Collins, Michael, 1890–1922, Irish revolutionary leader. He spent the years from 1907 to 1916 in England, during which period he joined the Fenian movement Fenian movement (fē`nēən) or Fenians, secret revolutionary society organized c.
..... Click the link for more information. . He took part in the Easter Rebellion in Dublin in 1916 and was imprisoned for the rest of the year. One of the Sinn Féin Sinn Féin (shĭn fān) [Irish,=we, ourselves], Irish nationalist movement.
..... Click the link for more information. members who set up the Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann (dôl ā`rôn, dīl âr`ən)
..... Click the link for more information. in 1919, he led the Irish Republican Army Irish Republican Army (IRA), nationalist organization devoted to the integration of Ireland as a complete and independent unit. Organized by Michael Collins from remnants of rebel units dispersed after the Easter Rebellion in 1916 (see Ireland ), it was composed of
..... Click the link for more information. in the guerrilla campaign against British rule that eventually forced the British government to sue for a truce. Although a convinced republican, Collins, with Arthur Griffith Griffith, Arthur, 1872–1922, Irish statesman, founder of Sinn Féin . He joined the nationalist movement as a young man. In 1899 he founded the United Irishman,
..... Click the link for more information. , negotiated and signed the treaty (1921) that set up the Irish Free State (see Ireland Irish Free State, and from 1937 to 1949 as

Eire. Dublin is the capital of the republic and by far its largest city.

Political Geography and People

..... Click the link for more information. ) because he felt it the best settlement with England possible at that time. He was finance minister in Griffith's government for a brief time before being assassinated by extremist republicans.

Bibliography

See biographies by F. O'Connor (1937), E. Neeson (1968), M. Forester (1971), T. P. Coogan (1990), T. R. Dwyer (1990), and P. Hart (2006).

Collins, Michael

(born Oct. 16, 1890, Clonakilty, County Cork, Ire.—died Aug. 22, 1922, Beal-na-Blath, Cork) Irish national leader. He worked in London (1906–16), then returned to fight in the Easter Rising. Elected as a member of Sinn Féin to the Irish assembly (1918), he became the Irish republic's first minister of home affairs. He was general of the volunteers and director of intelligence of the Irish Republican Army in the Anglo-Irish War. In 1921 he signed the controversial Anglo-Irish Treaty, which gave Ireland dominion status, though with provisions for partition and for an oath of allegiance to the crown. He and Arthur Griffith then became leaders of the provisional government. When civil war broke out, Collins commanded the government forces fighting the anti-treaty republicans, and on Griffith's death he became head of the government. Ten days later he was killed in an ambush at age 31.

Collins, Michael (1930– ) astronaut, museum director; born in Rome, Italy. As an astronaut he performed two space walks on the Gemini 10 mission (1966) and piloted the Apollo 11 command module, which circled the moon as the first manned vehicle landed there. Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (1971–78), and vice-president of LTV Aerospace and Defense Co. (1980–85), he founded his own firm (1985). He authored Carrying the Fire (1974), an account of his experiences in the space program.