REBELS, THE IRISH RISING OF 1916, by Peter de Rosa, Doubleday, 530 pages, $25.

April 24-30 is the 75th anniversary of The Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland. A new book called “Rebels, The Irish Rising of 1916,” written by Peter de Rosa, a former theology professor, shows a generous sympathy with the rebels. The book is a historical novel that includes a fine index and bibliography. Although meticulously accurate it is marred by a dialogue that is sometimes stilted and deadening. There are too many statements such as “`Where to Guv?’ gulped the cabbie.”

Other books have dealt with the dramatic events of 1916, such as “The Easter Rebellion” by Max Caulfield, published in 1963, and “The Insurrection in Dublin” by James Stephens, published in 1916. Both are excellent but difficult to find.

The book’s price is a bit steep, but for those who have little knowledge concerning this serious blip in the devolution of the British Empire, this history will be helpful.

What the book fails to do for the general reader is to give a synopsis of the Irish history that precipitated the rebellion. After all, there had been 400 years of deep resentment for a few very good reasons.

The English had been in Ireland since the Anglo-Norman invasion of the 12th century, but up until the 16th century the tendency had been to intermarry with the native Irish and to adopt their customs and language. Within the Pale, which was a fluctuating area around Dublin, the “Anglo-Irish” maintained closer connections with England. Some of these, known as the Old English, remained Catholic and nationalist even after the invasions of the 17th century.

The most dramatic event that led to the downfall of the older Gaelic culture of Ireland was the Battle of Kinsale, when the Ulster O’Neill and the O’Donnell joined with a small Spanish force in Kinsale. They were defeated and forced to submit to England in 1603. Deprived of hereditary privileges as princes of Tyrconnel (Donegal) and Tyrone, and their land being confiscated, they left Lough Swilly, Donegal in 1607 with their families for Spain. That escape became known as the “Flight of the Earls.”

A major portion of Ulster, including Donegal, was systematically settled by the English and Scottish, displacing the Gaelic Irish and placing them in servitude.

Mass confiscations of land continued under Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s in harsh and brutal circumstances, leaving his unpleasant personality permanently impressed on the memory of the native Irish. Many thousands of the Irish were sent as inden-

tured servants to the West Indies.

From this period a Protestant upper class was established that controlled almost the entire countryside until the Land Acts of the late 19th century.

By the late 18th century the climate of revolution in France and the Americas brought some reluctant reforms. Despite this William Pitt in 1800 pushed through the parliaments of Ireland and England a bill that united both under one parliament. From that time, until 1921, Home Rule became the rallying cry of the Irish.

The Great Famine of the 1840s and 1850s with 1 million dying as a result of starvation and sending 1 million immigrants to the United States, set a pattern of migration that is still with us today. There are now more than 40 million Americans of Irish descent.

The psychological result of the Great Famine was, as Padraic Colum, the Irish writer, observed, not only a confirmation of the collapse of the old Gaelic culture but also a feeling that the very heavens were against the old ways. That changed attitude infused the American-Irish immigrants with an obsessive need for material and political success. It also created a network of Irish societies that supported Irish independence and the Easter Rebellion of 1916.

In the 1880s John Stewart Parnell led a parliamentary fight for Home Rule that almost succeeded, but as a result of an affair with a married woman he lost his influence. At the same time the Gaelic League was formed as well as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, to which even such poets as W.B. Yeats belonged.

By the turn of the 20th century leadership was again being provided by men such as John O’Leary. He and others like him were greatly admired by Yeats. Among these as well as a disparate group of intellectuals and union organizers, Gaelic Leaguers and university lecturers, the conviction grew that at the next opportunity something had to be done. The political solution of Home Rule represented by John Redmond was shelved when Queen Victoria’s German nephew and her English son went to war. From Ireland 150,000 men volunteered. The Citizen Army and a group known as the Irish Volunteers were set up throughout Ireland during this period of 1914-15, ostensibly for the purpose of serving to defend Ireland against Germany.

In fact, as James Connolly’s aphorism declared, “We serve neither King nor Kaiser.” With that in mind, several Irishmen went to Germany to secure arms for the Irish Volunteers. Their ship was discovered in Tralee Bay and the German captain blew it up to avoid capture of munition meant for the Irish Rebels. Almost at the same time Sir Roger Casement was captured by the Royal Irish Constabulary after having been landed by a German U-boat.

With strong Irish loyalties he initially saw World War I as an opportunity for Irish independence. Paradoxically, one of his main missions on coming ashore was to halt the insurrection because of the general unreadiness and the lack of European support. He was cruelly treated in London and executed.

Despite all the initial failures and despite an announcement by Professor Eoin MacNeill, commander in charge of the Volunteers, that the activities scheduled for Easter Week were canceled, the leaders went ahead. It was estimated that the maximum number of Irish insurrectionary forces was 700 and that even at the beginning they were outnumbered 3 to 1. Within a few days of declaring the Irish Republic and hoisting the green flag with harp over the General Post Office they were outnumbered 20 to 1. Heavy artillery in the form of gunboats were brought in by the British, who were commanded by Gen. Sir John Grenfel Maxwell. By the end of the week a considerable portion of the center of Dublin had been bombed and 1,351 people killed or severely wounded.

Padraic Pearse, as commander-in-chief, surrendered on April 30. After a short trial without representation Pearse and 14 others were shot. The court martial, with the aptly named Gen. Blackadder presiding, was short, based presumably on English law though little justice was observed nor any degree of wisdom, since the judges were not able to see that these executions would inflame the general population. John Dillon, the Irish parliamentarian, tried to intercede with Gen. Maxwell but to him law and order meant harshness.

Maxwell believed his actions would save the country from rebellion for 100 years. In fact from 1919 until 1922 Ireland was in rebellion and civil war and was granted Free State status in 1922, with the northern six counties being kept in the United Kingdom. It was not until 1949 that Eamonn de Valera as prime minister declared Ireland a republic.

In a short book called “The Insurrection in Dublin,” James Stephens addressed England with these phrases, “we are a little country and you, a huge country, have persistently beaten us. We are a poor country, and you the richest in the world (1916) have persistently robbed us … you have never given Ireland any reason to love you.”

The problems of the past 400 years continue in the north of Ireland. England continues to make only nominal attempts at resolving the Northern Ireland problem, placating the “planters” who perceive themselves all too often as English, though living in Ireland. The Achilles’ heel of the British Empire always has been its unwillingness to assimilate to native populations that it conquers, creating and prolonging rifts that always place the problems on future generations. This was also its legacy in North America.

De Rosa’s book will help to elucidate more than other books the religious and emotional aspects of the 1916 Rebellion.

Hugh Curran of Surry was born in Donegal and has taught Irish literature.