The Enduring Legacy Of Michael Collins 100 Years On

21 August 2022
ShareSave


Luke SprouleBBC News NI


"What if Michael Collins had lived?"


That is the question every visitor to the Michael Collins Centre and Museum in Castleview, County Cork, desires to ask, according to its joint creator Tim Crowley.


Monday marks 100 years since Collins was eliminated in a weapon battle between competing sides in the Irish Civil War.


A century on, there stays a big interest in "the Big Fella", his function in Irish independence and his enduring tradition.


"A great deal of our visitors are middle-aged and some have parents and grandparents who were included 100 years earlier," says Mr Crowley, whose grandmother was .


"But then we likewise have actually got 14 and 15 years of age who are big Collins enthusiasts who can be found in who know what he had for his last breakfast.


"They toss some actually excellent questions at us."


Thousands to participate in Michael Collins commemoration


Collins was a crucial figure in the defend Irish self-reliance and was director of intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the War of Independence with Britain, which lasted from January 1919 up until July 1921.


But the terms of the peace treaty with Britain, which he signed, were very controversial and led to a civil war which broke out in June 1922, with the IRA splitting into pro and anti-treaty factions.


Collins was commander-in-chief of the pro-treaty forces, which ended up being the new Irish National Army, however on 22 August 1922 while he was taking a trip through his home county of Cork his convoy was assailed by anti-treaty fighters.


Collins got out of his automobile to combat and in the weapon battle which followed he was shot dead.


He was 31 years old.


At the time of his death he was chairman of the provisionary government of the brand-new Irish Free State, in addition to leader of its militaries.


To this day people question what may have been if he had actually survived and gone on to lead the new state.


"People ask would he have attempted to produce a 32 county settlement? Would he have permitted nationalists in the northern state to have been treated the way they were?" Mr Crowley says.


"I think he was the one leader at that time that the proof suggests had genuine interest in the northern situation.


"In his mind the treaty was simply the beginning."


He presumes Collins would have been more powerful when it came to the Boundary Commission, which was intended to select where the new border in between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland should lie.


In the end, although the commission recommended little transfers of land in both instructions, its recommendations were never ever implemented and the border stayed the exact same as it was in 1921.


Lock of Michael Collins' hair to be auctioned


How the Irish Civil War erupted 100 years back


The civil war left a bitter legacy in Irish society, particularly the execution of lots of anti-treaty fighters by the new provisional federal government.


The first authorities executions were brought out in November 1922 and they continued until May 1923.


But Prof Marie Coleman, professor of 20th Century Irish history at Queen's University, Belfast, does not believe this would have been any various had actually Collins not been eliminated.


"There has actually been a lot of speculation that the course of the civil war might have been different, that perhaps the acrimony of the executions may have been various," she states.


"I see nothing to recommend that Collins would have prosecuted the war any in a different way.


"Arguably, he had more at stake in safeguarding the treaty settlement because he had actually been a signatory of the treaty.


"He revealed nothing between June and August 1922 to suggest that he would have been any softer on the republican side than Richard Mulcahy wanted him."


Collins' killing came just 10 days after the death of Arthur Griffith - another essential figure in the battle for Irish independence.


Other prominent leaders such as Éamon De Valera were now on the anti-treaty side.


But Prof Coleman says those who filled the vacuum were likewise capable leaders.


"Griffith was changed by WT Cosgrave who was most likely the most skilled political leader in Sinn Féin," she states.


"Collins was replaced by Richard Mulcahy, who had been the chief of personnel of the IRA during the War of Independence.


"So probably, in truth, he understood more about running the army than Collins would have done."


There is still no agreement on who fired the fatal shot that eliminated Collins, which has actually left space for a range of theories and conspiracies.


Mr Crowley says the events of Collins' final day are the most popular part of the museum and centre which he runs, with visitors always keen to ask about who was responsible for his death.


"People are captivated by the fact he died the method he did," he states.


"He passed away a hero's death with a weapon in his hand, you could not make it up."


What was the Anglo-Irish Treaty?


The crucial figures on complimentary state's road to civil war


On Sunday, Mr Crowley will attend the official ceremonies and on Monday the centre is running a trip to several areas connected with Collins, consisting of the scene of his death at Béal na Bláth where they will hold a minute's silence at the time Collins was shot.


One of the more questionable aspects of Collins' legacy remains the reality he consented to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.


It developed the Irish Free State however within the British Empire and with the British King as president, who Irish TDs (MPs) were needed to swear an oath of allegiance to.


It likewise validated the partition of Ireland and the production of Northern Ireland.


"Some individuals state to us that Michael Collins was not a republican politician," Mr Crowley states.


"But I would state he was a pragmatic republican with a plan that could actually be successful.


"He was the sort of leader who only occurs for a country once in a thousand years."