Ch14: 1798 Rebellion

• Causes of the Rebellion

  • Protestant Ascendancy - the wealthy land owning minority
  • Catholic position - Catholics, being 85% of the population and owning only 15% of land, were discriminated against by the Penal laws
  • French influence - the American and French Revolutions inspired the Irish, with ideas of liberty and equality
• 1798 Rebellion


  • Leinster - Mostly unsuccessful as the rebels were arrested by spies, attacks were uncoordinated
  • Ulster - Henry Joy McCracken led 4000 rebels to battle on 6 June. Henry Munro led 7000 rebels into Saintfield, both were defeated
  • Wexford - Rebels led by Fr. John Murphy captured Enniscorthy and Wexford Town. 200 Protestants burned alive in a Scullabogue barn & 100 Protestants massacred in Wexford town. This rebellion was contradicting Wolfe Tone's method of uniting Ireland with peace.
  • Connacht - On 22 August, 1000 French soldiers land at Killala, Mayo, but rebellion was defeated
• Why the 1798 Rebellion failed:

  • Lack of organisation and training
  • Irish had no decent weapons against Britain
  • French assistance was useless
  • British spies infiltrated the groups
• Consequences of the Rebellion:

  • Growth of Sectarianism between Catholics and Protestants
  • Inspiration of an Irish republic + Tone's methods grew, influencing the leaders of the 1916 Rising