Michael Collins with Arthur Griffith outside 10 Downing Street, London negotiations 1921
If Commander-in-Chief Collins were negotiating peace when he was shot, that is directly connected with the fact that he didn’t have a nice, quiet 10 Downing Street at which to hold his conference with anti-Treaty leaders in the Irish Civil War. Nor could his conferees have come there: as men on the run, at war with government.
In The Lost Leader, M Forester intelligently observed that “A Commander-in-Chief does not fling himself on his stomach behind a ditch with a rifle to take pot shots at the enemy. Nor, for that matter, do heads of [state].”
However, she erred in comparing Collins to British leaders: secure in the enjoyment of a firm and wealthy dynasty, backed by centuries of relative stability, with the happiness to be free from armed conflict, on the steps of their own offices. A young provisional government, guerrillas only yesterday, faced very different obligations and challenges. Struggling to emerge from a violent military occupation, their society was turned upside down, their civil institutions in flux or non-existent, fraught by enemies within and without.
In such contexts, a Salvador Allende might find that the Presidential Palace (where certain death awaited) was perhaps precisely the place he had to be. It can likewise be seen that Collins, both in his role as C-in-C, and as erstwhile head of the Provisional Government, was fulfilling his appropriate role: pursuing diplomacy and negotiating peace.
Collins rode in a Leyland straight 8 touring car
Maybe the only way to make that happen, the only way to prevent imminent national disaster, was to take his life in his hands, into the wild back roads of West Cork; now. As it happened, perhaps that very place, at that moment, was where he was obliged to appear: because no one else had the authority, as well as the credibility, in addition to the will, and the power, to negotiate this peace, with these forces.
And, lest we forget, assassination en route to peace parlays, has historically been an occupational hazard for Gaelic leaders, who venture to negotiate with London.
R E A D M O R E on Irish History / Irish Civil War: “The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”
Commander-in-Chief Michael Collins, centre, facing camera
How were latter-day Irish insurgents in Northern Ireland’s “Troubles” (1969 – 1997) connected with the “Old IRA” (aka “Irish Volunteers”) of the Anglo-Irish War 1919-1921? (aka War of Independence / Tan War) Have they lived up to the 1916 Proclamation’s invocation, praying to keep Ireland’s arms free from “inhumanity or rapine”? If some of their actions have earned censure, what, if anything, has that to do with Michael Collins? Is there any basis for laying part of such wrongs at his door?
The perverting impact of the Troubles upon Irish history and historiography since 1969 is but an example of the axiom that truth is the first casualty of war. Thus arch-revisionism at its most extreme insists that nothing must be said or written about the effective use of violence in the Irish past, in case it gives comfort to those who use violence in the Irish present. – Ronan Fanning
Irish Volunteers – Hogan’s Flying Column
In Michael Collins, Ireland had a masterful, humane guerrilla leader who avoided civilian causalities. During the Anglo-Irish War, British authorities who tried to pursue random indiscriminate slaughter of civilians with impunity, swiftly won mutiny from their men, & execution by the Irish Volunteers. However that is not to say that all Collins’ colleagues agreed on this.
“You’ll get none of my men for that,” said Collins. “That’s alright Mister Collins, … I’ll get men of my own.”
This famous exchange was reportedly occasioned by a plan put forward by Cathal Brugha and DeValera, to machine gun civilians queuing at cinemas in England.
Still, the 26-county Republic of Ireland went on to build a peaceful, democratic state. At the same time, in Northern Ireland’s Stormont apartheid regime (ostensibly created to protect unionist Protestants from deadly anarchy they expected, should the Irish ever be allowed to govern themselves!) random killing of civilians became policy for the next 50 years; while Dublin & London silently sat on their hands.
But the targeting of civilians ran rampant only over Michael Collins’ dead body, and those of other key officers of the Volunteers; only after the Irish Civil War shattered the band of brothers (and sisters) which had forced London to the negotiating table.
