1-156-904 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Before and after, Anti-English Irish uprising, Dublin, May 1916. The Hotel Metropole and the Post Office before and after being blown up by the rebels. The GPO building in Dublin's O'Connell Street became the focal point of the 1916 Easter Sunday Rising after it was occupied by a band of republicans. Their proclamation of an Irish Republic resulted in the British bombarding the GPO and O'Connell Street with artillery to force the rebels from the building. The rebellion on was organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a descendent of the Fenians, Although it failed, the rising resulted in great propaganda for the Republican cause when the British executed its leaders.