In Ireland, many dissenters, inspired by events of the French Revolution,[4] founded the Society of United Irishmen, with early members including Theobald Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken.
[4] A blow was handed to the United Irishmen, spearheading the revolt, when Dubliners did not rise up against the British, but the uprising was rejuvenated by an unexpected turn of events in County Wexford, where a detachment of North Cork Militia had been attacked.
[4] Loyal forces in Wexford managed to hold several key towns,[5] and the rebels in this area were defeated in the Battle of Vinegar Hill in June.
Along with fellow nationalists, Robert Emmet and his elder brother Thomas, both members of the weakened United Irishmen, planned a second Irish rebellion for 1803, this time with French aid expected.
When, in July of that year, an arsenal of the rebel group exploded, Robert Emmet advanced the uprising, now ruling out any chance of French involvement.
Robert Emmet had not authorised the attack (Kilwarden died later) and, seeing that rebels in the countryside had not risen, fired a flare, the signal to call off the uprising.
After Emmet's abortive rising, there were no instances of unrest in Ireland until after 1815, when the Napoleonic Wars ended with Bonaparte's final defeat, the Battle of Waterloo.
Some Irishmen, including Robert Emmet's brother Thomas, had by then become hostile[6] to the French, embittered toward them for failing to offer greater assistance in the revolts and for refusing to plan any more invasions after 1803.