Irelands Michael Collins And Emon De Valera :: essays research papers

Irelands Michael collins and Emon De ValeraThere are many conditions under which Ireland was divided into twonations. Two main men were the main leaders of this split, Emon de Valera andMichael Collins. Sinn Fein excessively played a large role. Their differing visionsfor an Ireland free of British rule was the root motivation for the split.Born in New York City in 1882, Emon de Valera was described as a tall,spectacled, schoolmasterly, of Jewish cast as Tim Healy said. Edward Norman,the author of A History of Modern Ireland, added that de Valera was an austeretheoretician (Norman, 265). Michael Collins was born in 1890 at Clonakilty, Co.Cork. Edward Norman said his personality was to be to the contrary of deValeras he said Collins was not an intellectual and was a man of violentimpulses. He took that statement further when he said the Collins would go asfar to tumble his colleagues on the floor and bite their ears in playfulattention. Now that de Valeras and Collins personalities have beenestablished, we can now analyze the events and unquestionable conditions under whichIreland was under that led ultimately to her freedom.All across Ireland people were repulsed by the executions which theyconsidered to be needlessly brutal. What they lacked was new leadership tofocus the restless animation of the Irish into effective political action, but itwas not long in coming. At Christmas 1916 all rebel prisoners who had beeninterned without trial, those that the British had considered insignificant,were released as a goodwill apparent motion to the United States which had been veryangry by British conduct regarding the rebels. This proved to be a costlymistake. Among those released was a cadre of IRB men who had spent their metrein prison educating and organizing themselves into what came out to be aformidable political and military force. The leader of these efforts in prisonwas Michael Collins, who was still a little cognize Volunteer at the time.Despite martia l law, Collins contacted the members of his secretorganization throughout Ireland and set in motion a clever plan to concordpolitical power. Using Sinn Fein as cover, the IRB began to run its members ascandidates for parliament. Their successes throughout 1917 against RedmondsIrish Parliamentary Party candidates shifted power to Sinn Fein and caused aturmoil of public support for the republican movement throughout CatholicIreland. After Collins release in June, 1917,Eamon de Valera, the oldest of thesurviving 1916 rebels, joined Collins. De Valera was lucky for he had been