is that some fragments of the story were clearly cut in the editing and not replaced by at least one sentence - so there are "holes" in the story, which become apparent when we are surprised by something that was NOT signalled before. The best example is the story of the Sherwood Foresters, who seemingly were shipped to Dublin thinking that they go to Northern France - the author do not mention it until they are walking to the fight in Dublin and there he makes it in such a way, as if we knew already all about it. The same thing concerns the "Curragh Incident" - in no place it is explained WHY was this called Curragh Incident, considering that the good city of Curragh was seemingly not involved.
The beginning of the story is a little bit chaotic and you better have some previous knowledge of the events before reading it, because you will get lost in the events.
So - this is a honest book, but which was clearly very fast (to fast) edited. The author did a honest job, the editor didn't. Shame on you Osprey.

A balanced review
The author has done well in this book to balance the still emotive subject of Ireland's recent history,bringing out various elements of the events that played themselves out in 1916 of which I was entirely unaware, and which brought a 'new' International view to the subject.

Sometimes I did have the impression that there was an awful lot more to the story than the author was able to discuss in this book given it's relatively slim size, especially the whole subject of German involvement and a possible second front for the British to fight on in 1916, and I'd certainly like to see him write a more substantial volume sometime.