An Eyewitness Account of Michael Collins Death 

Thank you Jen 💚

@@davyholden You are so welcome.. and so appreciated🌹☘️💜💙

My granny said de Valera sold the north out and never forgave him. She was burnt out of there farm for holding the mass

@@patriciaMeany Your Granny and my Da were on the same page.. he never forgave him for his part in Michael Collins’ death ☘️💜💙

😢 ❤

Especially this chap Davy holden,must be working for finna fall.😊

Thank you Sandi 😊💚

Collins betrayed Ireland.

They grew up very very fast in those days. I'm old enough that I still remember that generation. One great uncle who used to come back from America every year: I only found out years after he died that he had been one of Collins' bodyguards during the War of Independence: many of my relatives had been involved in both wars but they never spoke about it.

​@@jackspring7709Adulthood in those days was just that. You had to grow up. Unlike now where they're 30 riding skateboards and drinking ice coffee

@@KittyKat-vb1nd Very true.

Thank you Séamus 😊

​@@davyholden thank you for the vids Davy my grandad fought in the North Tip brigade he is mentioned in the book My fight for IRISH FREEDOM. He was an engineer and well yes he was able to build things. He also done 54 days on hunger strike over in the scrubs. I never got to meet him but ye I thought I'd throw a bit of history back ye lad.

💚🍀💚😎🙏

@@johnnymolloy5846 My Grandda was from Toomevara- took part in the Borrisokane RIC barracks raid. Dan Breen stayed at my grandmother's parents farm in Knockane. Dan B was a cousin through my Dad's mother.

Thank you Jen 😊

@@davyholdenThere are no words good enough to thank you for what you do for Ireland.. God Bless you Davy💜💙☘️

Ireland reunited with the UK on 1 January 1973.

@@MarkHarrison733 So by joining the EEC it united with every Country in it. Ireland is a sovereign Nation.What a stupid comment by that rhetoric every Country in Nato is then also united . By being in Europe its elected representatives put forward resolutions which are then debated and voted on ( nothing is imposed)

@@peterallison-ex4yy Ireland signed its sovereignty away. It was forced to vote twice by the undemocratic EU.

@@MarkHarrison733 Absolute nonsense.

@@peterallison-ex4yy The EU has destroyed Ireland and Greece. It also caused this war in Ukraine.

Thank you Kathryn!

Thank you Martina

At least Boland did not betray Ireland, unlike Collins.

Thanks so much David!

If you read Tim Pat Coogans biography of Michael Collins he stated that Collins expected more miltary confrontation with the British in the future. After the signing of the Treaty Collins must have been so frustrated with his former Republican IRA comrades. Collins wanted to create a new Irish Army comprised of former IRA men from the War of Independence,those Irishmen released from the British Army due to the disbandment of Irish regiments and obviously native enlisted men in Ireland. I know all the aforementioned would be instrumental in forming the new Free State Army but Collins wanted all the veterans of the War of Independence to be in this army. Collins was supplied by the British in terms of arms etc but also wanted to purchase from elsewhere. An Irish Army that Collins envisaged would be in uniform with artillery,machine guns etc. Collins astutely believed that once the British withdrew from southern Ireland despite having a presence in Northern Ireland the Westminister government would find it difficult to reoccupy Ireland again in terms of British public opinion.. The British public showed their appetite for war when they were horrified by the "Chanak Crisis" in October 1922 which almost embroiled Britain in a major War with Turkey in eastern Europe. Both Churchill and David Lloyd George wanted War but the British public were horrified at such a prospect after sacrificing a generation in WW1. The British government fell from office and David Lloyd George never again held a political position again.. No doubt the Irish Army that Collins envisaged would be built up over a period of years. No doubt he would have marched on the North knowing the consequences.. An Irish Army of veterans of WW1 and the War of Independence would be formidable on home turf. Lord Birkenhead stated that if the two wings of Sinn Fein came together meaning obviously both pro and anti Treaty it would take a British Army of over 200,000 to deal with it but that the British public would not entertain or sanction such a prospect. The Irish Civil War was avoidable and that is not with the benefit of hindsight. The Anti Treat IRA should have shown a bit of patience for a couple of years. The army mutiny of 1924 showed how disillusioned even Free State soldiers became with the Treaty. This alternative Anglo -Irish War of what Collins envisaged might have settled the Northern question and ended Partition once and for all. .Would a British government get the backing from the British public to get involved in a real war in Ireland over the North? Going back to the "Chanak Crisis" only New Zealand would have supported Britain if she went to war. The other Dominions were horrified that they were not consulted and argued Britain had no right to declare war on their behalf.

