In the 200 years that have elapsed since the 1798 Rebellion the reasons for its failure have been frequently addressed by historians. That the rebels were unable to take Dublin at the outset of the rebellion has been seen as crucial by some historians, for this deprived the rebellion of a focus and prevented the … Read more
By 1795, the United Irishmen’s hope of bringing about change in Ireland by peaceful means had been shattered once and for all. French assistance to an Irish independence movement seemed to be the only way out of the vicious circle of growing popular radicalisation and government counter measures. Revolutionary France had already developed into a … Read more
Sir,—As a footnote to Alan Blackstock’s interesting article on theYeomanry (HI 4.4, Winter 1996) and their place in the tradition ofProtestant defence forces, it should be noted that in some placesYeomanry corps continued to exist on an unofficial basis after theirofficial disbandment. The Fermanagh novelist Shan Bullock (1865-1935)mentions in his autobiography After Sixty Years that … Read more
A plaque commemorating the founding of the United Irishmen was unveiledin Belfast’s Clifton Street cemetery on Saturday 7 October by DouglasGageby, former editor of the Irish Times and Patron of History Ireland,who said that the United Irishmen ‘were above all good people, bravepeople, people with aspirations for harmony among the people of thisisland’. The veil … Read more
We’ll fight to the last in the honest old cause, And guard our religion, our freedom and laws. We’ll fight for our country, our king and his crown, And make all the traitors and croppies lie down. As the television documentaries, radio programmes and newspaper features marking the bicentennary of the French revolution rolled on … Read more