Irish Rebellion of 1798

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 was organised principally by the Society of United Irishmen, a republican movement influenced by the American and French revolutions. Government infiltration and repression disrupted plans for a coordinated national rising, but major rebellions developed in Wexford, Antrim, Down and other counties.

The conflict combined revolutionary organisation with local grievances, sectarian tension, agrarian unrest and violent reprisals. A French expedition under Jean Joseph Amable Humbert landed at Killala and won at Castlebar before surrendering at Ballinamuck.

The rebellion’s defeat destroyed much of the United Irish organisation and strengthened the British government’s campaign for the Act of Union. Books should use this context for the United Irishmen, the Wexford rising, the French expedition and the wider 1798 crisis.