Keith A, Home Rule had been promised at various stages from, I think, 1850, and invariably 'postponed' as the Unionists objected to it. It was a carrot that kept jerking ahead of the Irish donkey.

Teribus, you're actually a little inaccurate about the 1916 Rising. Pearse (not Pearce) and the other leaders were stymied by the treachery of Eoin MacNeill, who (according to Tom Clarke in speaking to his wife before his execution) agreed to sign the Proclamation of Independence, then sneaked off and put an advertisement in the newspapers cancelling the 'exercises' that were in fact to be the Rising.

Thousands who were due to come out then stood down, and many were arrested and interned by the British. So were thousands who had no military involvement, but who then became involved due to the 'university for revolution' that was the internment camps.

Then when the Great War finished and the Irish Volunteers came home, many of these joined the released internees in the War of Independence (or as the British prefer to call it, the 'Anglo-Irish War'!)

However, all this is a long time ago; we've had an independent country since 1923 and an independent republic since 1949 - there's no point in fighting it all over again. I write merely to clarify.