Favourite leader of the Easter Rising.

[Wat_Tyler]

I might go for Collins, a man of extraordinary personal courage and foresight - a man who, knowing it meant his certain death, signed the treaty anyway, but I think I lean in favour of Connolly, who understood the class-related nature of the struggle and proved himself an adept organizer of manpower and materiel.
Whoever it is, it isn't Dev.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. James Connolly...

a great Socialist. Died a damn terrible death. Strapped into the chair because he was so badly injured.

For second place, Padraig Pearse. The poet of that revolution.

Great thread. Thanks, Wat.

[Wat_Tyler]

2. No problem. It's an important subject for the forum, eh?

Connolly's death was an atrocity, pure and simple.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. It proved how brutal the English were....

in putting down the Rising.

Yes, definitely an important subject for this forum. The Rising was a defining moment for Ireland.

[DaveinMD]

4. Collins wasn't really a leader of the rising

he was a soldier. He emerged as a leader later on.

[Wat_Tyler]

6. That's true enough.

I didn't think I could leave him out, though.

[DaveinMD]

9. Collins is my favorite

but I voted for Connolly because he was more instrumental in the rising.

[Maeve]

5. I'm rather fond of Pearse for his Irish language work

I've got a book of his short stories--we translated them for our language class awhile back. We visited his home in Ros Muc when we were there in '03.

You know, Dev was popular in his time in Ireland; I think I need to read a good bio on him. Right now, I see him as a tragically flawed idealist whose belief in his own destiny (okay, his ego) led him to make horrendous decisions. (And the movie "Michael Collins" was speculating about Dev's involvment in Collins' death).

[Wat_Tyler]

7. Dev was a very Machiavellian character.

It's near-impossible to seperate the man from the myths and legends. What I know of him, I don't like - but that may well not be the reality of Eamon De Valera.

[Maeve]

8. I'm going to read Tim Pat Coogan's book on him

Interestingly, he called the Collin's book "The man who made Ireland" and the Dev book "The man who was Ireland". I'll let y'all know what I get from the book.

[Magrittes Pipe]

10. Dev was the right man at the right time.

He did what he had to do, and he did it well.

Not the most romantic character, a bit shady, likely a rat bastard, Nazi appeaser, possibly an out-and-out fiend -- still, he was what the nascent republic needed.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

11. James Connolly hands down.

When the Brits shot him in the chair, they shot themselves in the foot as well.

Up until the time the executions started, most people in Ireland thought the Rising was ill-timed. By executing the leaders, it just got the ordinary Irish men and women more angry.

[Donkeyboy75]

12. Voted for Collins.

But you're right. It ain't Dev.

[Wat_Tyler]

13. There's a typical Irish irony there.

It's always the biggest bastard who survives when the ones who offer the hope for something better die.

[JohnKleeb]

14. it seems that way in America too Wat

The Irish Bobby Kennedy dies at 43, too young, and a rat bastard Reagan lives to be 93.

[two gun sid]

15. James Connolly

He was a Wobbly when he was in the US. Worked to get the OBU. Great man. I respect the hell out him.


Brits Out!