Irish Rebellion of 1798
A popular insurrection against British Crown in Ireland.
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (Irish: Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots: "The Turn Out"/"The Hurries") was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, first formed in Belfast by Presbyterians opposed to the landed Anglican establishment. Despairing of reform, the Society sought to secure a republic through a revolutionary union with the country's Catholic majority, driven by grievances of a rack-rented tenantry and market-town traders, journeymen, and weavers.
Quick Facts
- Conflict
- Irish Rebellion of 1798
- Part Of
- the Atlantic Revolutions and the French Revolutionary Wars
- Date
- 24 May – 12 October 1798 / (4 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days)
- Location
- Ireland
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The rebellion began in late May 1798 with a series of uncoordinated risings in counties Carlow and Wexford in the southeast, where rebels met with some success; in the north around Belfast in counties Antrim and Down; and closer to Dublin in counties Meath and Kildare. Martial-law seizures and arrests had forced the conspirators into the open while assistance was being sought from the French Republic and from democratic militants in Britain. In late August, after the rebels had been reduced to pockets of guerrilla resistance, the French landed an expeditionary force in County Mayo, but unable to effect a conjunction with a significant rebel force, they surrendered on 9 September. The local men they had rallied were routed at Killala on 23 September, and a second French expedition was defeated in a naval action off County Donegal on 12 October, leading to the capture of United Irish leader Wolfe Tone.
Reader's Guide
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 marked a pivotal challenge to British rule in Ireland, leading directly to the Acts of Union 1800, which abolished the Irish legislature and brought Ireland under the crown of a United Kingdom through the Parliament at Westminster. Its legacy has been disputed: at the centenary in 1898, nationalists who wished to restore a legislature in Dublin, republicans who invoked the name of Wolfe Tone in the cause of complete separation and independence, and unionists opposed to all measures of Irish self-government all claimed the rebellion's meaning. The bicentenary in 1998, coinciding with the Good Friday Agreement, renewed debate over the interpretation and significance of 1798. The rebellion demonstrated the failure of revolutionary union between Presbyterians and Catholics under the Society of United Irishmen, yet it remains a touchstone for Irish republicanism and nationalist memory.
Did You Know?
- The rebellion is also known in Ulster Scots as 'The Turn Out' or 'The Hurries'.
- French forces landed in County Mayo in late August 1798 but surrendered on 9 September.
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