McMahon family murders, Belfast, Northern Ireland 1922
By the same token, in 1972, Northern Ireland had a strong, peaceful civil rights movement; (largely inspired by that which had been championed by Martin Luther King in the USA.) But that didn’t suit London; or their loyalist representatives in Stormont. So the British Army shot the peaceful demonstrators off the Derry streets, in January 1972’s “Bloody Sunday” massacre.
Next day people queued up to joined the IRA. But it was an IRA with no Michael Collins
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolutioninevitable. – President John F Kennedy
The Provisional IRA sprang up under British and loyalist military assaults on civilians in Northern Ireland, in the 1970s. Called “Provisional” because, although an Irish Republican Army executive did exist at the time, it was not active in the North; and did not authorize in advance any re-commencement of armed resistance there. The Provisionals sprang up as a defensive force, among an embattled people, literally fighting for their lives. Self-defense being a universally recognized human right.
As to any of their actions which targeted civilians, these should not be considered without reference to the fact that, in this, the Provisional IRA were shooting back. Their actions were retaliatory. British / unionist authorities of the Stormont apartheid regime set the rules of engagement.
However, British brutality there was only a drop in the bucket of that Empire’s global regime of torture, inhumanity, and rapine. Their thousands of victims around the world, over centuries, dwarf the casualties in all Northern Ireland’s Troubles, and in all the IRA’s actions since 1919. Crimes of Britain
Ireland was not the only country where the British Empire used famine as a genocidal weapon against colonized peoples.
Yet Britain’s genocidal crimes in the name of Empire are rarely discussed. Few are even aware of their existence. Recent controversial legislation at Westminster aims expressly to prevent such discussion: or any investigation into crimes committed by British forces in Northern Ireland. Apparently some have much to fear from a full accounting.
The past must be buried quickly and completely. – Graham Greene “Our Man in Havana”
Is it an inevitable effect of gravity, that the least powerful are most blamed; while the actions of the great often go unquestioned? Or is it the inevitable by-product of any struggle between voiceless colonized people versus sophisticated imperialists and their public relations departments? Are we guilty of any unconscious tendency to excuse crimes commited in the name of government? Or do governments simply have the power to control the narrative, the information, the courts, and historical records?
Mau Mau uprising Kenya 1957
“I don’t lead terrorists. I lead Africans who want their self-government and land. God did not intend that one nation be ruled by another for ever.“ – Dedan Kimathi executed leader of Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion
As for the millions once “members” of the British Empire… none ever wanted to stay in it. Every nation has wanted out. After its debacles in Ireland and India, at length London began to realize what time it was. The Empire has since leaned toward a policy of gracefully bowing out, when the signs on the wall become unmistakeable. With the odd bloody exception, such as the Falkland Islands or… Northern Ireland.
How does the IRA compare with other armies? An army is a problematic possession, for any country. Is there a blameless one anywhere? Some would go as far as to say that all wars are wars on civilians, on women and children.
Those who served in, for instance, the US or British armies in World War II are admired, eulogized. No one suggests they’ve anything to be ashamed of. Yet, in a close inquiry into which war was more just, which forces more free from inhumanity or rapine… the IRA would win hands down.
Peace process & truth commissions It’s to be hoped that, in future, all parties will prefer peaceful revolutions. As has been official IRA policy since decommissionings connected with the 1997 Good Friday Agreement (aka Belfast Agreement.) .
Truth commissions are also an important part of peace processes. They should function freely, with the full cooperation of all parties.
R E A D M O R E on Irish History / Irish Civil War: “The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”
Collins went to Cork for something which was worth risking his life to get. He went for something which could not wait: which he had to do everything in his power to realize without delay, at all cost. He went to avert the Civil War’s bloodbath; and its legacy of lasting, crippling national division, which he could see was coming, if it were not stopped in time.
This is corroborated by many reliable witnesses from both sides, abundantly documented in related correspondence, recorded in his private conversations; and is thoroughly consistent with his character, behavior and priorities throughout the period.
It is easy to understand the urgency expressed in his many comments, on that journey. Up until the C-in-C’s assassination, the general damage incurred had been relatively minimal. “The [anti-Treaty] moderate wing … even at this stage was anxious to and hopeful of ending the clash with some honour.” 200 Collins felt deeply the death of his intimate friend Harry Boland, and was determined to prevent the loss of more comrades. It must be remembered, that he knew most all of the key military leaders of the independence movement. Many were personal friends, 201 having served together in 1916, in Frongach prison camp, and in the IRB.
