Supporters of the United Irishmen in the late 1790s who looked to France for inspiration were like the western intellectuals of the 1930s who failed to recognise what was going on in Soviet Russia, a leading historian has said.
Prof Brian Walker, director of the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's University Belfast, said many United Irishmen and their supporters failed to take account of the deterioration of the French Revolution. "To many people, the descent of the revolution from idealistic aims of liberty and equality to terror and dictatorship made them very wary of importing revolution into Ireland," he said.
Prof Walker was speaking at a commemorative dinner organised by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland to mark the 1798 Rebellion.
Guests included the Lord Mayors of Dublin and Belfast, the heads of the Irish universities and leading journalists from both sides of the Border.
Too much attention had been focused on the United Irishmen and not enough on their opponents, Prof Walker said.
"The United Irishmen were seen as idealistic and `goodies' while their opponents were viewed as reactionaries and unpatriotic. But there were many sensible people who opposed the rebellion for very good reasons." These included Daniel O'Connell, Edmund Burke, the Catholic Church authorities and the Orange Order.
By 1795, all the Irish colleges in France and Belgium had been closed and Christianity - both the Catholic and Protestant varieties - was threatened by a number of revolutionary governments. "There was a real concern that Ireland could become a French province." The terrible violence of the rebellion tended to be forgotten, Prof Walker added. Some 30,000 died in under six months, most of them killed by other Irishmen. This compared to 3,500 deaths in 30 years of the Troubles. "The vast bulk of troops and rebels engaged in the 1798 Rebellion were Irishmen `Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter', " he said.
This contradicted the view that the situation in Ireland was one of long-lasting conflict between Protestant and Catholic, or nationalist and unionist. It also showed that special opportunities sometimes arose in Ireland to create "strategic alliances" with great potential.
"And it showed that the international dimension was as important then as it is now. What happened in the rest of Europe influences people, both for and against the revolution."
Prof Walker concluded: "Finally, societies which fail to cope with problems of human rights and justice leave themselves open to violent challenge".
