Irish Leader Michael Collins

Born in Clonakilty, County Cork in Ireland on 16 October 1890, Michael Collins (not to be confused with the Apollo 11 astronaut of the same name) was the youngest of eight children and grew up with an elderly father who may have declared "He'll do great work for Ireland" and he was certainly right about that.
In the lead up to the 1916 Easter Rising, Michael gained valuable administrative skills that would benefit him throughout his life while working at a post office in London, England. Michael also joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Gaelic League and Sinn Fein while he was in London. Michael aided Joseph Plunkett in the Dublin GPO (General Post Office) on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland and while Plunkett was shot for his actions, Collins was imprisoned in Frongoch in Wales where he plotted his own revolution.
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In the 1st Dáil, Michael was the Minister for Finance (he originally had the role of Minister for Home Affairs until Eamonn De Valera and Arthur Griffith got out of prison) and raised £358,000 for the Dail's funding. Michael Collins' role in the Irish War of Independence involved him being the Director of Organisation and Intelligence for the IRA (Irish Republican Army) in which he gathered information about the British system in Ireland through informants. While the Irish War of Independence was successful, it came at a Republic of Ireland political cost as the Anglo Irish Treaty 1921 stated that while Ireland would have a government and be independent, it would have a similar position to that of Canada, a dominion state with a government general and the British Monarch being the head of state. Not only that but an Oath of Allegiance to the British King George 5th. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George threatened immediate and terrible war if the Irish delegates didn't agree to it. This resulted in war anyway as Irish politics were split between pro-treaty (people saw it as a stepping stone to full independence from Britain) and anti- treaty (people saw it as the denial of a 32 county republic from happening).
Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith who had traveled to London to sign the Treaty were Pro Treaty while Eamonn de Valera and Countess Markievicz were anti treaty. Michael Collins was travelling in west Cork when he was ambushed in Béal na Blath (mouth of the ford of the buttermilk) by anti- treaty insurgents on 22 August 1922 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. A film about his life starring Liam Neeson has a lower age rating despite its violent content in Ireland on account of the film's historic nature as Michael Collins is taught in primary and secondary schools.