After Revolution

This concluding chapter reflects on the events at New Geneva and the political context of Europe at large. There was more than a hint of irony in the fact that members of the United Irishmen were put to death at New Geneva. This was one of the most significant outcomes of the Waterford experiment. The intention had never of course been to create a military base for soldiers. The buildings were made for republicans. Yet it was at the site of New Geneva that the British troops and loyalist volunteers employed dreadful violence against the United Irishmen. New Geneva Barracks passed into folklore because of the bloody treatment of the rebels. The British government, still at war with revolutionary France, used the example of what happened in 1798 to justify a ‘Scottish solution’ to the Irish problem: the Acts of Union of 1800, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1801.