| August 22 |  |
Editor says, what if Michael Collins had taken the gun out of Irish Politics? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1922, on this day at a place called Béal na mBláth ("the Mouth of the Flowers") in his home territory of west Cork, Michael Collins secretly met with political rival Éamon de Valera to agree a peace formula that would bring an end to the Irish Civil War.
Happy Endings Part 8
The Mouth of the FlowersThe two Irish leaders had found themselves on the opposing side of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that had partitioned the island by creating a twenty-six county free state in the South. The core of their historic agreement was a joint commitment to use exclusively peaceful means to work towards the creation of a thirty-two country Republic. But in a larger sense, it was a bold move forward for the political situation that had to begin with a refusal to allow the British Government to continue to shape events in Ireland.
Always a man to lead from the front, the "Big Fellow" had made his own personal decision to set off in a different direction. Because shortly afterwards, he resigned his post as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, entered private life and married sweatheart Kitty Kiernan. After a political career that spanned four decades, de Valera became the Patron of the Michael Collins Foundation, declaring that "It is my considered opinion that in the fullness of time history will record the greatness of Collins and it will be recorded at my expense".
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Happy Endings Source: Wikipedia Labels: Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Irish Republican Army, Ireland, Republic. Editor says, in reality Collins was shot dead in an ambush. No one has ever been officially charged with the murder of "The Big Fellow". In authoring this post we have repurposed content from Wikipedia and "A Pocket History of Irish Rebels" by Morgan Llywelyn (2001).
~ The British had their chance to shoot de Valera, along with the other leaders of the Easter Week uprising, but they spared him because he had been born in America, and they did not want to arouse American outrage.
~ Irish politics without decades of violence? I could live with that.
~ Dev may have been spared due to his mental health/ The British were aware of the blowback, from the executions after 1916. Also, the British scheme may have just have been to execute just the signers of the proclamation. They spared other people outside of Dublin.
As to Collins, walking away. Only if Dev orders, the die hards to stand down. If they do, that spares Ireland a year of war, and some but not all bitterness. Collins was keeping the National army on a tight leash, without him, things got worse. Collins walking away, is interesting. Dev almost did the same thing after losing the civil war.
It goes down, to the assement of the man. If he had wanted a quiet life, he could have been a rich new yorker. ( I have an AH about this somewhere) I agree with Peter hart, collins went to London, because he wanted to make a peace, not to sit in the back ground.
Comment from Brandon Przepiorski on Facebook: What Eamon had gone to the british for the peace tready and got shot instead of MC Good call sir. What interests me more actually is what if MC had refused to sign the Treaty (in his diary Winston Churchill said "Michael Collins rose up looking as if he was going to shoot someone, preferably himself. In all my life, I have never seen so much passion and suffering in restraint"). I have a feeling the British would have killed him if he would have signed he, he was the real leader of the IRA Eamon was always in jail or out of country, Mick was the only reason the British even decided to sign a tready he was a master at gorilla warfare I have absolutely no doubt you're right about that sir. I think you're key point is that the Treaty would never have happened at all without Collins? Without a doubt, the Brits had the upperhand until Eamon was arrested and then left for the US, and Collins took over
~ Would Eamon de Valera have had things so all his own way in this TL, or would Michael Collins' influence have made Ireland less of a backwater?
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
