| Summary: | Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1988. History Bibliography: leaves 163-175 When the Easter Rebellion erupted in Ireland in May 1916, Sinn Fein, as an active, influential political organization was virtually nonexistent. Initial public response to the insurrection in England and Ireland condemned both leaders and participants. However, the British authorities, in a concerted attempt to reestablish control and authenticate their authority, chose-to execute sixteen 'organizers' of the rebellion and intern, several hundred 'Sinn Fein' sympathizers. Their irresponsible handling of the situation, in which many innocent people were treated as criminals, was commonly viewed with disdain by many Irish men and women, and the once unpopular rising, which the government dubbed the Sinn Fein Rebellion, gradually attained an aura of respectability in Ireland. The uprising became identified with Sinn Fein and the leader's released from English prison camps at the end of 1916 and during the course of the spring and summer 1917 made no attempt to correct the misnomer. As
|
|---|