The Civil War was never strictly black and white. Throughout the fighting, there were profoundly mixed feelings, in some of its leading players. There were both hotter and cooler heads on both sides. Efforts broke out continually to achieve a settlement. There were frequent conferences among prominent anti-Treaty officers, debating the wisdom and/or practicality of continued resistance. “I want no rancor.” Collins was particularly anxious to avoid any lasting animosity. He understood that, to avoid it, his former (and, as he hoped, future) comrades would need terms which they could accept as honorable.
John M Feehan observed that the IRA had no motive nor desire to assassinate Collins; that, on the contrary, they were well aware that he was their “only hope” in the Free State government. If so, in view of the holocaust which ensued after his death, they were right.
It cannot be over-emphasized that the Civil War before Collins’ death and the Civil War after Collins’ death were two entirely different animals. And that it was his pivotal leadership presence which made the difference.
R E A D M O R E “The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?” by S M Sigerson Paperback or Kindle edition here: www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714
“The Murder of Michael Collins” is an online video by Paddy Cullivan; as well as a live performance piece. See www.paddycullivan.com for details, tickets, links, and itinerary. While this writer cannot completely concur with his analysis in every point, his presentation is extraordinary, in every sense of the word; and merits extraordinary notice.
If you want to tell people the truth, you’d better make them laugh, or they’ll kill you. – George Bernard Shaw
For those familiar with musical satirist Paddy Cullivan’s unique approach to Irish history, he needs no introduction; and… the very idea of the death of Collins in his hands is rather mind-boggling… fascinating… if not frightening! Still, quintessentially Irish, in his wry determination to stare down the bottomless travesties there, until they yield their reducto ad absurdum. Cullivan uses tears of laughter like a magic prism, enabling us to explore these agonies & ecstasies, triumphs & tragedies to new depths. Which perhaps we might never reach, without the liberating and envigorating tonic of humour.
My own book, The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened at Béal na mBláth?, www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714 was the first on this subject since John M Feehan’s landmark edition of 1991 (The Shooting of Micheal Collins: Murder or Accident?) My highest ambition, in writing it, was to build on Feehan’s work: like him, not to “sell” any one theory, but to help people study the case. To enable the public and future researchers to better examine the evidence fully, for themselves.
Since publishing it, I’ve waited, sometimes breathlessly, for the appearance of other new works on the topic to follow; especially as the 2022 Centenary of Collins’ death wp.me/p43KWx-96 drew nearer.
I hoped to see other works take up the tale in the same spirit; which would be penetrating, disinterested, disciplined, and illuminating.
Well, many are called, but few are chosen. Down the ages, discoveries of note have sometimes emerged from surprising places. I confess I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find more research of value, and more interesting analysis, in Cullivan’s persuasive pastiche of lecture, lampoon, & song, than can hardly be found in any work on the death of Collins to appear since my own. All of this richly illustrated with rare visuals from the period; including copies of orginal historical documents; some aired here for the first time.
Let me write a nation’s songs, and I care not who writes its laws.– Daniel O’Connell
Cullivan’s original songs for the show, and masterful music production, deserve air play of their own. I hope music radio is listening. In Ireland, his catchy pop broadside “Béal na Blah Blah Blah” https://youtu.be/Z9CvohYT-b0 could and should go right up the charts; especially for the 2022 Centenary year. Cullivan is a first-class musician, well-known (in Ireland) as vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, & producer. (Glad I’ve lived to see the day when performing artists can have their work in other fields taken seriously, such as in literature or politics.)
Cullivan manages also to make his video a kind of bibliography on the topic, giving on-screen space to a crowded bookshelf of sources. (While his particular comments on The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened at Béal na mBláth?, www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714 far exceed expectations, they could never win from the author any praise for Cullivan’s work, but that most richly deserved.)
Who IS Paddy Cullivan…?
