Irish Rebellion of 1798: Encyclopedia II - Irish Rebellion of 1798 - Legacy of 1798

Irish Rebellion of 1798 - Legacy of 1798

The aftermath of the rebellion in counties most affected became known as the "Great Silence" due to the reluctance to speak of the rising both to forget horrific experiences of the fighting and fear of the ensuing repression. As a result the immediate version of the rebellion put out by the victors was of a fanatical rebel mob capable of extreme savagery led on and encouraged by priests to drive all heretics from Ireland and this crude version of events is still, to some extent, the lasting popular memory of the rebellion.

By the centenary of the Rebellion in 1898, conservative Irish nationalists and the Catholic Church claimed that the United Irishmen had been fighting for "Faith and Fatherland", emphasising the role of Catholic priests in the Rising and deliberately obscuring the secular Enlightenment ideology of the mostly Protestant United Irish leadership. By contrast, at the bi-centenary in 1998, the non-sectarian and democratic nature of the Rebellion was emphasised in official commemorations, reflecting the desire for reconciliation at the time of the Good Friday Agreement which was hoped would end the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Legacy of 1798", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki