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 creator Tim Crowley.
Monday marks 100 years because was eliminated in a weapon battle between contending 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 long-lasting legacy.
"A lot of our visitors are middle-aged and some have moms and dads and grandparents who were included 100 years back," says Mr Crowley, whose grandma was Collins' cousin.
"But then we likewise have actually got 14 and 15 year olds who are substantial Collins fanatics who are available in who understand what he had for his last breakfast.
"They throw some truly excellent concerns at us."
Thousands to go to Michael Collins commemoration
Collins was a key figure in the defend 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 up until July 1921.
But the terms of the peace treaty with Britain, which he signed, were extremely questionable 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 brand-new Irish National Army, but on 22 August 1922 while he was travelling through his home county of Cork his convoy was assailed by anti-treaty fighters.
Collins left his automobile 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 provisionary government of the new Irish Free State, as well as leader of its armed forces.
To this day individuals question what may have been if he had actually made it through and gone on to lead the brand-new state.
"People ask would he have tried to cause a 32 county settlement? Would he have enabled nationalists in the northern state to have been dealt with the method they were?" Mr Crowley states.
"I think he was the one leader at that time that the evidence suggests had genuine interest in the northern situation.
"In his mind the treaty was simply the beginning."
He thinks Collins would have been more strong when it pertained to the Boundary Commission, which was planned to select where the brand-new border in between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland need to lie.
In the end, although the commission suggested small transfers of land in both directions, its suggestions were never executed and the border remained the 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 new provisional government.
The first official executions were performed 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 think this would have been any different had Collins not been eliminated.
"There has actually been a great deal of speculation that the course of the civil war could have been various, that maybe the acrimony of the executions may have been different," she says.
"I see nothing to suggest 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 revealed absolutely nothing in between June and August 1922 to suggest that he would have been any softer on the republican side than Richard Mulcahy sought him."
Collins' killing came just 10 days after the death of Arthur Griffith - another key figure in the defend 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 replaced by WT Cosgrave who was probably the most experienced political leader in Sinn Féin," she states.
"Collins was changed by Richard Mulcahy, who had been the chief of personnel of the IRA throughout the War of Independence.
"So probably, in fact, he understood more about running the army than Collins would have done."
There is still no contract on who fired the deadly shot that eliminated Collins, which has left space for a series of theories and conspiracies.
Mr Crowley states 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 accountable 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 couldn't make it up."
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On Sunday, Mr Crowley will go to the official ceremonies and on Monday the centre is running a journey to a number of places associated 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.
One of the more questionable aspects of Collins' tradition remains the fact he concurred to 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 loyalty to.
It likewise validated the partition of Ireland and the development of Northern Ireland.
"Some people say to us that Michael Collins was not a republican politician," Mr Crowley says.
"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."
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The Enduring Legacy Of Michael Collins 100 Years On
marcospride46 edited this page 2026-04-12 02:20:34 +08:00