Ireland's economy flourished in the first years one the Great War as mills, factories and manufacturers received government contracts and did all they could to keep up with demand from the British military. In April 1916, amidst the financial rise, a revolt was launched in Dublin by the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizens Army in an event that would come to be known as the Easter Rising. At the time, the event was labelled the "Sinn Fein Rebellion" which has since been corrected as Sinn Féin were not involved. The closed military trials and hasty executions in the aftermath of the Rising transformed the rebel leaders into martyrs which then served to turn the Irish nationalist public against the British establishment. It is believed that the rebels of 1916 were counting on the British military to over-react and that they would be required to give their lives to expose what they saw as the callous, brutal attitude of the British Empire towards its Irish subjects. Even Edward Carson condemned the covert trials and executions, stating that "no true Irishman calls for vengeance." Carson justifiably feared that a new generation of Republican martyrs was being created that would add momentum to their cause.