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Michael Collins (Irish Revolutionary)

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Politician

The Resume

    (October 16, 1890-August 22, 1922)
    Born in Woodfield, County Cork, Ireland
    Irish soldier and politician
    Member of the Irish Volunteers and Sinn Fein
    During the Easter Rebellion, served as aide de camp to organizer Joseph Plunkett (1916)
    Director of Intelligence for the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence (1918-22)
    Member of the delegation that negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty ending the war and establishing the Irish Free State
    Chair of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State (January 15-August 22, 1922)
    Assassinated in an ambush by an anti-Treaty faction of the IRA

Why he might be annoying:

    As head of the Provisional Government, he suspended the right of habeus corpus.
    He refused to call meetings of Parliament.
    When the High Court ruled against him, he refused to abide by its rulings.
    When he came under fire, his bodyguard recommended that they 'drive like hell,' but Collins insisted, 'No, stop and we'll fight them.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    The intelligence network he organized was so efficient that he sometimes obtained copies of British orders before the originals reached their intended recipients.
    Upon signing the Anglo-Irish Treaty, British Lord High Chancellor F.E. Smith remarked, 'I may have signed my political death warrant.' Collins replied, 'I may have signed my actual death warrant.'
    He convinced a majority of the Irish Parliament to accept the Treaty with the argument that it provided 'the freedom to achieve freedom.'
    His funeral was attended by 500,000 people, nearly a fifth of Ireland's entire population at the time.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 33 Votes: 54.55% Annoying