Eamon de Valera

Eamon de Valera{{ref|Name}} (born Edward George de Valera, sometimes Gaelicised Éamonn de Bhailéara; October 14, 1882 – August 29, 1975), was an Irish politician, best known as a leader of Ireland's struggle for independence from the United Kingdom in the early 20th Century, and the Republican anti-Treaty opposition in the ensuing Irish Civil War.

Civil War

Relations with the new Irish government, which was backed by most of the Dáil and the electorate, and the Anti-Treatyites under the nominal leadership of de Valera, now descended into the Irish Civil War (June 1922), in which the pro-treaty Free State forces defeated the anti-Treaty IRA. Even de Valera's most passionate supporters admit his behaviour at that point was the low point in his career. Speeches where he talked of "wading through the blood" of ministers exacerbated the bitterness of the conflict. Though nominally head of the Anti-Treatyites, de Valera had little influence and spent part of the time in prison. Among the Civil War's many tragedies were the assassination of Michael Collins, who was the head of the Provisional Government, the death through exhaustion of the President of Dáil Éireann, Arthur Griffith, the execution of one of the treaty signatories, Robert Erskine Childers and the deliberate booby-trapping and destruction by republicans of the Irish Public Records Office in the Four Courts, which destroyed one thousand years of Irish state records in an act that even the strongest defenders of the anti-treaty cause describe as a "pointless act".

Related Topics:
Irish Civil War - Assassination - Michael Collins - Provisional Government - President of Dáil Éireann - Arthur Griffith - Robert Erskine Childers - Irish Public Records Office - Four Courts

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