The Enduring Legacy Of Michael Collins 100 Years On

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21 August 2022
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Luke SprouleBBC News NI


"What if Michael Collins had lived?"


That is the concern every visitor to the Michael Collins Centre and Museum in Castleview, County Cork, wishes to ask, according to its joint founder Tim Crowley.


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


A century on, there remains a huge interest in "the Big Fella", his function in Irish self-reliance and his long-lasting legacy.


"A lot of our visitors are middle-aged and some have moms and dads and grandparents who were included 100 years ago," says Mr Crowley, whose granny was Collins' cousin.


"But then we also have got 14 and 15 year olds who are big Collins enthusiasts who are available in who know what he had for his last breakfast.


"They throw some actually good questions at us."


Thousands to attend Michael Collins celebration


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


But the regards to the peace treaty with Britain, which he signed, were extremely controversial and caused 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 brand-new Irish National Army, however on 22 August 1922 while he was taking a trip through his home county of Cork his convoy was ambushed by anti-treaty fighters.


Collins left his vehicle to battle 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 federal government of the brand-new Irish Free State, along with leader of its armed forces.


To this day individuals question what might have been if he had endured and gone on to lead the new state.


"People ask would he have tried to produce a 32 county settlement? Would he have enabled nationalists in the northern state to have been dealt with the way they were?" Mr Crowley states.


"I believe he was the one leader at that time that the evidence suggests had real interest in the northern scenario.


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


He thinks Collins would have been more strong when it pertained to the Commission, which was planned to select where the brand-new border 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 remained the like it remained in 1921.


Lock of Michael Collins' hair to be auctioned


How the Irish Civil War erupted 100 years earlier


The civil war left a bitter tradition in Irish society, especially the execution of dozens of anti-treaty fighters by the new provisionary federal government.


The first authorities executions were carried out in November 1922 and they continued till 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 killed.


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


"I see nothing to suggest 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 been a signatory of the treaty.


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


Collins' killing came simply 10 days after the death of Arthur Griffith - another crucial figure in the battle for Irish self-reliance.


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


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


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


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


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


There is still no arrangement on who fired the deadly shot that eliminated Collins, which has left space for a variety of theories and conspiracies.


Mr Crowley states the occasions of Collins' last day are the most popular part of the museum and centre which he runs, with visitors constantly keen to inquire about who was accountable for his death.


"People are interested by the reality he died the way 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 totally free state's road to civil war


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


Among the more controversial elements of Collins' tradition remains the fact he consented to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.


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


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


"Some people say to us that Michael Collins was not a republican," Mr Crowley says.


"But I would say he was a practical republican with a strategy that could actually succeed.


"He was the sort of leader who just occurs for a country as soon as in a thousand years."

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