The 1848 Famine Rebellion

1848 was a year of revolt & rebellion across Europe and Ireland was no different. However unique to Ireland, the 1848 uprising took place to the back drop of one of the worst famine’s in modern history – the Great Hunger.

While it has been overshadowed by the much larger 1798 rebellion and the 1916 Rising, the story of the Famine rebellion is a fascinating if forgotten history.

In this podcast we take a journey through radical politics in Ireland tracing the origins of the famine revolt in the extreme violence of the 1798 rebellion to the pacifism of Daniel O’Connell’s Repeal Movement.

Along the way you will encounter some of 19th century Ireland’s most controversial revolutionaries from John Mitchel to William Smith O’Brien in what is a fascinating story haunted by the spectre of the Great Famine.

This also gives us a chance to take a proper look at how Ireland’s political leaders reacted to the Great Famine which reveals a story of machiavellian deals and betrayal.

This is all told by focusing on the story of a very ordinary rebel, the Tipperary native Martin Ryan.