Image (Above): "Easter Rising Centennial Commemoration," Maxwells, 2016
India and De Valera
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The Rising had a huge impact on India’s independence movement. The influence of Irish nationalism in India was apparent through the interactions between Éamon de Valera and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
" We and the Irish had strong ties of friendship. We suffered under the same tyranny for many centuries. They had the Black and Tans; we had the massacre of Amritsar. They had de Valera and Casement and MacSwiney; we had Gandhi and Nehru and Bose. They had Sinn Féin; we had our National Congress... It is not only for the smile and the shamrock we know Ireland. It is for the toughness of their leaders and for the rebellion in their hearts." - Jawaharlal Nehru
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"Letter from Nehru to de Valera," University of Central Dublin Archives, 1948
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South Africa and Ireland
"Mandela to Ireland," Irish Election Archives, 1990
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"The men of the 1916 Easter Rising were in no better situation than we are now. We must bring that same mentality to our struggles." - Walter Sisulu, South African Activist
South Africa’s independence movement was heavily inspired by the rebels' actions during Easter Rising. Nelson Mandela's claims were prompted by the Irish people's passion to achieve fair rule between all classes of people.
"We have received wonderful support from the people of Ireland in the course of our anti-apartheid struggle. We call upon them to maintain that support." - Nelson Mandela
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The Impact Today
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Today, the Rising is commemorated as the turning point in Irish history because it inspired and revolutionized the new Irish Republic. The Rising is also remembered for its influence on other movements around the globe.
"Amazing. A few unknown men, shot in a barrack yard, had embittered a whole nation."
- Roger Casement, Leader of German Aid |
Images: "Sackville Street," Bettman/Corbis & Hugh Lineman, 1916 and 2016
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Without the conflicts and compromises of Easter Rising, Ireland, as we know it today, would not be the same. "Let us revive the best of the promise of 1916, so that those coming generations might experience freedom in the full sense of the term - freedom from poverty, freedom from violence and insecurity, and freedom from fear." - Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland |
Images: "O'Connell Bridge," National Library of Ireland & Hugh Linehan, 1916 & 2016
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"Patrick Pearse's Proclamation of Ireland being one independent nation under one independent Irish government, under the people of Ireland wasn't a fantasy, it was a legitimate reality."
- Éamon de Valera
- Éamon de Valera