I repudiate the assertion of the prosecutor that I sought to aid and abet England's enemy.

Germany is no more to me than England is.

I asked and accepted German aid in the shape of arms and an expeditionary force.

We neither asked for nor accepted German gold, nor had any traffic with Germany, but what I state.

My aim was to win Irish freedom. We struck the first blow ourselves, but should have been glad of an

ally's aid. I assume I am speaking to Englishmen, who value their freedom and who profess to be fighting for the freedom of Belgium and Serbia, believe that we too love freedom and desire it.

To us it is more desirable than anything in the world. If you strike us down now, we shall rise again and renew the fight.

You cannot conquer Ireland.

You cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom.

If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom,

then our children will win it by a better deed.

Patrick Pierce, addressing his court-martial.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century. The

The Episode 127 A Terrible Beauty is Born, part two.

Last week, I began the story of the Easter Rising of 1916. Recall that the date chosen for

the rising was Easter, which fell on the unusually late date of April 23rd that year.

I got as far as early April last week, so today, let's pick up from

there. On Saturday, April 8th, the mobilization orders for the Easter Rising were put out

by director of organization Patrick Pierce. Pierce's cover story was that the mobilization was just a training exercise,

and the orders went out through normal channels, and Chief of Staff McNeil even signed off on them.

The volunteers had run a similar mobilization exercise last year on Easter, so all this seemed routine

and did not arouse suspicion.

...