Michael Collins (Irish leader)

Michael Collins (Irish name Micheál Ó Coileáin; October 16, 1890 – August 22, 1922), an Irish revolutionary leader, served as Minister for Finance in the Irish Republic, as Director of Intelligence for the IRA, as a member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, as Chairman of the Provisional Government and as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army. He was assassinated in August 1922, during the Irish Civil War. Members and supporters of the political party Fine Gael hold in particular respect his memory.

Collins' legacy

Michael Collins has gone down in Irish history as one of the great "what might have beens". A man of extraordinary intelligence, incredible passion but most of all a monumental work rate, his loss was a disaster for the nascent Irish state. Despite opposition, he had supported and supplied the IRA in Northern Ireland throughout the civil war, a policy which was quickly discontinued after his death, and it is doubtful he would have regarded the findings of the Irish Boundary Commission with the same equanimity as his successors. His loss was made all the more tragic by the death of President Griffith only 10 days before due to stress. One of Collins' last public appearances was marching behind the body of his friend and cabinet colleague. Within one week, Collins joined Griffith in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

Related Topics:
Irish history - Irish Boundary Commission - Stress - Glasnevin Cemetery

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But most striking of all were his prophetic words on the day the treaty was signed. When Lord Birkenhead, aware of how unpopular the Treaty would be in Britain, commented that he may have signed his political death warrant, Michael Collins said "I may have signed my actual death warrant."

Related Topics:
Lord Birkenhead - Britain - Death warrant

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Whereas his colleagues, whether Eamon de Valera, W.T. Cosgrave, Richard Mulcahy or Eoin O'Duffy were judged by how they handled the difficult task of building a state, Collins by his early death, is simply remembered as a radical young man who faced none of their subsequent peace-time problems. If people remember de Valera as a blind old man in semi-retirement in the presidency of Ireland in the 1960s and early 1970s, Cosgrave as the prime minister who had to balance the books financially after the Wall Street Crash, Mulcahy as the man who authorized executions of prisoners during the Civil War, O'Duffy as the policeman turned politician who dabbled in fascism, Collins remains in the public memory as the young man, barely thirty, who delivered a republic, then a treaty, who inspired a generation, and who died before his time as his country stood on the threshold of independence.

Related Topics:
Eamon de Valera - W.T. Cosgrave - Richard Mulcahy - Eoin O'Duffy - Presidency of Ireland - 1960s - 1970s - Wall Street - Crash - Civil War - Police - Politician - Fascism - Treaty

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