The biography of eamon de valera

The Irish revolutionary leader and statesman Eamon De Valera served as prime minister and later president of Ireland In , after the death of his Spanish father, he was sent to live with his Irish mother's family in Country Limerick. He graduated from the Royal University of Ireland in and became a mathematics teacher. De Valera was an ardent supporter of the Irish language revival movement and also became a member of Sinn Fein and the Irish Volunteers.

After the failure of the insurrection, he became the senior surviving rebel leader when his death sentence was commuted because of his American birth. Released by the British government in , he was acclaimed in Ireland as the leader of the revolutionary independence movement. He became president of the Irish Republic established by the separatists after their victory in the election of December, In June, , De Valera traveled to the United States , where he won much sympathy and financial support for the Irish cause.

He returned to Ireland in December, , as the guerrilla war with Britain was moving into its final phase. De Valera accepted British proposals for a truce in July, , and sent a delegation to London to negotiate a peace settlement.

How did michael collins die

The British refused to accept his compromise plan for an Irish republic in external association with the British Empire and offered instead dominion status for Ireland, with the right of exclusion for loyalist Northern Ireland. In December, , the Irish delegates accepted these terms, believing them to be the best obtainable without further war.

De Valera, however, denounced the treaty as a betrayal of the republic which would mean continued subjection to Britain. Despite his protests the Republican Parliament, Dail Eireann , approved the treaty by a small majority in January, Continued dispute over the settlement led to civil war in June, , and supporters of the new Irish Free State defeated the Republicans in May, After the civil war De Valera led the Republican opposition to the pro-treaty government of William T.

In he broke with the extreme Republicans and founded a constitutional opposition party, Fianna Fail, which entered the Dail in