History is a scholarly pursuit, but not an exact science. Proper academic researchers have been known to protest the popularity of mere mortals, with no letters after their names, poaching on their domains, so to speak. Raising the inevitable question:
Who IS Paddy Cullivan to dare trespass where academics have feared to tread in this history?
The truth is, institutions often fail us. Nowhere more spectacularly than in the death of Michael Collins.
That doesn’t mean we can do without them. Institutions are necessary. Expertise is necessary. The public needs protection from critical decisions & information affecting society being handed out by any Joe Blow, whether they have a clue or not.
At the same time, institutions are made by humans, run by humans; and therefore subject to all the usual human frailties. They cannot be treated like infallible deities.
Institutions are created to serve, not rule, humanity. Therefore they must continually satisfy the public that they’re doing their jobs. Admittedly, this can be problematic: how does the public judge experts’ performance, in areas where they have less expertise than the experts whom they must monitor? Not only in academic studies, but in such critical organs as law, government, medicine, science? These epistemological questions are at the heart of countless current controversies, as we speak.
Thankfully, experts’ work must be subject to constant peer review; as well as the universal tribunal of common sense. While these, too, can err, it’s the best we can do. Human society & human institutions are subject to these eternal margins of error, which we must all bear in mind.
This is precisely why the voice of Joe Blow is not without its place and value. Just as the innocent, uninitiated, uninformed may sometimes be the only one to step forward and candidly exclaim, “Look! The Emperor has no clothes!”
History is a field particularly vulnerable to such pot-shots from the peanut gallery of inquiry, so to speak. It is a field in which we are all swimming, all immersed; which we are all living with the profoundest consequences of, every day. It’s an area of study in which innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches may prove remarkably effective; especially where an “official story” regime has managed to stifle institutions.
I challenge any academic researcher to take in Cullivan’s work, to excel it, or even… to avoid relying on it!
But above all to explain how and why academics have managed to so completely fail and neglect the elephant in the room of modern Irish history: the death of Commander-in-Chief Michael Collins, erstwhile Chairman of Dublin’s first native Provisional Government… So as to leave it to be unearthed by the likes of your humble servant; and by such as the inimitable Paddy Cullivan… who at this time stands in serious danger of… becoming an Historian!
Look out for his personal appearances, bringing the live version of “The Murder of Michael Collins“, and other shows, to a venue near you.
Read more “The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”
Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, following the close of US’ Civil War (public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Was the death of Commander-in-Chief Michael Collins an assassination?
Can military actions by Collins and the Irish Volunteers during the Anglo-Irish War (1919-1921) be termed “assassinations” themselves?
Did British authorities commit political assassinations in their domains?
These questions are part of a sometimes-heated debate; by no means merely historical, but with high political stakes, in Ireland and elsewhere, now.
He’s a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain,
a Bhuddist, and a Baptist, and a Jew.
And he knows he shouldn’t kill,
And he knows he always will… – Buffy Ste Marie “Universal Soldier”
All societies have their rules of operation; usually including express sanctions intended to inhibit killing unjustly, excessively, or indiscriminately. When first set forth, even “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” represented a major moral leap forward.
In modern times, international debate rages as to which wars are just or unjust. Following World War II, the concept of war crimes focused unprecedented scrutiny on the actions of both leaders and combatants in military conflicts. It meant that such actions could be judged and sanctioned according to global standards of martial conduct.
Ireland’s Revolutionary Era, which gave birth to its democratic Republic, was part of the same ideological maelstrom. During World War I, Irish thinkers pointed up the irony of Britain’s claim to be defending “small nations”; while it still held Ireland by force.
Controversies of this kind continue around the world today. The press and other public platforms often disagree as to which side to call white-hat “good guys” “freedom fighters” “security forces” etc and which to label black hat “bad guys” “terrorists” “warlords”, in hostilities which dot the globe as we speak.
The word “assassination” in English particularly denotes killing which is secretive, and targets a politically prominent person. That is to say, for political reasons.
The word originally came to English from French, where it simply means “murder” and has no other context. The same word & definition occur in Spanish and other Romance languages. The Irish equivalent “feallmharu” means secretive but not expressly political violence. Many languages have no word which means political murder per se.
