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.

Minister for Finance

In 1919, the already busy Collins received yet another responsibility when de Valera appointed him to the Aireacht (ministry) as Minister for Finance. Understandably, in the circumstances of a brutal war, in which ministers were liable to be arrested or killed by the Royal Irish Constabulary, the British Army, the Black and Tans or the Auxiliaries at a moment's notice, most of the ministries only existed on paper, or as one or two people working in a room of a private house. Not with Collins, however, who produced a Finance Ministry that was able to organise a large bond issue in the form of a National Loan to fund the new Irish Republic. Such was Collins' reputation that even Lenin heard about Collins' spectacular national loan, and sent a representative to Dublin to borrow some money from the Irish Republic to help fund the Russian Republic, offering some of the Russian Crown Jewels as collateral. (The jewels remained in a Dublin safe, forgotten by all sides, until the 1930s, when they were found by chance.)

Related Topics:
Responsibility - Aireacht - Royal Irish Constabulary - British Army - Black and Tans - Auxiliaries - Lenin - Russian Republic - Russian Crown Jewels - Collateral - 1930s

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In retrospect, the sheer scale of Collins' workload and his achievements are impressive. From creating a special assassination squad called The Twelve Apostles to kill British agents and assassins to the arrangement of an internationally famous "National Loan"; from running the IRA to effectively running the government when de Valera traveled to and remained in the United States for an extended period of time; and managing an arms-smuggling operation; Collins nearly became a one-man revolution. By 1920, when he was thirty years old, the British offered a bounty of £10,000 (a vast sum in the 1920s) for information leading to the capture or death of Michael Collins.

Related Topics:
Assassination - The Twelve Apostles - British - United States - Revolution - 1920 - 1920s

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Among national leaders, he made enemies with two particular people: Cathal Brugha, the earnest but mediocre Minister for Defence who was completely overshadowed by his cabinet colleague in military matters (despite Collins being only nominally Minister for Finance with Brugha in Defence supposedly being the big player), and Éamon de Valera, the President of Dáil Éireann. De Valera bitterly resented his much younger colleague and more so when Collins' reputation reached new heights while he, against Collins' advice, devoted a year to an ultimately fruitless search for American recognition of the Irish Republic. Their rivalry was even represented in their nicknames: the extremely tall de Valera earned the nickname the 'Long Fellow' while to de Valera's fury while abroad, Collins won the nickname 'Big Fellow' from his colleagues. Upon his return, De Valera attempted to get Collins to go to the States himself, on the pretext that only he could achieve certain tasks there. Collins and most of the Sinn Féin leadership (except Brugha and Austin Stack) opposed this, and he stayed in Ireland.

Related Topics:
Cathal Brugha - Cabinet - Éamon de Valera - American - Austin Stack

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Following a truce, arrangements were made for a conference between the British government and the leaders of the as yet unrecognized Irish Republic. Other than the Soviet Union, which needed money and so gave diplomatic recognition to the Irish Republic, not a single other state did so, despite sustained lobbying in Washington by de Valera and prominent Irish-Americans, as well as at the Versailles Peace Conference by Sean T. O'Kelly. In a move that astonished observers, de Valera--who had in August 1921 had the Dáil upgrade his office from prime minister to President of the Republic to make him the equivalent of King George V in the negotiations--then announced that as the King would not attend neither should the President of the Republic. Instead with the reluctant agreement of his cabinet, de Valera nominated a team of 'plenipotentiaries'--delegates with the power to sign a treaty without seeking approval from the government at home--headed by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins as his deputy. With heavy misgivings, believing de Valera should head the delegation, Collins agreed to go to London.

Related Topics:
British government - Soviet Union - State - Washington - Irish-American - Versailles Peace Conference - Sean T. O'Kelly - President of the Republic - George V - Arthur Griffith

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