Changes

==Development of Modern Irish Politics==

==Development of Modern Irish Politics==

The treaty was a divisive issue, and caused a split in the early [[Sinn Féin]] party. Those who supported the treaty renamed their branch of the party ''Cumann na nGaedheal'' (later to become [[Fine Gael]], and formed the first official Irish government. The anti-treaty side remained 'Sinn Féin', and abstained from the new Dáil in protest until 1926, when under [[Eamon de Valera]] they formed the new [[Fianna Fáil]] party and entered parliament, winning election in 1932. Those that did not follow de Valera into Fianna Fáil remained outside the parliament, evolving into the [[Sinn Féin]] party which still exists today.  

The treaty was a divisive issue, and caused a split in the early [[Sinn Féin]] party. Those who supported the treaty renamed their branch of the party ''Cumann na nGaedheal'' (later to become [[Fine Gael]], and formed the first official Irish government. The anti-treaty side remained 'Sinn Féin') and abstained from the new Dáil in protest until 1926, when under [[Eamon de Valera]] they formed the new [[Fianna Fáil]] party and entered parliament, winning election in 1932. Those that did not follow de Valera into Fianna Fáil remained outside the parliament, evolving into the [[Sinn Féin]] party which still exists today.  

Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, Irish politics have been dominated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Ideologically speaking, the parties were not very dissimilar - however Irish politics in the first 50 years of the state were tremendously partisan nonetheless. Rather than ideological reasons for supporting one party over the other, voters would support a party based either on their own personal views on the treaty or, and especially in the middle decades of the century, because the chosen party was the one the voter's parents and family had always voted for. This mentality does not exist as much in contemporary Ireland, as to the current younger generation, the memories and attitudes of the civil war are but a paragraph in the history book.

Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, Irish politics have been dominated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Ideologically speaking, the parties were not very dissimilar - however Irish politics in the first 50 years of the state were tremendously partisan nonetheless. Rather than ideological reasons for supporting one party over the other, voters would support a party based either on their own personal views on the treaty or, and especially in the middle decades of the century, because the chosen party was the one the voter's parents and family had always voted for. This mentality does not exist as much in contemporary Ireland, as to the current younger generation, the memories and attitudes of the civil war are but a paragraph in the history book.