Irish Republican Brotherhood - Members of the 19th-century international Irish independence movement were called Fenians, and the branch in Ireland itself was founded by James Stephens. Following a failed uprising in 1848, Stephens fled to Paris where he befriended fellow fugitive John O’Mahony.
While in France, both men got swept up in Louis-Napoleon’s 1851 coup d’etat, and ended up in at least one secret society modeled after the Masons. Stephens wrote that he studied “Continental secret societies, and in particular those which had ramifications in Italy,” a reference to the Carbonari. O’Mahony traveled to New York and founded the US-based Fenian Brotherhood.
Stephens returned to Ireland in January 1856, most likely driven not by revolutionary fervor but by the fact that his life in Paris had become one of poverty. In December 1857, Stephens received correspondence from O’Mahony promising financial assistance to set up a militant organization in Ireland. On St Patrick’s Day in 1858, Stephens received 80 pounds.
He and a group of others swore an oath in his lodgings that night, founding the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, later renamed the Republican Brotherhood.The Fenians had outposts all over the world—England, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia within the British Empire; the US and South America beyond it.
They operated in groups called circles. At the center of each was a colonel, who recruited nine captains. Nine sergeants were recruited by each captain, and nine privates by each sergeant. Each man knew only his direct superior.In 1910, leadership of the IRB went to Thomas Clarke, who increased membership particularly among young Irishmen. In May 1915, he set up a seven-man military council, which arranged the Easter Rising of 1916.
The leaders of that rebellion were forced to surrender. Many blamed the organization’s secrecy for the failure because it had made it difficult to arrange the rebellion. Nevertheless, the group continued to be a powerful faction for the next few years, leading into the Anglo-Irish war that eventually saw the Irish Free State created in 1921.
While in France, both men got swept up in Louis-Napoleon’s 1851 coup d’etat, and ended up in at least one secret society modeled after the Masons. Stephens wrote that he studied “Continental secret societies, and in particular those which had ramifications in Italy,” a reference to the Carbonari. O’Mahony traveled to New York and founded the US-based Fenian Brotherhood.
Stephens returned to Ireland in January 1856, most likely driven not by revolutionary fervor but by the fact that his life in Paris had become one of poverty. In December 1857, Stephens received correspondence from O’Mahony promising financial assistance to set up a militant organization in Ireland. On St Patrick’s Day in 1858, Stephens received 80 pounds.
He and a group of others swore an oath in his lodgings that night, founding the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, later renamed the Republican Brotherhood.The Fenians had outposts all over the world—England, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia within the British Empire; the US and South America beyond it.
They operated in groups called circles. At the center of each was a colonel, who recruited nine captains. Nine sergeants were recruited by each captain, and nine privates by each sergeant. Each man knew only his direct superior.In 1910, leadership of the IRB went to Thomas Clarke, who increased membership particularly among young Irishmen. In May 1915, he set up a seven-man military council, which arranged the Easter Rising of 1916.
The leaders of that rebellion were forced to surrender. Many blamed the organization’s secrecy for the failure because it had made it difficult to arrange the rebellion. Nevertheless, the group continued to be a powerful faction for the next few years, leading into the Anglo-Irish war that eventually saw the Irish Free State created in 1921.
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