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.

Theobald Wolfe Tone, the leader of the United Irishmen, sought military help from the French revolutionary government, which at the time was at war with Britain. A series of coordinated uprisings around the country were planned, centred on Dublin. However, Lord Edward FitzGerald and the other leaders of the Dublin rebellion were arrested before it could take place.

In the north-east, Presbyterian rebels under Henry Joy McCracken briefly occupied Antrim town on 7 June before being defeated on 13 June. The rebels had more success in the south-eastern county of Wexford, where a rebel army up to 15,000 strong led by a Catholic priest Father John Murphy captured Enniscorthy on 29 May and Wexford the following day. This was the high point of the rebellion however, and the Wexford rebels suffered defeats at New Ross, Arklow and Newtownbarry before being finally defeated at the battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June.

While the suppression of the rebellion throughout Ireland was characterised by vicious brutality by Crown forces, the Wexford rebels were guilty of massacring loyalist civilians at Scullabogue and Wexford bridge.

In the end, about a thousand French soldiers under General Humbert landed in the north-west of the country, at Killala in County Mayo on 22 August, two months after the main uprisings had been defeated. Aided by local rebels, they inflicted a local defeat on the British at Castlebar, before the uprising was finally crushed at the battle of Ballinamuck, in County Longford, on 8 September 1798. The French troops who surrendered were repatriated to France in exchange for English prisoners of war; the Irish rebels were massacred as they fled after the battle.

On 12 October 1798, a larger French force consisting of 3,000 men, and including Wolfe Tone himself, attempted to land in County Donegal near Lough Swilly. They encountered a larger Royal Navy squadron, and surrendered after a three hour battle without ever landing in Ireland.

As a result of the French involvement, 1798 became known in Ireland as "The Year of the French" or "The Year of Liberty". Estimates of the dead range from 30,000 to 50,000 including about 3,000 Government troops.

See Also

• United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland

External links

• The 1798 Irish Rebellion - BBC History
• The 1798 Rebellion in County Clare - Clare library