@@johnroche7541What I was told was that the Boundary Commission which Collins had insisted upon in the Treaty would have led, if he had lived, to three of the 6 Counties of the brit statelet being returned to Irish control within two or three years. This would have made the remaining three counties unsustainable and so partition would have ended probably in the 1920’s. A terrible loss.

@@johnroche7541 I believe the British assessment of Collins - as you have so well set out - is that he was a real threat to their recently developed status quo. Whereas De Valera was their tame Irish republican who posed no such threat. Ergo Collins gets brutally removed from the scene, Dev becomes the virtual father of the new nation & the north is left to its dreary steeples. British post-colonial fingerprints are all over post-independence Ireland. Cui Bono?

@@cushyglen4264 Thank you for your reply. I know it is very interesting to play the counter factual game of history. Collins after the signing of the Treaty seemed like a man in a race against time. Collins despite been considered a miltary man was politically astute. He knew the Dominions were becoming more "independent" in everything but name and less subservient to Britain. It is very easy to focus on the situation in an Irish and British context but if there was a major War in Ireland no doubt it would effect British interests elsewhere for example nationalists in India etc might take advantage and launch a miltary campaign for it's own independence if Britain had to pour men into Ireland. Other areas such as Egypt Mesopotamia etc might follow suit. Also David Loyd George was also concerned that any conflict in Ireland might ignite a bigger Civil War within the British Empire itself. The gentleman above makes a very interesting point in relation to 3 counties of the 6 of the state of Northern Ireland being eventually absorbed by the south after a couple of years. Personally I dont think that would have happened. Collins from his perspective believed that force was the only way to deal with the North hence his supplying Northern IRA units even after the Treaty. Would Britain get involved in a war with southern Ireland if the latter marched on the North? No doubt a lot of the British public would probably have an attitude of let them sort it out amongst themselves. No doubt Collins would have exploited every concession that the Treaty allowed including the formation of a national army. Hard to understand why Collins could not have elaborated to the anti Treaty IRA before the Irish Civil War even commenced what his future plans were and as he is quoted as saying he would have told the British "to hell with the Treaty". Collins must have been so frustrated with the Anti Treaty.

​@@cushyglen4264De Valera was a Sp¥, talked the talk, MC walked the walk. He was too big a threat. De Valera's birth certificate nor that of his father have never been found by historians 🤨.

He was killed because he betrayed the Irish Republic. The true heroes are the once he refused to sellout and remained loyal to Republic that they swore an oath to defend.

@@SaorEire sure

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Ireland is a slave of the EU. Collins betrayed Ireland.

It was a very interesting time indeed, whether he could have ended partition is another matter. Northern Ireland still exists today 123 years on. Two things get me about the 1921 Treaty, Collins was sacrificed and killed for going against Republican thinking and their ideals as set out in the 1916 proclamation. Is the same not afforded to those Republicans who agreed something very similar with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998? Both Agreements didnt even have a 'republic' on the table. Makes me wonder were all these deaths even worth it.

Yes it is indeed

@@davyholden Thank you for your reply. People erroneously think it was the Black & Tans. Kenneth Griffith actor/historian states it in his book "Irelands Unfinished Revolution" Did you get my post in relation to the BBC TV documentary drama about Frank Crozier?

By percival the man who surrendered Singapore to the Japanese when he vastly out numbered them, he could only attack women and children in Ireland and the big fella tried to have him shot.

@@johnboylan3591 Obviously a lot of people know of Major Arthur Percival from reading Tom Barry's IRA memoir. He has earned a nefarious reputation in Ireland. However the reality is that he was a decorated soldier from WW1 and Russian Civil War. He was a holder of the Military Cross which he won at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and was also awarded the DSO and received a bar to the latter for service in Russia. He was also a recipient of the Croix De Guerre. He was awarded an OBE for service in Ireland. He paid the IRA the highest military compliment by adopting British "Flying Columns" towards the end of the Irish War of Independence. He was a real nemesis of the IRA. As you correctly state the IRA tried to assassinate him in March 1921 in London. Churchill described the surrender of Singapore as the "blackest day in the history of the British Empire". There is footage of Percival in tropical uniform including wearing shorts surrendering to the Japanese. He would be in Tokyo Bay with General McArthur in August 1945 for the Japanese official surrender. Percival wanted to meet both Tom Barry and fellow IRA Officer Liam Deasy in later life. Dasy was receptive to the idea but Barry threatened to shoot him!

@@johnboylan3591 There was more to Percival than that. He was a decorated soldier from WW1 and Russian Civil War. He was awarded the OBE for service in Ireland. He gave the IRA the highest military compliiment by adopting British "Flying Columns" near the end of the Irish War of Independence. He was a real nemesis to the Cork IRA as many veterans confirm.

