Irish Rebellion of 1798

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 or 1798 rebellion as it is known locally, was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against the British establishment in Ireland. The United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution, were the main organizing force behind the rebellion.

Government Crackdown and Counter Revolution

The shaken Establishment launched a campaign of repression and coercion using tactics that included house burnings, torture, pitchcapping and murder, particularly in Ulster as it was the one area of Ireland where large numbers of Catholics and Presbyterians had effected common cause (this unprecedented "unholy union" caused great fright in London). Loyalists all over Ireland had already organised themselves in militias in support of the Government, supplying recruits and vital local intelligence to the Government. The opposition of the Catholic Church in Ireland to the expected rebellion was secured by the establishment of Maynooth College and seminary in 1795 and it was, barring a few individual exceptions, firmly on the side of the Crown throughout the rebellion.

Related Topics:
Pitchcapping - Ulster - Catholics - Presbyterians - Maynooth College

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Intelligence from informers also swept up much of the United Irish leadership in raids in Dublin in March 1798. A preemptive rising in March in Cahir, county Tipperary had been crushed and martial law imposed over the county, the unrelenting brutality of which put the United Irish organisation there under severe pressure. By May 1798 Lord Edward FitzGerald and most other leaders of the Dublin rebellion were arrested and the United Irish rump leadership finally decided to launch the rising without French aid, fixing the date of the rising for May 23rd.

Related Topics:
Informers - Cahir - Tipperary - Martial law - Lord Edward FitzGerald

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~