Michael Collins: Hero? Or Terrorist?

The Irish Revolution instilled fear in the hearts of the British, and for good reason. Never before in history had they been faced with an adversary that had a leader quite like Michael Collins. Nor, had the Irish ever had a leader with the brute intelligence and downright tenacity quite like Michael Collins. At the onset of the twentieth century, the British Empire encompassed over two-thirds of the world, including Ireland. And at the beginning of World War I, they expected Ireland to obey all orders to fight alongside them. Yet, for 700 years, the Irish’s anger against the British had been brewing, and this was the last straw. The British were eager to extinguish any Irish threat, but they greatly underestimated the Irish’s capacity to fight.

Michael Collins was born October 16, 1890, in County Cork, Ireland (Michael). Collins was exposed to the idea of freedom at a very young age, as County Cork was an area of Ireland that was full of protest against Britain. At age 15, he went to London to pursue a job in the postal service as many of his elders had before. However, the postal service was too dry and pompous for Collins, who found himself leaning towards finance. It did not take long before Collins found himself with a stable job playing the financial game. He lived an enjoyable life and stayed in London for ten years. It was in the financial business that Collins learned how to awe his customers with his intelligence and his honest character (Michael). Believe it or not, Michael Collins had a strong sense of compassion.

Yet, London could never be his home. His sense of patriotism for Ireland was too ingrained. In 1912, upon hearing of the Irish Brotherhood’s plan for usurping the British once and for all, he abruptly returned home. He found himself another position in finances, and he worked with the Brotherhood on the side. For years they made plans for attack and eventually settled on April 24, 1916: Easter. The Brotherhood’s attack lasted five days, and they were able to seize many strategic locations in Dublin, but not enough. All the members were arrested, and all the leaders were executed by firing squad, all except for Eamon de Valera. Luckily, Collins was not yet of enough importance to be executed, and he was released months later.

De Valera escaped execution because he was born an American citizen, and the British were tentative about any actions which could jeopardize the United States involvement in World War I. Upon de Valera’s release, he united with Michael Collins and they went on to create the Irish Republican Army, or IRA. In the IRA, Collins was the Minister of Finances and the Minister of Intelligence, but also the most dangerous weapon the IRA had against the British. He was a mastermind of guerilla warfare who always wore a dapper suit. His athletic build and friendly nature made his constituents feel safe and reassured. He lived by the motto “our only weapon is our refusal”(Michael).  The refusal he was referring to was the refusal to be enslaved and oppressed by the British.

Collin’s goal was to rid any hold the British had on Ireland, and he did this through clandestine operations. His ragtag team of men in well-pressed suits were able to fit in perfectly among the wealthy British politicians and Irish correspondents working for the British. They executed drive-by shootings, quick in-and-out assassinations, and the typical car bombs to murder their opposition (Michael). This evoked complete mayhem and delayed Britain’s response. The longer Britain waited, the more publicity the murders received, and the more supporters that joined the IRA.

However, Britain did retaliate. The British sent propaganda videos through Ireland, desperately trying to discourage the IRA’s expansion. They sent “the elite of the British Secret Service” to eliminate Collins and his boys, what the British called “a blight of terror” (Michael). The elite of the British Secret Service came to be known as the “Cairo Gang,” and Collins spent no time in having all nine of them assassinated. This angered the British, and they immediately reacted by opening fire on a local hurling match. They locked the gates and scaled the walls; the Irish were simply sitting ducks. The British killed 12 civilians and injured 60 more. Thus, this November 21, 1920 came to be known as Bloody Sunday (Michael).

Eventually, Churchill was ready to sign a treaty. The treaty that Collins and Churchill agreed on would make Ireland an Irish Free State instead of an Irish Republic. Collins knew that this was the best he could do at the time, and he decided to let his countrymen vote. He tried to warn them that it was either this or war. His warnings were heeded on June 7, 1922, as there were 64 to 57 votes of parliament in favor of the treaty (Michael).

Ireland was in an uproar. The country became divided, and civil war erupted. It killed upwards of 4,000 people. This war took more lives than the Revolutionary War that had just ended. Collins was assassinated on August 22, 1922 by a small sect of the IRA, the organization he once led. “Half a million people attended his funeral in Dublin. All parties to the conflict, both British and Irish, were temporarily in grief” (Michael). His entire life was devoted to saving Ireland, and it was not until after his death that people understood his intentions. And, within a year, the civil war ended.

So was Michael Collins a hero or a terrorist? Before the treaty for the Irish Free State, the British deemed Collins a terrorist. Surely, a savage murderer who orchestrated mass deaths was a terrorist. But to the Irish, he was a hero. He was their leader in a time of war. He was their savior in a nice suit. This is the basic argument that clings to terrorism. One person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist. So the label of terrorism all depends on who you ask. If you ask me...well, I would say Collins was a hero who used terror-tactics to incite a rebellion that freed Ireland from a lifetime of oppression. He was a kind man of a million complexities who looked at people as human beings, but all the while he was a man capable of assassinating another in broad daylight, a man able to invent urban guerrilla warfare all while managing financial accounts.

~Lura

Works Cited

Michael Collins. Prod. Neil Jordan. Dir. Neil Jordan. Perf. Liam Neeson, Julia Roberts, and Stephen Rea. Warner Home Vidéo, 1998. DV