Michael Collins was born in County Cork in 1890 and became one of the leading figures in Ireland's struggle for independence. After taking part in the Easter Rising of 1916, he helped organize the Irish Republican Army's intelligence operations during the War of Independence, building a network that challenged British authority in Ireland.

In 1921, Collins joined the Irish delegation that negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He supported the agreement, believing it offered a path toward greater Irish sovereignty, but its terms divided the independence movement and led to civil war. Collins became chairman of the Provisional Government and commander-in-chief of the National Army. On 22 August 1922, he was killed in an ambush at Béal na Bláth, County Cork, aged 31. His life and death remain central to the story of modern Ireland.