Jim, from some angles, it does seem that the 1916 Easter Rising was a waste. To much of the world, it appeared that the Irish had a fair amount of self-determination already, and that they were going to have Home Rule within a very short period of time. The Rising resulted in the execution of the best and brightest of Irish leadership, and that was indeed a tragedy. One could argue that the British had no need to execute those men, and that is true; but one could also argue credibly that the Irish had no need to sacrifice their best leaders. At the very least, it seems that the Easter Rising was poor strategy.

Up above, somebody made an argument that I hadn't heard quite that way before - that the Rising was necessary to stem opposition to Home Rule from within Ireland. There's certainly credibility there - there certainly were some Irish who opposed Home Rule and worked to undermine it.

-Joe-