Ireland's Michael Collins and Emon De Valera There are many conditions under which Ireland was divided into two nations. Two main men were the main leaders of this split, Emon de Valera and Michael Collins. Sinn Fein also played a large role. Their differing visions for 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 'austere theoretician' (Norman, 265). Michael Collins was born in 1890 at Clonakilty, Co. Cork. Edw