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To some people, de Valera was responsible for causing a civil war in Ireland. To others he was instrumental in freeing the country from British rule. A man with a passion for maths and opera, he was known to many as \u2018The Long Fellow\u2019 because of his great height. By 1921 he\u2019d become leader of Sinn Fein, taken part in an audacious jail break, and would now oppose the Treaty negotiated between Ireland and Britain. He became Taoiseach (prime minister) three times, and later President of Ireland.