Michael Collins Irish leader: Encyclopedia II - Michael Collins Irish leader - The Easter Rising

Michael Collins Irish leader - The Easter Rising

Michael Collins first became well-known during the Easter Rising in 1916. A skilled organiser of considerable intelligence, he was highly respected in the IRB, so much so that he was made 'financial adviser' to Count Plunkett, father of one of the Rising's organisers, Joseph Mary Plunkett. When the Rising itself took place, he fought alongside Patrick Pearse and others in the General Post Office in Dublin. The Rising became (as expected by many) a military disaster. While many celebrated the fact that a Rising had happened at all, believing in the theory of blood sacrifice (namely that the deaths of the Rising's leaders would inspire others), Collins railed against what he perceived as its ham-fisted amateurism, notably the seizure of prominent buildings such as the GPO that were impossible to defend, impossible to escape from and difficult to supply. (During the War of Independence he ensured the avoidance of such tactics of "becoming sitting targets", with his soldiers operating as flying columns who waged a guerrilla war against the British, suddenly attacking then just as quickly suddenly withdrawing, minimising losses and maximising effectiveness.)

Collins, like many of the Rising's participants, was arrested and sent to Frongoch internment camp in Wales. There, as his contemporaries expected, his leadership skills showed. By the time of the general release, Collins had already become one of the leading figures in the post-Rising Sinn Féin, a small nationalist party which the British government and the Irish media wrongly blamed for the Rising. It was quickly infiltrated by survivors of the Rising, so as to capitalise on the "notoriety" the innocent movement had gained through British attacks. By October 1917, through skill and ability, Collins had risen to become a member of the Executive of Sinn Féin and Director of Organization of the Irish Volunteers; Eamon de Valera was president of both organisations.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Easter Rising", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki