Britain's Greatest Foe - Michael Collins ?

[Atticus_Finch]

Heard about this on the radio earlier - The National Army Mueseum is currently running a poll to decide who was Britiain's greatest foe ever.

Michael Collins is the sole Irish representative amongst the list of candidates, the website has quite a detailed bio on Collins:

The son of a west Cork farmer, Michael Collins moved to London in 1906 to work for the Post Office Savings Bank in West Kensington. While in London he studied at King's College, joined the Gaelic Athletic Association and was sworn into the underground Irish Republican Brotherhood.

He returned to Ireland in 1916 and joined the Irish Volunteers. Collins fought alongside Sean MacDiarmada in the Dublin General Post Office during the Easter Rising, but took a dim view of its military strategy. He believed the policy of capturing and then holding indefensible and vulnerable posts in the middle of the capital foolhardy. Such places were impossible to escape from and hard to supply. It was a lesson he would not forget.

Collins was arrested and imprisoned at Frongoch internment camp in Wales. Following his release in late 1916 he helped lead the revival of the Sinn Féin-Volunteer movement, combining political and military strategies, with many volunteers fighting elections on the Sinn Féin platform.

After Sinn Féin's 1918 election victory, in which he was elected MP for Cork South, Collins refused to take his seat at Westminster and instead became Minister of Finance in the newly formed underground government (Dáil Éireann). In January 1919 the Dáil declared that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was the legitimate army of the Irish Republic and in September Collins was appointed its Director of Intelligence.

In partnership with Richard Mulcahy, the IRA chief of staff, he effectively ran the army's campaign during the subsequent Irish War of Independence (1919-22). With the assistance of Dick McKee, Collins introduced the 'flying columns', volunteers who waged a guerrilla campaign, mounting surprise attacks on barracks and police stations and ambushing convoys before quickly withdrawing. He also created an assassination team known as 'The Squad', who killed British agents and police informers. For over two years he ran an intelligence system that infiltrated the British military and police authorities in Dublin.

Despite the difficulties in trying to run a government department during an underground war, Collins also managed to organise a large bond issue in the form of a 'National Loan' to help fund the Irish Republic and more importantly fund IRA units that needed money and arms. He also emphasised that IRA men should rely on the Irish population for support. The latter willingly provided food, safe houses and generally resisted passing information to the British. Much of this support was due to British excesses during the war, especially those carried out by the paramilitary 'Black and Tans' and Auxiliary Division.

After the cease-fire in July 1921 Collins led the Irish delegation to London to negotiate the Anglo-Irish Treaty (6 December 1921). The agreement led to the partition of Ireland. He believed that this was the best deal that could be achieved given the comparative strength of the IRA and the British, but also felt it would be a stepping-stone to an Irish Republic that would eventually include the six northern counties. Indeed, even after the Dáil had ratified the treaty Collins launched a brief IRA guerrilla offensive against Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, many in the IRA felt the replacement of the republic by a Free State with dominion status within the British Empire was a betrayal and rejected his arguments.

This defiance of the new Provisional Government, of which Collins became chairman, precipitated the Irish Civil War (1922-23), in June 1922. Collins tried to prevent an IRA split, but eventually accepted that the anti-treaty faction was irreconcilable. He was also under strong British pressure to act against the anti-treaty IRA after they carried out attacks in Northern Ireland and London. In the conflict that followed, Collins borrowed British artillery to bombard the anti-treaty IRA volunteers in the Four Courts in Dublin, and energetically built up a new Irish National Army to crush the anti-treaty forces. As commander-in-chief he led a successful military campaign while continuing to seek a peaceful solution, but before he could negotiate a deal with his old IRA comrades he was shot and killed in West Cork on 22 August 1922.

Collins was the outstanding leader of the Irish War of Independence and fought the British to a standstill. He made much of Ireland ungovernable with an army that never exceeded more than 3,000 active volunteers at any given time. He also had an instinctive understanding of the strengths and limitations of guerrilla warfare, realising that the IRA could not completely defeat the British. Indeed on the eve of the 1921 treaty discussions, he conceded that his army was running out of weapons and ammunition. Collins compromised in order to win a partial victory, but he is said to have commented after signing the treaty: 'I tell you, I have signed my death warrant.'

Collin's is currently second in the leaderboard to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a Turkish commander that defied an allied invasion during the first world war.

