The Lost Leader: Michael Collins

A Patriot Takes to the Stage
Michael Collins and the 1916 Rising
"That valiant effort and the martyrdoms that followed it finally awoke the sleeping spirit of Ireland" - Michael Collins

CONTENTS: Plans for a Rising | Flawed | Collins and Connolly | The Fight | Reaction |

Plans for a Rising

It was 12 noon on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916. Dublin City had been bathed in sunlight over the weekend and the holiday atmosphere remained as many travelled to the beaches and hundreds of British soldiers had been given leave to attend a race meeting in The Curragh, Co Kildare. It was expected to be quiet day yet at that moment, Padraic Pearce and James Conolly led their Volunteer Company, including Michael Collins, to take posession of the imposing General Post Office building on Sackville St (now O'Connell St) and strike against the Empire "in full confidence of victory", according to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. The reality however, was a little more bleak.
By January of 1916, The Supreme Council of the IRB had decided that a Rising was to take place on Easter Sunday. By this stage the Irish Volunteers had split into two groups: the larger group (170,000 men) stayed loyal to John Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party who fought for Britain in World War I in an attempt to gain home rule for Ireland. The other and smaller group (10,000 men) came under the command of Eoin MacNeill, who virulently opposed conscription. These men were regarded by the IRB as essential to the Rising.
Flaws
However, the planned Rising was fundamentally flawed. As many as 200,000 rifles were due to be shipped into Ireland from Germany by Sir Roger Casement (who was knighted by the British for his contribution to the diplomatic service). However, when Casement learned that the ammount of aid that was actually allocated for Ireland was much smaller, he tried his best to postpone the Rising. Meanwhile, Eoin MacNeill was being kept in the dark over plans for a Rising as the IRB knew he would be opposed to a military initiative. The Rising was due to commence under the guise "Easter Manoeuvers", but when MacNeill learned of the planned Rising, he placed a prominent advertisement in the Sunday Independent announcing the cancellation of these manoeuvers. The planned Rising was thrown into disarray. The vast majority of Volunteers obeyed the orders and the nation-wide Risings were cancelled. It was only in Dublin and other isolated spots that the planned insurgency was postponed until the Monday and even then, only a quarter of the Volunteers in htese areas mobilised. The Rising was to be military disaster and destined to be a a mere blood sacrifice.
Collins and Connolly
On Easter Monday, 1916, 26-year-old Michael Collins marched towards the GPO as aide-de-camp to Jame Connolly, head of the Irish Citizen Army, by now subsumed into the Irish Volunteers. Both men first met when Connolly was kidnapped by the IRB and persuaded to amalgamate his Citizen Army (an armed wing of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union). During this most unusual of kidnaps which lasted two days, Collins spent the night on guard to prevent an escape attempt during which he learned of Connolly's staunch political views and gained a great repect for the man.
The fight
And so Collins was at Connolly's side in the GPO when the leader was shot in the ankle and thigh, and later when he was stretchered to the Rotunda hospital to surrender. On the Easter Monday, Padraic Pearce had read out the proclamation of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic to bemused onlookers in the porch of the GPO, while other strategic buildings around the city were secured by other Volunteer Companies. Later that evening, the British Army arrived on the scene in the form of a group of lancers who advanced up the street. When four were killed in a volley of shots, the remainder dispersed. The next day 2,500 British troops mobilised in the city, reinforded by a further 2,000 who landed from England and a gun-boat, The Helga, on the Tuesday. The gun-boat bombarded Sackville St, destroying most of the buildings and injuring and killing hundreds of civilians.
A council of war was held by the insurgent leaders on the followinbg Saturday and it was agreed that terms for surrender should be agreed. By 3:45 pm, the insurgents were being marched by British troops to the Rotunda Hospital. The rebel captives were jeered by some Dubliners as they were escorted to the hospital for the destruction and loss of life caused by the rebels. However, the jeers were to change dramatically to cheers as the excessive British reaction caused a sea-change in Irish opinon.
Reaction
In the context of the mass slaughter in the killing fields of France during World War I, the British response to the Irish rebels was typically excessive. Sixteen of the rebellion leaders were courtmartialled and executed, including the injured James Conolly who, unable to stand, was strapped into a chair and shot. As the details of each execution seeped through to the Irish people, Irish public opinion shifted from anger at the rebels to bitter outrage at the gratutitious British response. Because of the Irish reaction, 97 rebels had their death sentences commuted. Five women and 1,800 men were sent to prision camps in England. Collins himself was sent initially to Stafford Gaol and later to Frongoch in North Wales where the preparations for another assault on the Empire was brewing within weeks.