Michael Collins was the man responsible for gaining an Irish Free State. He was born October 16, 1890. From birth, he had Irish nationalism in his blood and atmosphere. In 1916, he was a leader in the Easter Rising which started him on his way to the head of intelligence in the IRA. He created a brilliant spy network and took Britain's intelligence program. This forced England and Ireland to compromise, and they signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921. But not everyone liked the treaty, so the Irish Civil War started. Collins was killed during this War by men he had fought with before. But he is still today an Irish hero, and without him, Ireland wouldn't have escaped British rule.