The Enduring Legacy Of Michael Collins 100 Years On

21 August 2022
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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 considering that Collins was eliminated in a weapon fight in between competing sides in the Irish Civil War.


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


"A lot of our visitors are middle-aged and some have moms and dads and grandparents who were involved 100 years back," states Mr Crowley, whose grandmother was Collins' cousin.


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


"They throw some truly excellent questions at us."


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


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


Collins was commander-in-chief of the pro-treaty forces, which became the new Irish National Army, but 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 got out of his car to eliminate and in the gun fight which followed he was shot dead.


He was 31 years of ages.


At the time of his death he was chairman of the provisional government of the new Irish Free State, in addition to leader of its armed forces.


To this day people wonder what may have been if he had endured and gone on to lead the brand-new state.


"People ask would he have to cause a 32 county settlement? Would he have allowed 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 proof recommends had real interest in the northern scenario.


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


He believes Collins would have been more forceful when it pertained to the Boundary Commission, which was planned to select where the brand-new border between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland must lie.


In the end, although the commission recommended little transfers of land in both directions, its suggestions were never carried out and the border remained the exact same as it remained in 1921.


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The civil war left a bitter legacy in Irish society, especially the execution of lots of anti-treaty fighters by the brand-new provisionary government.


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


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


"There has been a great deal of speculation that the course of the civil war could have been various, that perhaps the acrimony of the executions may have been various," she states.


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


"Arguably, he had more at stake in defending the treaty settlement due to the fact that he had actually been a signatory of the treaty.


"He showed nothing in between June and August 1922 to recommend that he would have been any softer on the republican side than Richard Mulcahy was after him."


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Mr Crowley says the events of Collins' last 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 fascinated by the reality he passed away the method he did," he says.


"He died a hero's death with a gun in his hand, you couldn't make it up."


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On Sunday, Mr Crowley will participate in the main commemorations and on Monday the centre is running a trip to a number of locations related to 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 controversial elements of Collins' legacy remains the fact he accepted the Anglo-Irish Treaty.


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


It also validated the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland.


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


"But I would say he was a practical republican with a plan that might really prosper.


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