North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?
US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty Anti-Empire >>
Promoting Human Rights in IrelandHuman Rights in Ireland >>
The Daily Sceptic Christmas Appeal Mon Dec 23, 2024 07:00 | Toby Young The Daily Sceptic's Christmas Appeal launches today ? an opportunity for readers to show their appreciation of the work we do. Remember, donating just ?5/month or ?50/year will give you access to a range of premium perks.
The post The Daily Sceptic Christmas Appeal appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Mon Dec 23, 2024 01:12 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Staff at ?100 Million Alan Turing Institute Attack ?Chaotic? Management Amid Diversity Row Sun Dec 22, 2024 19:00 | Richard Eldred Staff at the ?100 million Alan Turing Institute have erupted in protest over a diversity row, accusing leadership of "tokenistic" hiring and sparking fears that the organisation's credibility is at risk.
The post Staff at ?100 Million Alan Turing Institute Attack ?Chaotic? Management Amid Diversity Row appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
?Our Irish Leaders Have Contributed to Hatred Against Jews? Sun Dec 22, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred Ireland's Chief Rabbi has blasted the country's leaders for fuelling antisemitism, leaving Jewish children hiding their identities and many others afraid to wear symbols of their faith.
The post ?Our Irish Leaders Have Contributed to Hatred Against Jews? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
?Grocery Tax? to Hike Britons? Shopping Bills by ?56 in Labour Net Zero ?Inflation Boost? Sun Dec 22, 2024 15:00 | Richard Eldred Labour's "grocery tax" is set to punish British families, slapping an extra ?56 onto their shopping bills and driving up inflation, all in the name of Net Zero.
The post ?Grocery Tax? to Hike Britons? Shopping Bills by ?56 in Labour Net Zero ?Inflation Boost? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en
Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en
How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en
Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Was Michael Collins assassinated?
national |
arts and media |
opinion/analysis
Thursday December 19, 2013 23:17 by M Congannon
New book re-opens the case
"The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?" by S M Sigerson (Kindle / Create Space 2013) is a controversial new study about the revolutionary leader's death.
This new work about Michael Collins is generating some fierce arguments in online forums. For those who haven't heard, Collins was a leader of Ireland's War of Independence (1919-21). He's adulated by many as one of the founders of modern guerilla warfare. In any case, he was at the helm when Ireland, after 700 years of trying, finally forced the British to the negotiating table.
In 1922, shortly after signing a controversial treaty with England, he was shot to death. And that's where the debate begins. Was it a simple military action? Was it an assassination? Although my first question is "After ninety years, why doesn't anyone know?"
The more I tried to research whether this book is to be believed, the less I found anyone can tell us about exactly how Collins died. "Accident of war" is the argument which is hotly defended by some. Assassination buffs consider the suspicious factors too many to accept. Writers like Bernadette Devlin have called it "mysterious," even though he was in uniform, with an army convoy, in the midst of the Civil War, at the time,
Bitter wrangling continues as to who was true, who was a traitor, and what role the colonialistic English governours played in it all. Collins has taken a lot of hits by mud-slingers. Was he a martyr or a sell-out? Were his opponents the real revolutionaries? Or back-stabbing turncoats?
This book goes further than any other I've seen in minutely analyzing the evidence. Various witnesses' versions are itemized and cross-referenced. One can get a bit dizzy following the forty pages of "Contradictions and Corroborations" about the twenty-minute ambush. But it makes one point clear enough: someone lied.
The explanation offered as to exactly what did happen certainly contradicts the conventional wisdom. I don't want to give away the climax. But it's definitely different from any previous attempt. Most of what you thought you knew about it will probably be found on the scrap heap under the "Debunking the myths" section.
If nothing else, it's refreshing to hear analysis of Collins by an author who's clearly no stranger to the history of revolutionary struggles. Sigerson places Collins in a wider context of other wars for self-determination, and the dangers they face.
It's a good read. Collins fans will probably enjoy it, and argue about it, from now on.
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 2 1The past is irreversible although re-interpretive. What happened at Beal-na-Blath was a military ambush by the irregulars on the regulars, in a lousy civil war. What happened cannot unhappen. Move on and prepare for the 2014 local elections.
The problem here is with the term "assassination". We do not usually apply this term when the forces engaged are above a certain size. Questions like this can perhaps best be addressed by approaching from extremes.
Thus, those leading the forces of A might hope a particular leader of the forces of B might be killed in a attack of an army of A against an army of B where this leader of B can be expected to be present. But we never call such an attack an "assassination attempt".
On the other hand, an attack against the leader of B who at the time is accompanied by only a few body guards we would call an "assassination attempt".
What I am saying here is that we can for the moment leave "intent" out of it and simply consider the size of the groups engaged to determine if the term "assassination" could be applied even if the intent (that Collins got killed) was there. In my opinion, far too large for the term "assassination".