on this day in 1916

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The United Kingdom declares martial law in Ireland. (Wikipedia)
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The British worked slowly, unsure of how many they were up against, and put their efforts into securing the approaches to Dublin Castle and isolating the headquarters at the GPO, before the gunboat Helga shelled large parts of the city and burned much of it down.
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The Easter Rising has sometimes been described as the first socialist revolution in Europe. Whether or not such a statement is true is debatable. Of the leaders, only James Connolly was devoted to the socialist cause. Although the others nominally accepted the notion of a socialist state in order to convince Connolly to join them, their dedication to this concept is highly questionable at best… Many years later, the Soviet Union would be the first country to recognise the Republic of Ireland.
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