Collins is only 150 votes behind !  The people on this board alone could make a difference:

http://www.nam.ac.uk/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/enemy-commanders-britains-greatest-foes/michael-collins

[mylestheslasher]

Does a certain german dictator not figure on this list. I know the brits attract foes like flies around shite but surely adolf is the only possible winner.

[Atticus_Finch]

A worthy adversary alright !

I reckon they don't have him (don't want him) because they feel they defeated Adolf and not vice versa ... the list of candidates on the website is for commanders that managed to defeat the brits in some shape or form.

[theticklemister]

eSo the people of Britain are glamourising their foes throughout the years?? very ironic???

they spread their commonwealth dictatorship throughout the globe and now praising the 'rebels' who fought against their empire.  keep well clear of the site which will no doubt turn into British propaganda and will be a mirror image of last year when the Queen ironically praised the rebels of 1916 in their fight for freedom while still the governing the very same land she stood there making the speech (of course well supported by the Irish politicians who bent over backwards to welcome her)

Incidentally they say Collins shouldnt be in the list as he did 'not fight her majesty's forces in a land battle and therefore did not outfight us tactically.'

.................................................................................................. i think they used guerilla warfare mucker.................. it worked much better!!

[Hardy]

Is Big Jack on the list?

[muppet]

I can't believe Johnny Foreigner isn't on the list.

Or Maradona for that matter.

[Shamrock Shore]

Can we not vote for Ronnie O'Brien....

[Atticus_Finch]

Maradona 

Speaking of their enemies if it had been a poll of England's greatest foes then you would imagine William Wallace might have got a mention but i think he was plying his trade a good bit before the Acts of Union brought about GB.  But also I'm well aware there are a few porkies told to make the film the great show that it is. ... but even if you don't believe that he could shoot fire balls from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse  he is still a good foe !

I love it when these types of polls are run, you are guaranteed that the Irish will hijack it if at all possible 

Does anyone remember when a "A Nation once again" was voted the world's most popular tune :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2591357.stm

The Wolfe Tones winning most popular tune was an absolute farce but on this occasion if there is an Irish winner then i don't think it would be a farce at all.  Simple reason being if you look at the resources Collin's had at his disposal and compare it with the damage he inflicted and the style in which he did so .....

Then pound for pound he is the greatest foe in my eyes !

[moysider]

 Just voted for him there. He s only 53 votes behind now.

I would have expected Napoleon to have won this.

[ziggysego]

England's Greatest Foe

[Atticus_Finch]

Less than 50 now .... the Turk is in sight !

http://www.nam.ac.uk/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/enemy-commanders-britains-greatest-foes/leaderboard

[ziggy90]

England's Greatest Foe

Who, Colin Doyle? I've just voted for the Big Fella.

[ziggysego]

There's only one ziggy here and that's me.

Penalty kicks

[LondonCamanachd]

Maradona 

Speaking of their enemies if it had been a poll of England's greatest foes then you would imagine William Wallace might have got a mention but i think he was plying his trade a good bit before the Acts of Union brought about GB.  But also I'm well aware there are a few porkies told to make the film the great show that it is. ... but even if you don't believe that he could shoot fire balls from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse  he is still a good foe !

Well yep, it's quite hard to be Britain's greatest foe when Britian doesn't exist yet.

Hitler would be a bit of a dodgy one, it would be pretty bad political capital if Hitler was seen to be voted as "the greatest xyz".

Michael Collins is a politcally safe choice in the UK, led a small army against a colonial power, led a nation that's now an EU partner of the UK, and the IRA will get the blame for his death.  Plus there was a big budget Hollywood biopic about him.

[glens abu]

Maradona 

Speaking of their enemies if it had been a poll of England's greatest foes then you would imagine William Wallace might have got a mention but i think he was plying his trade a good bit before the Acts of Union brought about GB.  But also I'm well aware there are a few porkies told to make the film the great show that it is. ... but even if you don't believe that he could shoot fire balls from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse  he is still a good foe !

Well yep, it's quite hard to be Britain's greatest foe when Britian doesn't exist yet.

Hitler would be a bit of a dodgy one, it would be pretty bad political capital if Hitler was seen to be voted as "the greatest xyz".

Michael Collins is a politcally safe choice in the UK, led a small army against a colonial power, led a nation that's now an EU partner of the UK, and the IRA will get the blame for his death.  Plus there was a big budget Hollywood biopic about him.

Plus once they got him in a room he held his hands up and agreed to the division of his country.They will just love him.