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.

Easter Rising

On April 24, 1916 the rising began. De Valera occupied Boland's Mills, Grand Canal Street in Dublin, his chief task being to cover the south-eastern approaches to the city. After a week of fighting the order came from Pádraig Pearse to surrender. De Valera was court-martialled, convicted, and sentenced to death, but the sentence was immediately commuted to penal servitude for life. It is often thought that he was saved from execution because of American citizenship. That is technically incorrect. He was saved by two facts: firstly, he was held in a different prison from other leaders, thus his execution was delayed by practicalities; had he been held with Padraig Pearse, James Connolly and others, he probably would have been one of the first executed; and secondly, his American citizenship caused a delay, while the full legal situation (i.e., was he actually a United States citizen and if so, how would the United States react to the execution of one of its citizens?) was clarified. The fact that Britain was trying to bring the USA into the war in Europe at the time made the situation even more delicate. Both delays taken together meant that, while he was next-in-line for execution, when the time came for a decision, all executions had been halted in view of the negative public reaction; so timing, location and questions relating to citizenship saved de Valera's life.

Related Topics:
April 24 - 1916 - Dublin - Pádraig Pearse - American - Padraig Pearse - James Connolly - Britain

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The Easter Rising showed up a number of contrasting aspects of Eamon de Valera's personality. On the one hand, he showed leadership skills and a meticulous ability for planning. Yet during his command he also experienced what in hindsight was seen as a form of nervous breakdown, so embarrassing that its occurrence was hidden by those who had been with him in 1916 all through his lifetime. In fact the details of his erratic and emotional behaviour only came to light, thanks to a recent biography.{{ref|Orders}}

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After imprisonment in Dartmoor, Maidstone and Lewes prisons, he and his comrades were released under an amnesty in June 1917. Shortly afterwards he was elected member of the British House of Commons for East Clare (the constituency which he represented until 1959) in the 1918 general election as well as president of Sinn Féin, the previously small monarchist party which had wrongly been credited by the British for the Easter Rising and which the survivors of the Rising took over and then turned into a republican party. The previous president of Sinn Féin, Arthur Griffith, had championed an Anglo-Irish "dual monarchy", with an independent Ireland governed separately from Britain, their only link being a shared monarch. That had been the situation with the so-called Constitution of 1782 under Henry Grattan, until Ireland merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800.

Related Topics:
Dartmoor - Maidstone - Lewes - 1917 - British House of Commons - Clare - 1959 - 1918 general election - Sinn Féin - Monarchist - Republic - Arthur Griffith - Constitution of 1782 - Henry Grattan - Kingdom of Great Britain - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

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