Comment by Walter Crawford on April 22, 2016 at 5:38pm

Excellent video,has filled in the many gaps of my former knowledge of the "Easter Rising" and the "Black & Tans" and the story of Michael Collins. Was he a hero or villain? I really don't  know, but would suggest that he was - like so many others - a victim of the circumstances of his time.

Admin Comment by Joe Gannon on April 22, 2016 at 7:32pm

Like all of us, Walter, all Collins could do is look at the facts as he knew them and make the best decision he could. He choose to believe that the British really would "double down" on the military option and send tens of thousands more troops into Ireland and perhaps win the war militarily. Other believed, then and now, that the British were bluffing and knew that what was happening in Ireland was doing them tremendous damage around the world, and that winning was going to involve them having to be even MORE brutal and they would have backed down and conceded the republic. We know what DID happen in history, but we can never know what would happen if the opposite decision was made. People can disagree with his decision, but he was doing what he believed was right.

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