Michael Collins

Michael Collins (Irish: Mícheál Ó Coileáin; 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) was an Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician who was a leading figure in the early-20th century struggle for Irish independence. During the War of Independence he was Director of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). He served in the government of the Irish Republic as the Minister for Home Affairs and later as the Minister for Finance. Collins was Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from January 1922 and commander-in-chief of the National Army from July until he died in an ambush in August 1922, during the Civil War.

Collins was born in Woodfield, County Cork, the youngest of eight children. He moved to London in 1906 to become a clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank at Blythe House. He was a member of the London GAA, through which he became associated with the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Gaelic League. He returned to Ireland in January 1916 and fought in the Easter Rising. He was taken prisoner and held in the Frongoch internment camp as a prisoner of war, but he was released in December 1916.

Collins subsequently rose through the ranks of the Irish Volunteers and Sinn Féin. He was elected as MP for South Cork in December 1918. Sinn Féin's elected members (later known as TDs) formed an Irish parliament, the First Dáil, in January 1919 and declared the independence of the Irish Republic. Collins was appointed Minister for Finance. In the ensuing War of Independence, he was Director of Organisation and Adjutant General for the Irish Volunteers, later Director of Intelligence of the IRA. He gained fame as a guerrilla warfare strategist, planning many successful attacks on British forces together with the Squad, such as the "Bloody Sunday" assassinations of key British intelligence agents in November 1920.