Abstract
The dawn of the 20th century saw twelve empires and nations holding sway over the majority of the Earth’s lands and people. Those who lived within them would not believe that in just fifty years, all of these empires would be extinct. The event which set this new world in motion was the Easter Rising of April 24th to the 29th 1916 in Dublin, Ireland. While an initial failure, the Easter Rising and subsequent Irish independence within five years showed the colonial peoples of the world that they could achieve independence from their masters. However, the legacy of the Easter Rising has been analyzed and questioned over the past century. Over the course of this thesis, I will present, analyze, and show that Irish independence influenced the modern world and how its legacy has casted a long shadow over independence politics to this day.