Fenian
From Wikinfo
- For criticism see Criticism of Fenian
The name Fenians was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish nationalist organization which he started in America in 1858.[1] The Fenians, both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood, were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. O'Mahony, who was a Celtic scholar, named the American wing of the movement after the Fianna, the legendary band of Irish warriors led by Fionn mac Cumhaill.
The term is still used today, especially in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland, where its original meaning has continued and expanded to include all supporters of Irish nationalism. Irish Nationalists themselves, while honouring the 19th-century Fenians, commonly use other designations for themselves such as "Nationalist" or "Republican", terms also used by the Fenians themselves.
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Fenianism
Fenianism is a term first used by the British political establishment in the 1860s for any form of mobilization among the lower classes or those who expressed any Irish nationalist sentiments. They warned people about this threat to turn decent civilized society on its head such as that posed by trade unionism to the existing social order in England. [2] Fenianism, according to O'Mahony is symbolized by two principles: firstly, that Ireland had a natural right to independence, and secondly, that that right could be won only by an armed revolution. [3]
Ireland
James Stephens, one of the "Men of 1848," (a participant in the 1848 revolt) had established himself in Paris, and was in correspondence with John O'Mahony in the United States and other advanced nationalists at home and abroad. This would include the Phoenix National and Literary Society, with Jeremiah Donovan (afterwards known as O'Donovan Rossa) among its more prominent members, had recently been formed at Skibbereen. Along with Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary and Charles Kickham he founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood on 17 March 1858 in Lombard Street, Dublin.
United States
The Fenian Brotherhood the Irish Republican Brotherhood's U.S. branch was founded by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny, both of whom had been "out" in 1848. In the face of nativist suspicion, it quickly established an independent existence, although it still worked to gain Irish-American support for armed rebellion in Ireland. Initially, O'Mahony ran operations in the USA, sending funds to Stephens and the IRB in Ireland, disagreement over O'Mahony's leadership led to the formation of two Fenian Brotherhoods in 1865. The U.S. chapter of the movement was also sometimes referred to as the IRB. After the failed invasion of Canada, it was replaced by Clan na Gael.
Footnotes
References
- The Fenian Chief: A Biography of James Stephens, Desmond Ryan, Hely Thom LTD, Dublin, 1967
- The IRB: The Irish Republican Brotherhood from The Land League to Sinn Féin, Owen McGee, Four Courts Press, 2005, ISBN 1 85182 972 5
- Fenian Fever: An Anglo-American Delemma, Leon Ó Broin, Chatto & Windus, London, 1971, ISBN 0 7011 1749 4.
- The McGarrity Papers, Sean Cronin, Anvil Books, Ireland, 1972
- Fenian Memories, Dr. Mark F. Ryan, Edited by T.F. O'Sullivan, M. H. Gill & Son, LTD, Dublin, 1945
- The Fenians, Michael Kenny, The National Museum of Ireland in association with Country House, Dublin, 1994, ISBN 0 946172 42 0
See also
External links
- Fenian Brotherhood
- BBC History article on the Irish Republican Brotherhood
- 1865 newspaper Article describing the Fenians
- History Learning Site > Ireland 1848 to 1922 > The Fenian Movement
- The Fenian Movement in the US including digitized materials about their activities. From the Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930 collection, Harvard University Library Open Collections Program
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Fenian. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of this Wikinfo article is available under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. |
