1916: The Irish Rebellion

As 2016 is the century anniversary of the Irish uprising this documentary has film star Liam Neeson narrating the events leading up to the Dublin Easter uprising of 1916.

The interesting aspect is archival narrative from people or relatives of the people involved in the uprising. A first hand account from those that were present.

The historical footage was mixed with contribution from academics who put into context as to why the Irish rebelled and what inspired it especially the French and American revolutions. Opinions from America was supportive of insurrection which had media support and carried details of the brutal revenge from the British authorities.

The Irish rebellion was not at first popular, there were a lot of collateral damage, in short innocent bystanders died. However the harsh British response to the agitators added fuel to the flames.

The Easter rebellion eventually led to the independence of Eire and later the independence of other colonies such as India. The programme was interesting if you knew nothing about the events.