Michael Collins

Extract from RIA Dictonary of Irish Biography by M.A. Hopkinson

Traditionally Collins has been depicted as the heroic leader of the IRA from the beginning of guerrilla warfare in January 1919, despite the facts that his role was that of an organiser rather than a fighter, and that he rarely journeyed outside Dublin. He advocated a cautious approach to any confrontation with British forces. To act on his intelligence information he established his notorious Squad, a group of gunmen, all IRB members; their first action was in July 1919. The Squad first eliminated the threat from the DMP by sundry assassinations and then moved on to deal with British intelligence agents, most notably in the killing of twelve men and wounding of several more on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920. He was also active in extending his intelligence system through the provinces, although there his organisation was much less comprehensive. Through his IRB links he was able to provide a limited supply of arms from the USA and Europe, and masterminded and directed jail escapes, in particular that of Éamon de Valera (qv) from Lincoln jail in February 1919. ...

Collins became extremely critical of the failings of inactive IRA units. It was his realistic appraisal of the military situation, and particularly the dire shortages of arms and ammunition, that explains his acceptance of the truce in early July 1921. ...After the truce, Collins was upset not to be chosen to accompany de Valera to London in July for the early stages of negotiations, but he was just as angry when, on de Valera's nomination, he was selected by the dáil (14 September) to negotiate with the British government at the forthcoming Anglo-Irish conference....

During the negotiations, British ministers saw that Collins was more flexible than his hard-line reputation had suggested; he refused to accompany the rest of the delegation when a final attempt was made to press de Valera's favoured option. On the last day of the conference (5 December), Lloyd George had a meeting with Collins alone, appearing flexible over the wording of the oath to the crown and holding out prospects for major changes in the boundaries of Northern Ireland resulting from the boundary commission. It is very doubtful, however, whether such assurances had any effect on the hard-bitten Collins. He signed the treaty realising that it would soon bring about the removal of the British military presence from the south and west of Ireland. He accepted the boundary commission only as a means of preventing the northern issue from blocking a settlement between the British and Irish governments.