On this episode of the Irish History Show we have part three of our series on the Fenians. By the late 1890s, the Irish Republican Brotherhood was led by an older, cautious Supreme Council that prioritised self-preservation over direct military action. They officially banned individual assassinations and spent much of this period maintaining a low-profile underground network to survive British intelligence surveillance.
Realising that an armed rebellion was temporarily out of the question, the IRB pivoted toward a long-term strategy of cultural entryism. Rather than recruiting solely for physical force, IRB members actively infiltrated the key mass-membership organisations of the Irish Cultural Revival such as the GAA and the Gaelic League.
We looked at some of the members that revitalised the movement such as Bulmer Hobson, Dennis McCullough, Seán MacDiarmada and Thomas Clarke. We also covered events such as the founding of the Dungannon Clubs, the Home Rule Crisis, the founding of the Ulster and Irish Volunteers and the road towards the 1916 Easter Rising.
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Intro / Outro music “Sliabh” from Aislinn. Licensed under creative commons from the free music archive.
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