It’s Easter Monday, 1916. Around 1,200 armed Irish rebels take up strategic positions around Dublin city center. Patrick Pearse, a schoolmaster and activist, stands outside the General Post Office and reads out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. History is in the making...

The Proclamation has been drafted by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization dedicated to establishing Ireland as a democratic republic independent from the UK. To do that by force is widely considered futile, but the rebels hatch a last-minute plan.

Within an hour of the proclamation, British troops are fired upon as they come into O’Connell Street, forcing a retreat. Clashes break out in pockets across the city but the uprising isn’t taken seriously by the general public… until the British bring in reinforcements.

Having been caught by surprise, the British army follows a simple plan: surround the rebels and outlast them with superior numbers and firepower. Extra troops and artillery arrive from England. A gunboat shells buildings from the River Liffey. Dublin quickly becomes a warzone.

After six days of violence that leaves the city shrouded in the smoke, the rebels surrender on April 29th. Nearly 500 people have been killed and 1,000 injured on both sides. The rebels know the fight is hopeless and that continuing will only make things worse for civilians.

Seeing key parts of the city in ruins sparks anger among locals. The surviving rebels are jeered by onlookers as they’re taken into captivity. But the sense of victory among British forces proves to be short-lived…

The British see this revolt as an opportunity to crush any hope of resistance once and for all. Martial law is declared across Ireland and thousands of innocent people are arrested en masse. British soldiers terrorize the public, carrying out atrocities that leave many dead.

Many of the rebels are illegally court-martialed in private and without a defense. Ninety are sentenced to death, including some who had little to no involvement. Fourteen executions are spread out over a 10-day period, shifting public opinion dramatically.

The British government soon realizes that this strategy is backfiring spectacularly – and could have long-term consequences for Anglo-Irish relations. General John Maxwell (who ordered the executions) reluctantly commutes the other death sentences to imprisonment with hard labor.

But the damage is done. What started as a poorly planned revolt ends up having a unifying effect among the rebel movement and its allies, paving the way for all-out war. But to truly understand the significance of the Easter Rising, we first need to look at what caused it…