Eamon De Valera and the Rebirth of Independent Ireland
When Eamon De Valera’s died in 1975, Ireland lost its most successful and most prominent patriot and nationalist. In his life, he played many roles: a dedicated teacher, statesman, president of Eire and Ireland, Prime Minister, soldier and provocateur. He is probably best remembered for his part in the 1916 Easter Rebellion and the civil war that divided Ireland from 1922-23, but did much more since then. De Valera was probably the most constant influence on modern Irish politics. His political activities started in 1913 and sixty years later, in 1973, he finally stepped down from what had been a very public life. De Valera played a very important part in the birth of independent Ireland and helped to shape modern-day Ireland. He had Ireland’s best intentions at heart but unfortunately, he did not have the support necessary to enact the changes that probably would have benefited Ireland. He was tireless, compromised little but made the best of all situations. Although a catholic, he was religiously tolerant and tried to keep a unified Ireland.
Edward De Valera was born in New York City on October 4, 1882. His mother was an Irish immigrant and his father was originally from Spain. When his music teacher father died in 1885, the three-year-old Eddie was sent with an uncle to live with his grandmother in Ireland. His name became gaelicized to the Irish equivalent of Edward: Eamon. Young Eamon progressed easily through school, he excelled best in mathematics . He became a teacher, moving from one position to another at various schools and colleges. His growing interest in the Irish language led him to join the Gaelic League, which he did so in 1908. It was there th...
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...cts between the Irish and the English, and discusses the oppression of the Irish for four hundred years. This book is an excellent source on the subject of the causes of the Easter Uprising.
O’Conner, Ulick, The Troubles: Ireland 1912-1922. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1975.
This book is an event-by-event account of the Irish rebellion of the early 20th century. This is a well-researched, well-documented history of the event.
Strauss, Erich, Irish Nationalism and British Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1951.
This book focuses on the political differences of the two islands and the social problems these differences caused. This book provides helpful facts and figures to be used in an argument.
Ward, Alan J., The Easter Rising: Revolution and Irish Nationalism. Arlington Heights: AHM Publishing Corporation, 1980.
Consistancy in Britain's Policy in Ireland in the Period 1798-1921 Social policy – in the 1830’s, Ireland had the best health Land and Economic policy – land issues were ignored until 1870: - first land Act – irrelevant - second land Act – political rather than economic - Wyndham Act – the government was becoming less and less convinced that property was the ‘bedrock of civilisation’ – it was the product of a shift in mentality. - 1890’s – HUGE economic reforms Political policy – consistently ignored or opposed any nationalist movement Concession/coercion – always a combination. However, there were more concessions as the century wore on. Religious policy – after 1829, the government was always prepared to grant religious reforms – e.g. the abolition of tithes in the 30’s, the Maynooth Grant and Charitable Bequests Act in the 1840’s, the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1869.
In 476 AD, centuries of amassed knowledge in science and philosophy, literature and the arts lay in peril of destruction alongside the physical Roman Empire. Thomas Cahill's book How the Irish Saved Civilization sheds light upon the role of the Irish people in the conservation and rebirth of civilization and the Western tradition after the fall of the Roman Empire. It is here that Cahill opens his book and after a brief description of classical civilization, that we are given a look at another people, far different from the Romans and Greeks- the vibrant and intriguing Celts. How these people came in contact with the civilized world and how they assisted in pulling the West out of the Dark ages is, then, the paramount of Cahill's argument.
"Sinn-ne Fianna Fail", the first line of the Irish National Anthem loosely translates "soldiers are we/whose lives are pledged to Ireland" , served as Eamon de Valera's focus throughout his life. Born on October 14th, 1882 in New York City's New York Nursery and Child's Hospital to Catherine (Kate) Coll and Vivion Juan de Valera of 61 East 41st Street, Manhattan. Eamon's mother Kate emigrated from the small town of Knockmore, inside County Limerick, and his father was born in Spain. The couple married on September 19th, 1881 in Greenville's St. Patrick' Church. Two and half years after Eamon's birth, Vivion's death forced Kate to send her young son back to Ireland in the company of her brother Ned Coll. Kate's mother, Elizabeth Coll, raised Eamon in the same small community that had nurtured his mother. De Valera's preliminary education included eight years at the National School followed by two years at Christian Brothers School in Charlesville during which he earned a scholarship to finance his further education at Blackrock College in Dublin and University College, Blackrock. Upon completion of his education, de Valera began his career as a mathematics professor. In 1908, de Valera began to pursue proficiency in the Irish language by joining the Central Branch of the Gaelic League, an organization "trying to rebuild Irish nationalism through teaching its members about the native Gaelic language and its culture". Tim Pat Coogan summed up de Valera's decision stating "everything else of importance which followed flowed from that decision: his marriage, involvement in revolution and later, his political career. Eamon met his wife, Sinead Flanagan a schoolteacher fou...
