Eamon de valera short biography

Eamon de Valera, 1955  ©De Valera opposed the treaty that established the Irish Free State, but went on to lead and shape the new state.

Edward George de Valera was born on 14 October 1882 in New York to a Spanish father and an Irish mother.

He moved to Ireland at the age of two and was brought up by relatives in Limerick. He became a teacher of mathematics and an avid supporter of the Irish language movement.

De Valera was a leader in the 1916 Easter Rising which proclaimed an Irish republic.

Eamon de valera short biography wikipedia

Arrested, he was saved from a death sentence because of his American birth and instead received a prison term. On his release, he stood as a Sinn Fein Party candidate in the 1918 general election. Sinn Fein won the majority of seats outside Ulster, but refused to take their seats at Westminster, instead establishing an independent parliament (Dail Eireann) to govern Ireland.

De Valera was elected president of the Dail.

The Irish Republican Army, the ar