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


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


A century on, there remains a huge 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 parents and grandparents who were involved 100 years back," states Mr Crowley, whose grandma was Collins' cousin.


"But then we likewise have got 14 and 15 years of age who are big Collins fanatics who are available in who know what he had for his last breakfast.


"They toss some actually good concerns at us."


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Collins was a key figure in the defend 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 terms of the peace treaty with Britain, which he signed, were incredibly questionable 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 brand-new Irish National Army, however on 22 August 1922 while he was travelling through his home county of Cork his convoy was ambushed by anti-treaty fighters.


Collins got out of his vehicle to combat and in the gun 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 individuals wonder what might have been if he had endured and gone on to lead the new state.


"People ask would he have tried to bring about a 32 county settlement? Would he have enabled 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 start."


He presumes Collins would have been more strong when it concerned the Boundary Commission, which was intended to decide on where the new border between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland need to lie.


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


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


The very first official executions were carried out in November 1922 and they continued up until May 1923.


But Prof Marie Coleman, teacher of 20th Century Irish history at Queen's University, Belfast, does not believe 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 might have been different, that possibly the acrimony of the executions may have been various," 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 protecting the treaty settlement since 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 wanted him."


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


Other 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 politician 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 reality, he knew 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 area for a series 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 constantly keen to inquire about who was responsible for his death.


"People are captivated by the reality he passed away the method he did," he states.


"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 go to the main celebrations and on Monday the centre is running a trip to several areas 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.


Among the more questionable aspects of Collins' legacy stays the truth he accepted the Anglo-Irish Treaty.


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


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


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


"But I would say he was a pragmatic republican with a plan that might in fact prosper.


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