Michael Collins Killed: Ireland's Tragic Turning Point

An ambush party hiding behind hedgerows in the narrow valley of Beal na Blath, County Cork, opened fire on a small military convoy on August 22, 1922. Michael Collins, commander-in-chief of the Irish Free State Army and the man who had negotiated Ireland's independence from Britain, stepped out of his armored car to fight back. A single bullet struck him behind the right ear. He was 31 years old. Collins had spent years as the mastermind of Irish republican intelligence during the War of Independence, building a network of spies inside Dublin Castle that systematically dismantled British intelligence operations. His guerrilla campaign forced Britain to the negotiating table, and in December 1921 he signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty that created the Irish Free State. But the treaty required an oath of allegiance to the British Crown and partitioned Ireland, leaving six northern counties under British rule. Half the republican movement rejected the terms, and by June 1922 Ireland had descended into civil war. Collins was traveling through his native County Cork on a combined inspection and peace mission when his convoy was ambushed by anti-Treaty IRA forces. The firefight lasted about 30 minutes. Despite advice from his companions to drive through the ambush zone, Collins ordered the convoy to stop and return fire. The fatal shot came as dusk was falling. His body was transported to Cork and then to Dublin, where his funeral drew hundreds of thousands of mourners. The identity of the person who fired the killing shot has never been conclusively established, and speculation has fueled decades of controversy. Collins's death removed the one leader with enough credibility on both sides to have shortened the civil war. Without him, the conflict ground on until May 1923, leaving scars that shaped Irish politics for the rest of the century. The two major political parties that still dominate Ireland today trace their origins to the treaty split that killed Collins.