Eoin MacNeill has been largely airbrushed out of popular histories of the Easter 1916 uprising. This is a shame; although he was not directly involved in the six-day conflict, he contributed a lot towards the Irish Nationalist Movement.
He founded the Gaelic League, an organization dedicated to restoring the Irish language into literature and education, at a time when English was expected to be learned by everyone. As part of the nationalist movement, he was implacably opposed to the Loyalists under Sir Edward Carson, and pro-Home Rule - an idea introduced by the British government in 1912 that would give Ireland self- government under British protection.
The outbreak of World War One completely changed the status quo. Home Rule was conveniently shelved, while MacNeill found himself faced with the choice of pursuing a moderate course or siding with the more radical Patrick Pearse. He chose the latter course, and became involved in the idea of a "rising in arms," planned for Easter 1916.
However MacNeill made a move that would significantly affect the course of the planned uprising. In defiance of Pearse and the other rebels, he issued an order countermanding the call for Nationalists to take to the streets in protest against British rule. As a result the planned revolution was confined to Dublin, and hence rendered easier for the British to suppress.
MacNeill was subsequently imprisoned, but still retained his authority among the nationalist political fraternity. When the Government of Ireland Act was passed in 1922, partitioning Ireland into the Republic and the Six Counties, MacNeill became part of the new republican government under Eamon de Valera. He served for the first years, but eventually resigned when the Boundary Commission - of which he was a major part - failed to achieve its desires results.
MacNeill was never an aggressive revolutionary, but he possessed the kind of gravitas of character that invested the movement with considerable respectability. His contribution to Irish history deserves to be remembered, even though he never became a martyr.
He founded the Gaelic League, an organization dedicated to restoring the Irish language into literature and education, at a time when English was expected to be learned by everyone. As part of the nationalist movement, he was implacably opposed to the Loyalists under Sir Edward Carson, and pro-Home Rule - an idea introduced by the British government in 1912 that would give Ireland self- government under British protection.
The outbreak of World War One completely changed the status quo. Home Rule was conveniently shelved, while MacNeill found himself faced with the choice of pursuing a moderate course or siding with the more radical Patrick Pearse. He chose the latter course, and became involved in the idea of a "rising in arms," planned for Easter 1916.
However MacNeill made a move that would significantly affect the course of the planned uprising. In defiance of Pearse and the other rebels, he issued an order countermanding the call for Nationalists to take to the streets in protest against British rule. As a result the planned revolution was confined to Dublin, and hence rendered easier for the British to suppress.
MacNeill was subsequently imprisoned, but still retained his authority among the nationalist political fraternity. When the Government of Ireland Act was passed in 1922, partitioning Ireland into the Republic and the Six Counties, MacNeill became part of the new republican government under Eamon de Valera. He served for the first years, but eventually resigned when the Boundary Commission - of which he was a major part - failed to achieve its desires results.
MacNeill was never an aggressive revolutionary, but he possessed the kind of gravitas of character that invested the movement with considerable respectability. His contribution to Irish history deserves to be remembered, even though he never became a martyr.