Thank you Gary!

It was.

It sure is

Remarkable to hear a former Rangers player speaking so well about the struggle for an Irish republic. Fair play to the man. He's risen greatly in my estimation.

He betrayed Ireland.

@@MarkHarrison733. HE DID NOT BETRAY IRELAND! Michael Collins was a Soldier, not an astute career politician, like De Valera! Had Michael Collins lived, there would not now be disunity in Ireland!

@@Ann65. Collins enforced partition using weapons from the British.

That's not Dan Breen, I think that it is Sean O'Connell

There was a great documentary on the "Discovery Channel" a number of years ago in relation to WW1 and lip readers were stating what the British soldiers were saying in tbe footage.

@@johnroche7541 Thanks yeah I saw that - truly fascinating 👍

Emmet was Director of Training for the IRA at GHQ. Emmet won the MC serving with the 9th Bn Royal Dublin Fusiliers at Guinchy in September 1919 during the Battle of the Somme. His brother Charlie took part in the Bloody Sunday assassinations on 21st November 1920. Emmet with other IRA men disguised as Brirish officers and men failed to break Sean MacEoin out of Mountjoy Jail in May 1921.

The Battle of the Somme was July to November 1916 my friend.

The 1st of July 1916 is literally seen as the first day of the battle. However if one wants to be pedantic what about the artillery barrages weeks before that preceded the 1st of July 1916 date? Do you naively think the Battle of the Somme commenced and concluded on the 1st July 1916? I wont be rude. I would highly recommend getting a WW1 history book.

Obviously it was 1916 and not 1919. As stated the Battle of the Somne was from July to November 1916.

@@rambojp73 Dont be behaving like a troll. Good you spotted the error. With that other information I provided I think it is safe to assume I know the year of the Battle of the Somme. My grandfather was there like other IRA veterans . I am doing this on my phone and not a computer and numbers are close together and am typing fast. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I could go into troll mode and go on about you thinking erroneously the Battle of the Somme started and ended on the same day July 1st 1916.

Me too

Collins was the Irish Quisling.

I found the location ... after driving around for an hour and a half or so. I was going to give up and then found it.

He had betrayed Ireland.

@@MarkHarrison733 Nobody did more than he to get the British Army out of Ireland.

@@michaeldoyle8733 The British army is still here.

Did'nt Irish historians,forensics,military ballistic experts and the state pathologist make a documentary on RTE(Irish TV) in the last few years about the bullet that killed Collins and dispelling a lot of myths.

Just like the cap john,that was bought for,a substantial amount money legitimate auction house,sold for thousands,only for a military historian to say couldn't be Michaels cap,because the badge on the cap was post 1922.sure your name is not dee forbes, john.😅

@@johnroche7541 RTE is not a trustworthy source.

Somebody with sence.

Ireland reunited with the UK on 1 January 1973.

@MarkHarrison733 "Reunited"? Ireland was a sovereign country, and NEVER a part of the UK!! Ireland was invaded in the 16th century by England, who still possesses and controls territory from Ireland. So how's that being "reunited"? Idiot.

5th & 6th century Irish raiding/settlement along western coasts of Britain was of importance in what is now Cornwall, Wales, Cumbria and most especially what is now Scotland which takes its name from the Irish "Scotti" who founded a Kingdom in Galloway which eventually gave its name to the whole country. But to say that Irish raiding was the major reason for the Western Roman Emperor to pull out the regular British Garrison and let the local Magistrates cope as best they could is pushing it a bit since the Imperial Government seems to have much larger concerns like Goths, Huns, rival claims for Imperial title etc. As for England which did not exist before the 9th century being freed of Roman dominance by the Irish. The Christian Latin speaking Magistrates and Church do not seem to have been very happy about being abandoned to Irish & Pictish slave raids (such as the one which captured the future Saint Patrick) and were still pleading for help from Rome for the next 50 years while bring in Saxon, Jutes and Angle foederate to deal with the raiders. Depending on your historical viewpoint: a) Bringing in the Saxon fathers of the fathers of the English was a terrible call on a par with the Irish decision to bring in the Normans to deal with a small local problem (view popular in Wales) b) A object lesson in why people should not "Welsh" on a deal with the English tribes and not pay them (A English view or c) It made no difference the German Tribes were on the march and nothing was going to stop their northern branches from taking over most of the nicer bits (from a farming point of view) of Britannia. Either way the fact that England now speaks a basically German language (with additional bits nicked/borrowed from all over) rather than Scots or Irish Gallic seems to fairly comprehensively prove that the major influence in the formation of England was from the East and not from Ireland.

Cheap and nasty.

Breen was a major Nazi.

Shut up