Eamon de Valera

14 October 1882 (New York) - 29 August 1975 (Dublin). Influential and controversial politician of 20th-century Ireland (Barton and Foy 98; O `Neill 2).

He was registered George but baptised Edward. For he preferred the usage of the Irish version Éamon from the time he entered public life. His mother Catherine Coll was an Irishwoman of Knockmore in County Limerick who immigrated to Brooklyn in 1879, in hope for better living conditions. In New York she found work as domestic worker. His Spanish Vivion Juan de Valera was engaged in the sugar trade between Cuba, Spain and the United States. Éamon`s parents got married in St. Patrick`s church in Greenville New Jesery on September 19th 1881 (O`Neill 1f.)In 1885 Vivon died and Catherine sent her son back to Ireland. De Valera was returned to his mother’s place of birth, where his uncle Pat raised him amongst his relatives (ibid. 3f.)

He studied mathematics at the Blackrock College and at the Rockwell College in County Tipparney. After finishing his studies he became a mathematics teacher at Blackrock and later in a number of schools in Dublin.5 His Irish roots attracted him very much and he endeavoured to learn the Irish language and joint the Gaelic League in 1908. The next step in de Valera`s legacy was the participation in the Irish Volunteers. Inside the organisation he rapidly rose in ranks since he was very sophisticated and showed leading qualities. Whilst planning a rebellion against the British, Patrick Pearse an Irish writer, political activist and commander-in chief of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) appointed de Valera as commander of the third Battallion. De Valera joint the IRB very late, because he had reservations about the organisation and he remained cortical about it for his life time. He believed it caused the division an the uncertainty in the national movement (ibid.98;Townshend 69).

After the Rising failed Major General Sir John Maxwell sencetced the Military Council of the IRB and their supports to death. 15 activists were execute in May 1916, amongst them were Patrick Pearse, James Connel, Thomas Clarke, Sean Mcdermott, Thomas MacDonagh , Emonn Ceannt and Josef Plunkett who signed the Proclamation of the Irish Republic (Barton and Foy 310ff, 316ff.) For de Valera was executed,although he had high ranks in the Irish Volunteers and was a commander in the Rising. It is assumed that sencented to death because he was neither a member of the inner IRB nor was he an Irish citizen since US diplomates insited in Dublin that the British were not allow to kill American citizens (ibid. 324).

The failure of the Rising did not meant that Irish nationalists gave in or surrender they tried to reestablish the Irish Volunteers and formed the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and started to fight British again in 1919. The fights lasted until 1921/22 and resulted in the separation of Ireland by the arrangement of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. With the Anglo-Irish Treaty Ireland gained self-government and independence again. The treaty not only contained independence but arranged that six Ulster counties in Northern Ireland remain under the government of the the United Kingdom (Breuer 151f.). The arrangements between the Irish and British lead to the formation of two parties among the Irish people. The Anglo-Irish Treaty supporters on the one hand and the opponents on the other hand who denied a separation on the other hand. De Valera gathered opponents in the South to fight the supporters but he had to give in after Michael Collins had been assassinated and Arthur Griffith had deceased (ibid. 152).

With two central persons of the protest movement dead de Valera had to surrender in 1923. After the surrender the remain a member of Sinn Féin and the IRA until 1925. He considered their agitations inflexible and inappropriate for his further career (ibid. 153). Fianna Fail was formed one year after his departure. The new party basically contained the program of Sinn Féin but de Valera managed it to present the party in a more moderate way for gaining broader acceptance and a solid membership. Furthermore the program asserts the improvement and fortification of the Irish culture and the stabilisation and protection of Irish economic policies. In 1932 de Valera and Fianna Fail came to power and remained in power for sixteen years(ibid. 154). After World War II Ireland could not establish a good growing economy. In consequence de Valera had to abandon his office and Fine Gael became its successor. Only in 1951 de Valera found his way back and became president of the Irish Republic for another three years and was elected president in 1957 for the last time. He resigned in 1959 at the age of 77(ibid. 156f.).

Work cited

O`Neill, Longford. Eamon de Valera. London: Hutchison & Co Ltd, 1970.

Barton, Brain and Michael T. Foy. The Easter Rising. Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2011.

Breuer, Rolf. Irland. Eine Einführung in seine Geschichte, Literatur und Kultur. München: W. Fink Verlag, 2003.

Townshend, Charles. Easter 1916. The Irish Revellion. London: Penguin Books, 2006.