Michael Collins
But in history, as in travelling, men usually see only what they already had in their own minds; and few learn much from history, who do not bring much with them to its study.
– John Stuart Mill
In 1920-22, revolutions and social movements were transforming nations on every continent. In that period, Michael Collins lived largely in hiding, dodging the British Empire’s campaign to capture and execute him. Shortly after the peace he negotiated, he was gunned down in suspicious circumstances.
Nazi Germany
Yet his contemporary, another rising political leader, for a time fared better at British hands. What can be learned in comparing the two?
(The following is an excerpt from “The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened at Beal na mBlath?” www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714)
“Michael Collins and Adolf Hitler were just about exact contemporaries. Let’s consider these two, side by side. Let’s examine their ideas, their plans, and vision, as set forth in their writings…
“[Collins] was moderate in his political views, humane toward adversaries, and generous to the vanquished. He opposed racism, sexism, and sectarianism, welcoming “all the children of the nation equally” into the new Irish state. He abhorred religious strife. He never gave countenance to the politics of pogrom, but upheld the values of the 1916 Proclamation, eschewing “cruelty, inhumanity, or rapine.”
“No one could plead ignorance as to what Hitler intended to do. He never made any secret of it. The war and the concentration camps and the mass genocide were all there in black and white, for the world to read at their leisure, in his bestseller “Mein Kampf“. And he did exactly what he said he would do…
“Now, although government in London had been virulently hostile to Collins, it was less resistant to Adolf Hitler. All in all, influential British elements found him a more congenial character altogether. It could in fact be said with justice that Hitler owed much of his success to this friendliness from London. That is, he could hardly have risen as he did, when he did, without their cooperation.
“The one assassinated in his prime; arguably with the collusion of the British regime…The other patronized, coddled and enabled by London, to the devastation of Britain’s neighbours and allies on the Continent … Until the viper they’d nursed in their breast turned on themselves…
“The loss of life and property in the Nazi bombardment of London was one of the worst military catastrophes in English history; dwarfing by comparison all the casualties and damage attributable to Irish insurgency in a hundred years.
“So much for conventional wisdom of the powers that be. What was really dangerous, and what was good, for British interests?
“A secure, united, egalitarian Ireland next door? Or friendly fascists on the Continent?”
*** *** ***
Anyone feel a disturbing sense of déjà vu here?
Does history indeed repeat itself?
Read more;
“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”
by S M Sigerson
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www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714
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The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth? 