In 1902 Arthur Griffith founded a new Irish Republican group called (Ourselves Alone). Originally a cultural revival movement it gradually became a political movement and by 1916 James Connolly had emerged as one of the key figures in the struggle for Irish independence. Connolly led the Easter Rising in 1916 and as a result sixteen of the leaders of Sinn Fein were executed.

Sinn Fein put up 102 candidates in the 1918 General Election and won 497,107 votes. The seventy three elected members of parliament did not attend the House of Commons and instead established their own independent parliament in Dublin.