In the aftermath of the Great Famine, Ireland was exhausted. The population had fallen dramatically through death from hunger and disease, and from mass emigration. Over a million people had fled to seek a new life in North America, and possibly the same number settled in Great Britain. They took with them a seething hatred of England, blaming the government for the calamity that had fallen upon their motherland. The men who had taken part in the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848 began to recruit and plan armed insurrection.

Kevin and Oisin walk through the rise and fall of The Fenian Brotherhood