History and culture of Ireland. Андрей Тихомиров

by the War of Independence in North America (1775-1783) and, to an even greater extent, the French bourgeois revolution of the late 18th century. In 1791, the United Irishmen society was founded in Belfast by radicals, led by the Irish bourgeois revolutionary Wolf Tone, Arthur O'Connor, etc. In 1793-1794, Irish peasants offered armed resistance to the authorities in response to recruitment for the war with France. The French expeditions organized to help the Irish patriots (1796 and 1797) were defeated. In May—June 1798, the "United Irishmen" raised an uprising, which was brutally suppressed. The French landing failed (August 1798). Having dealt with the rebels, the British colonialists deprived Ireland of the last remnants of autonomy. According to the "Act of Union" (entered into force on January 1, 1801), the Irish Parliament was abolished through "unification" with the English Parliament. The top of the Catholic clergy treacherously approved the "union", which strengthened the colonial enslavement of the Irish.

      In the 19th century, in connection with the completion of the industrial revolution and the growth of English capitalist industry, the consequences of the colonial subordination of the country, which was turned into an agricultural district of England, into a market for cheap labor and agricultural raw materials, began to be felt especially acutely. The robbery of Ireland was one of the sources for the industrialization of England. The whole history of Ireland in the 19th century developed under the sign of the growing resistance of the Irish people to the English colonialists. The working class of the country began to play an important role in the national liberation movement, but the main force was the peasantry, turned into poor bonded tenants. The revolutionary-democratic wing of the national liberation movement was opposed by the liberal wing, representing the interests of the urban bourgeoisie, the Catholic clergy and part of the landlords. At the beginning of the 19th century, the head of the liberal wing was Daniel O'Connell. In an effort to use the Irish liberal circles as a tool to curb the masses of the people of Ireland, the English government carried out in 1829 the "Act on the Emancipation of Catholics", granting them the right to vote, but at the same time increased the electoral qualification for the amount of declared income from 40 shillings to 10 pounds sterling. The Irish Liberal opposition gained access to the English Parliament. In 1835, O'Connell concluded the treacherous Lichfield House Agreement of 1835 with the Whig leaders.