Ireland in the age of Revolution. The close of the eighteenth century was a time of tumultuous change, inspired by the European Enlightenment and violent revolutions in America and France, the progressive ideals of the United Irish Movement offered the hope of combining catholic, protestant, and dissenter in the common cause of Ireland. In the summer of 1798, tens of thousands of ordinary Irishmen, catholic and protestant, north and south died fighting the forces of the crown. The events of 1798 have cast a long shadow on Irish history.