ABSTRACT
At the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in1922, Michael Collins assumes command of the Irish Free State army and, together with other Free State generals, conducts the attritive campaign against the Republican anti-Treaty IRA. He retains his office as Minister of Finance and works together with Joseph Brennan, a former Anglo-Irish civil servant and now a senior official in the Free State Ministry of Finance. Collins and Brennan work to ensure the Republicans and pro-Treaty IRA are deprived of the financing of their political violence and civil war campaign. Collins with great energy and drive investigates, probes and implements legal actions both in Ireland and abroad; these measures ensured that the Republicans were effectively deprived of assets and monies in their struggle. Denying the Republicans of these funds was a principal cause of their defeat in the Irish Civil War and in ensuring the survival of the Irish Free State.
