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, wants to ask, according to its joint founder Tim Crowley.


Monday marks 100 years since Collins was killed in a gun fight between contending sides in the Irish Civil War.


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


"A great deal of our visitors are middle-aged and some have moms and dads and grandparents who were included 100 years back," states Mr Crowley, whose grandma was .


"But then we also have actually got 14 and 15 year olds who are substantial Collins enthusiasts who can be found in who know what he had for his last breakfast.


"They throw some actually good concerns 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) throughout the War of Independence with Britain, which lasted from January 1919 till July 1921.


But the regards to the peace treaty with Britain, which he signed, were exceptionally controversial and resulted in 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 car to battle and in the weapon fight which followed he was shot dead.


He was 31 years old.


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 militaries.


To this day people question what might have been if he had made it through and gone on to lead the new state.


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


"I believe he was the one leader at that time that the proof recommends had real interest in the northern situation.


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


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


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


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How the Irish Civil War erupted 100 years ago


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


The very first authorities executions were brought out 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 lot of speculation that the course of the civil war could have been various, that possibly the acrimony of the executions might have been different," she states.


"I see nothing to recommend that Collins would have prosecuted the war any differently.


"Arguably, he had more at stake in defending the treaty settlement due to the fact that he had 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 wanted him."


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


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 also capable leaders.


"Griffith was replaced by WT Cosgrave who was most likely the most knowledgeable politician in Sinn Féin," she states.


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


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


There is still no arrangement on who fired the deadly 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 inquire about who was accountable for his death.


"People are fascinated by the fact he passed away the method he did," he says.


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


What was the Anglo-Irish Treaty?


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


On Sunday, Mr Crowley will participate in the official ceremonies 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' tradition stays the fact he accepted the Anglo-Irish Treaty.


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


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


"Some people 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 prosper.


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