“Even he who commands thousands of swords must fear one who commands dozens of daggers.” – Voltaire
We owe the word “guerilla” to popular resistance which opposed Napoleon in northern Spain: literally “little war” in Spanish. They entered the dictionary by giving pause to an emperor whose forces vastly outnumbered and outgunned them. The word and the techniques have proved decisive in numerous theatres since, wherever poorly-armed locals defended their homes against overwhelming odds.
The right of individuals and nations to self-defense is one of the cornerstones of law everywhere. Although unconventional in methods, the Irish Volunteers (aka Irish Republican Army) during the Anglo-Irish War aimed with remarkable fidelity and success at enemy combattants and spies, as acts of war against a violent foreign occupation force.
Together, Collins, Arthur Griffith, and colleagues in the Dail’s shadow government-in-hidingunderstood that such a war could be carried on successfully in Ireland, only with great care to maintain an orderly campaign; which struck effective blows against British rule, while minimizing negative effects on the general population.
They realized also that the underdogs in that war hadn’t a chance, without the decisive weight of public opinion, at home and abroad, on their side. A tall order, while powerful British voices flooded the media with denials that this was a fight for national independence at all, dubbing the movement a mere “murder gang”.
In the link above, Frank Thornton of Collins’ GHQ Intelligence command, details the painstaking care which went into these actions. There’s little question but that it was this kind of discipline which won the field for the embattled Irish.
I am a war man in the day of war. But I am a peace man in the day of peace.
– Michael Collins 1922
While he continued after the Truce to cooperate with local IRA in the northeast, in their defense against unionist violence, there is no evidence that Collins participated in the killing of any public or private individual, unless military targets, in wartime.
On the other side, the British establishment of the time viewed those they called subjects as meriting imprisonment or death, for any resistance to or questioning of the Crown’s right to rule in and out of season. Its routine executions of non-combattants and strictly political figures are legion, across the Empire, throughout history.
For decades, historians were non-committal regarding the violent death of newly-independent Ireland’s Commander-of-Chief in 1922. Since the appearance of the book “The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened at Beal na mBlath?” http://www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714 commentators have come more and more generally to look on it as an assassination.
Read more “The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?” by S M Sigerson
Paperback or Kindle edition here: www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714
(Note: This post may be updated annually, with the date of the current year’s commemoration & other info. Thanks for visiting!)
Michael Collins was one of the founding fathers of modern Ireland: soldier and statesman, chief strategist of the War of Independence, and co-author of the Constitution. His official titles at various times included Chairman of the Provisional Government, Minister for Finance, Director of Intelligence, and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
Why have people gathered at Béal na mBláth, every year, since he died there in August 1922?
While his birth, in a remote country farmhouse, caused no stir, yet his death sent shockwaves around the world and down generations; which reverberate to this day.
Annual Michael Collins Commemoration 2019
Sunday 25 August 3PM
by the monument, at the ambush site
Béal na mBláth
near Crookstown, County Cork
Republic of Ireland
“…I grew up with a rich lore of family history and virtually total silence outside the family. … There was never a mention of his name in the discussion of national life, except on the occasion of a visit to Béal na mBláth in August. All of that changed …” – Mary Banotti (grand-niece of Michael Collins) **
The anniversary of one’s passing is an occasion very much observed in Irish culture; perhaps more than in any other country. Collins’ belongs to the nation. Yet he also belongs to people all over the world. “Because a story like his is for all people, everywhere, in all times.” ***
The Commemoration’s annual oration is always delivered by a national figure of note. These have included Former President Mary Robinson, as well as (Collns’ grandnieces) former legislator Helen Collins, and former Minister for Justice Nora Owen (now presenter of TV3’s “Midweek”). Recent years have seen the first time the oration has been given by Ireland’s serving President and by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister).
If you’re a Michael Collins fan, and you’re in Ireland in August, it’s not to be missed.
Read more: ***
“The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”
by S M Sigerson www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714
(Paperback or Kindle)
The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth? 