Fenian << FEE nee uhn >> movement was a struggle by Irish nationalists to free Ireland from English rule. In the late 1850’s, a group of Irish patriots called Fenians began to plan a revolution. The Fenians took their name from the Fianna, a band of mythical Irish warriors (see Irish literature (Heroic tales, romances, and sagas)).
Most Fenians belonged to a secret society called the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), which was founded in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1858. In 1866 and 1867, the Fenians attacked police stations in Ireland and set off bombs in England. But the English authorities put down the rebellion and imprisoned hundreds of suspected rebels.
Many people who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States supported the Fenian movement. In the late 1860’s, Irish American Fenians staged three unsuccessful raids on Canada, then a member of the British Empire.
The Fenian goal of independence through revolution was adopted by later Irish republican movements. Ireland became independent in 1921, after several years of guerrilla warfare.
