Hi, Raggytash - I think it's clear to most of us that most of the people in Ireland felt they were in an "oppressed and subjugated nation." But what I'm reading tells me that many people in Ireland thought that the rebels went too far in their violence. If a nation is oppressed, does that mean that there are no limits on the measures people can take to oppose that oppression - even when the oppressor has begun to withdraw?

That being said, it is appalling to me that the British chose to execute the leaders of the Easter Rising. I can't figure out why they did that. In carrying out those executions, they lost any claim to the moral high ground - and they made martyrs out of those who were executed.

-Joe-