The Effectiveness and Success of Parnell as an Irish Nationalist Leader Parnell was a very influential leader and had campaigned for many different causes but most noticeably he campaigned for land reform within Ireland, this was one of his most noticeable achievements as an Irish Nationalist Leader. Parnell was helped to power by the Land League. This was where the end of the Great Famine within Ireland meant that farmer's incomes fell by a large extent and they demanded the reduction of rents due to this. They demanded this because many farmers could not pay the rents so this meant that landlords evicted them.
English persecution of the Irish people is one cause of the tensions in Northern Ireland. Before 1793 Irish Catholics were persecuted by British law. Catholics were not allowed to buy and sell land, get proper education, marry Protestants or vote. This fueled problems in Ireland. After 1793 Britain was afraid, after loosing America, that a revolution would happen in Ireland. So the restrictions on the Irish Catholics were done away with. This however angered the protestants who formed the Orange Order, who was against the Catholics. This all came to a head when in 1798 when a small rebellion broke out.
O'Connor, Thomas H. The Boston Irish: A Political History. Boston, MA. Northeastern University Press, 1995.
In order to legitimise a regime or cause, traditions may be constructed around historical or mythological events, people or symbols that reinforce the image required to focus people’s conception of the past. People can be encouraged to invent a cohesive view of their shared ‘traditions’ by what could be called cherry picking bits of history.
INTRODUCTION The history of Ireland "that most distressful nation" is full of drama and tragedy, but one of the most interesting stories is about what happened to the Irish during the mid-nineteenth century and how millions of Irish came to live in America (Purcell 31). Although the high point of the story was the years of the devastating potato famine from 1845 to 1848, historians have pointed out that immigrating from Ireland was becoming more popular before the famine and continued until the turn of the twentieth century. In the one hundred years between the first recording of immigrants in
The authors provide a background to the Troubles of Northern Ireland, with their main focus being a detailed analysis of the religious, geographical, age and gender distribution of polit...
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republic revolutionary military organization. It came from the Irish volunteers, which were created on November 25, 1913. The Irish volunteers started the Easter Rising in order to end the British Rule in Ireland, leading them to be titled as the Irish Republican Army in January 1919. In 1919, the Irish volunteers became confirmed by Irish Nationalists, Dail Eireann and were recognised as a legitimate army. The IRA raged Guerilla warfare against the British from 1919-1921, creating the Irish War of Independence. The IRA was active from January 1919 to March, 1922, though they are inactive now. The IRA’s main leader was IRA army council. Their headquarters were in Dublin Ireland, but they also operate out the United Kingdom, throughout Ireland, and Northern Ireland. The IRA was funded by extortion, bank robberies, and donations from their descendants. The Irish Republican Army’s main goal was to become independent from Great Britain.
The Irish and British governments fought for many years over the ownership of Northern Ireland. Britain had main control over Northern Ireland, and Ireland did not think that was fair. Be...
" Moral and Physical Force: The Language of Violence in Irish Nationalism." Journal of British Studies 27 (1988): 150- 189. 23 Sept. 2003 <http://www.jstor.org>
Allison, Fiona. "The Irish War of Independence 1919-1921." suite101.com. suite101, 11 Jan 2010. Web. 16 Jan 2011.
ordinary difficulties for the families who live on these post-colonial islands. It can be argued that all
One of the most closely watched and widely debated conflict of our time is the one occurring In Northern Ireland. It has been a hot debate for over a century now, yet the root of the conflict is still unclear. There have been many theories over time, yet none have been able to adequately describe what is really happening on the matter. This conflict is divided by many lines; ethnically between the Irish and the British, and religiously by the Catholics and Protestant denominations.