Latest / The History of Ireland: Rebellion, Empire, and Independence — Fexingo History / Michael Collins and the Squad: Dublin's Assassins of the War of Independence
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the big battles and the political movements in Ireland's struggle for independence, but there's one shadowy figure who orchestrated a whole secret war within the war. Michael Collins. Luna: Michael Collins — the man they called 'the Big Fellow.' But also the man who ran an assassination squad, right? Lucas: Exactly. After the Easter Rising in 1916, Collins was arrested and interned. But when he got out, he was determined that the next phase would be different. He saw that the old Fenian approach — open rebellion — got people killed. So he built an intelligence network that was terrifyingly effective. Lucas: At the heart of it was a small unit called 'the Squad' — sometimes called 'the Twelve Apostles,' though the number varied. These were men handpicked by Collins, mostly from Dublin's working-class neighborhoods. Their job: assassinate British intelligence agents and informers. Luna: How did he recruit them? It's not like you could put up a sign. Lucas: Collins knew the underground from his days in the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He looked for men who were disciplined, loyal, and had a personal grudge against the British. Many had fought in the Rising or had family members killed. He also insisted they be teetotallers — no drinking, no loose talk. Lucas: The Squad operated in small cells. They used bicycles, trams, and stolen cars for getaways. Their weapons were usually revolvers — quiet and easy to conceal. And they struck fast. Collins's intelligence network, with spies inside Dublin Castle, gave him the names and addresses of British officers. Luna: It sounds like a modern intelligence operation, but in 1919 Dublin. Lucas: It was remarkably sophisticated. Collins had a network of female couriers — women who could move through the city without raising suspicion. They carried messages, weapons, and even helped hide men on the run. And he had safe houses all over Dublin, often in plain sight. Lucas: The most famous operation was Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920. On that morning, the Squad assassinated fourteen British intelligence officers in coordinated raids across Dublin. Most were killed in their beds. The British got word of the operation too late, but they retaliated brutally. Luna: That's when the Black and Tans opened fire at Croke Park, right? Lucas: Yes. That afternoon, at a Gaelic football match, British forces — including the Black and Tans — entered the ground and started shooting. They claimed they were searching for gunmen, but most of the fourteen people killed were spectators, including a player named Michael Hogan. The day remains one of the most traumatic in Irish history. Lucas: And here's where I want to pause for a moment, because we make these episodes without any ad breaks, and that's a choice. If you've been following along with our series on Irish history — or any of our shows — you know we keep it ad-free. It's how we think history should be: no interruptions. Luna: Yeah, I love that about this show. It feels like a real conversation. Lucas: If you want to support that, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's all. And now back to Collins. Lucas: So Collins's campaign of targeted killings put immense pressure on the British administration. By 1921, they couldn't trust their own intelligence network. Collins had the upper hand. But the violence also had a cost — it hardened attitudes on both sides and made a political solution harder. Luna: Did Collins himself ever kill anyone? Or was he purely the mastermind? Lucas: There's no evidence he pulled the trigger himself. But he was intimately involved in planning and sometimes even driving the getaway car. He was known to personally interrogate informers. One story says he found a spy in his own organization, brought him to a quiet spot, and shot him with his own hands. But that might be legend. Lucas: After the truce in July 1921, Collins became a key negotiator of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He famously said it gave Ireland 'the freedom to achieve freedom.' But the treaty split the IRA. The Squad itself fractured — some followed Collins, others sided with the anti-Treaty forces. Luna: And then came the Civil War, which was even more brutal in some ways. Lucas: Collins was killed in an ambush in August 1922 at Béal na Bláth in Cork. He was only 31. His death was a huge blow to the pro-Treaty side. But his legacy as the architect of guerrilla intelligence operations endures. He combined ruthlessness with political vision, and that's a rare mix. Lucas: What's striking is how much of his story is about information — who knows what, when. Collins understood that in a secret war, the side with better intelligence wins. And he built that intelligence from the ground up, with ordinary people — couriers, maids, clerks — all feeding information to him. Luna: It makes you wonder what Ireland would look like if he'd lived. Lucas: That's the great what-if of Irish history. He might have been able to bridge the divide between the Free State and the republicans. Or he might have been consumed by the violence. We'll never know. But his methods changed how revolutionary movements think about war. Lucas: So next time you're in Dublin, you can walk past some of these safe houses — ordinary Georgian buildings on quiet streets — and think about the secret war that was fought there. It's a reminder that history isn't just about battles and speeches. Sometimes it's about a few men with revolvers, a network of women, and a leader who saw the future. Luna: And a lot of bicycles. Lucas: And a lot of bicycles. That's the Squad. That's Michael Collins.