Anatomy of an Ambush: Béal na Bláth and the military battle that changed the path of Irish history

Image: Alamy Stock Photo Image: Alamy Stock Photo BÉAL NA BLÁTH sits in a tight, shallow valley in rural west Cork, banked by broad deciduous trees and rolling slopes.

This is the site of the ambush where Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins died and where the Civil War reached a critical moment on August 22, 1922. So too were the flying columns – bands of armed rebels using the support of the locals to fight an insurgency against the British. They stayed on farms, slept in barns, were fed and supported and backed up by Cumman na mBán members carrying messages and arms.

Just weeks before, Cork city was seized in a seaborne landing by General Emmet Dalton and Irish troops. Landing at Passage West and fighting their way into Cork city, old press cuttings list the dead and the dying. Insurgents set up a roadblock and had placed a mine earlier in the day having watched the convoy passing through. Such was the wait for the returning Collins that they were in the process of dismantling the mine believing he would not appear.

On a strategic level, the fighting between the two factions – he believes – was influenced by much more than what was evident on the roadway at Béal na Bláth, and in fact beyond the shores of Ireland itself. Following independence after the signing of the Treaty in December, 1921, the Anglo Irish relations are highly significant. The British government was putting serious pressure on the new Irish administration to sort out its own house and there was a fairly substantial threat of re-invasion, or reopening of the War of Independence, if we didn’t get our house in order.

MacEoin believes the First World War, the ten years of revolution, the Spanish Flu and the eventual Civil War had left the population with no appetite to continue the blood-letting and this led into widespread support for the treaty and the activities of the Irish National Army. A smiling National Army soldier with a a captured member of the IRA in July 1922. Source: Alamy Stock Photo“The anti-treaty forces, while they were quite experienced, and they have knowledge of the landscape, as per the tactics used in the War of Independence, their armament was haphazard as was their training.

If you lived by the gun well............

Both Michael Collins & Arthur Griffith were vehemently pro-capitalist.

Michael Collins. FG remember him not for being a militant republican, but for using British money & arms in a brutal state repression of anti-treaty

MichealMartinTD LeoVaradkar simoncoveney Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney are BOOED at the Michael Collins centenary commemoration... 🫣 'Let there be no doubt about where Ireland stands. We want nothing to do with a backward-looking idea of sovereignty.'

The Journal fact checked Michael Collins and concluded he didn't exist ever.

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‘Michael Collins’ life was Ireland, his legacy is Ireland too,’ 100th anniversary commemoration hearsTaoiseach and Tánaiste mark death of Michael Collins with speeches at Béal na Bláth Very impressed with the speech of the Taoiseach. What would have happened if Collins lived? That we can only imagine. But for those who blamed him for partition, remember De Valera went on to live a long life, became Taoiseach and President, and did nothing to end partition. Fine speech from An Taoiseach.
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »

Thousands in Béal na Bláth for Collins commemorationThousands of people are gathering at Béal na Bláth in Co Cork to commemorate the centenary of the death of Michael Collins in an ambush. So you can report how tory boy Leo uses a commemoration to take a pop at SF again. No thanks. Hijacked by blueshirts. They'd have more business commemorating Eoin Ó Duffy, Oliver Flanagan and the black & tans. What time is Mary Lou talking? or is this just a FFFGG gig?
Source: rtenews - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »

Cork event marks 100 years since Michael Collins' deathThousands of people will gather today at Béal na Bláth in Co Cork to commemorate the centenary of the death of Michael Collins in an ambush. 100 years since they shot him more like. 100 years since cork shot him more like. To commemorate a terrorist leader
Source: rtenews - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »

What's in a name: Béal na Blá or Béal na Bláth?As attention turns towards west Cork this weekend and the 100-year anniversary of the assassination of Michael Collins, there continues to be much debate and speculation as to what happened on that fateful day in August 1922.
Source: rtenews - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »

Who shot Michael Collins? One hundred years on, the question remains unansweredRonan McGreevy visits Béal na Bláth ahead of the centenary in search of the truth about an assassination whose impact is still felt today Is Harry Boland and Cathal Brugha considered to have been assassinated?. He was shot by a 360 noscoper 🤷‍♂️
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »

Collins descendants welcome Micheál Martin’s acceptance to speak at Béal na BláthMartin will be first Fianna Fáil Taoiseach to speak at commemoration when he joins Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in delivering address Two men that would be seen as traitors by those they are commemorating! Wouldn't it be gas if it was a trap laid by Collins descendants. This is why Fianna Fáil are doomed they have no identity anymore or at least didn’t hang on to the one they had.
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »