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J. B. E. Hittle

Michael Collins and the Anglo-Irish War: Britain's Counterinsurgency Failure Hardcover – October 1, 2011

by J.B.E. Hittle (Author)

17 ratings

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As leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and then the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Michael Collins developed a bold, new strategy to use against the British administration of Ireland in the early twentieth century. His goal was to attack its well-established system of spies and informers, wear down British forces with a sustained guerrilla campaign, and force a political settlement that would lead to a free Irish Republic.Michael Collins and the Anglo-Irish War reveals that the success of the Irish insurgency was not just a measure of Collins’s revolutionary genius, as has often been claimed. British miscalculations, overconfidence, and a failure to mount a sustained professional intelligence effort to neutralize the IRA contributed to Britain’s defeat.Although Britain possessed the world’s most professional secret service, the British intelligence community underwent a politically driven and ill-advised reorganization in early 1919, at the very moment that Collins and the IRA were going on the offensive. Once Collins neutralized the local colonial spy service, the British had no choice but to import professional secret service agents. But Britain’s wholesale reorganization of its domestic counterintelligence capability sidelined its most effective countersubversive agency, MI5, leaving the job of intelligence management in Ireland to Special Branch civilians and a contingent of quickly trained army case officers, neither group being equipped―or inclined―to mount a coordinated intelligence effort against the insurgents. Britain’s appointment of a national intelligence director for home affairs in 1919―just as the Irish revolutionary parliament published its Declaration of Independence―was the decisive factor leading to Britain’s disarray against the IRA. By the time the War Office reorganized its intelligence effort against Collins in mid-1920, it was too late to reverse the ascendancy of the IRA.Michael Collins and the Anglo-Irish War takes a fresh approach to the subject, presenting it as a case study in intelligence management under conditions of a broader counterinsurgency campaign. The lessons learned from this disastrous episode have stark relevance for contemporary national security managers and warfighters currently engaged in the war on terrorism.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This fresh look at familiar history is a very worthwhile addition to the literature."—Studies in Intelligence

(Studies in Intelligence)

"Hittle has done us a favor by presenting a provocative analysis that will undoubtedly stir more new approaches in considering what might have been."—Edward J. Hagerty, Journal of Strategic Security

(Edward J. Hagerty Journal of Strategic Security)

"An intelligence service suffering from confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization is a ripe target for the adversary to penetrate, defeat, and exploit. That is why a strategically coherent counterintelligence capability is never more important than in times of turmoil and change. We see this in the story of Ireland that follows, and yes, we see this dynamic at work in the United States today."—From the foreword by Michelle Van Cleave, former U.S. counterintelligence executive and senior fellow, National War College

(Michelle Van Cleave)

"It is always refreshing to come across a book that sets out to deal with the bitter conflict that soured Anglo-Irish relations for most of the twentieth century as a piece of history rather than an emotional experience. J. B. E Hittle does an excellent job at scraping away many of the myths about both sides in this messy struggle, making it an essential read for anyone interested in the Anglo-Irish War and its contribution to the development of modern insurgency, counterinsurgency, and intelligence operations."—Maj. Peter Cottrell, British Army (Ret.), author of The Anglo-Irish War and The War For Ireland

(Maj. Peter Cottrell, British Army (Ret.))

"Much has been written about Michael Collins's intelligence genius, but this is the first attempt by an intelligence professional to detail and to critically appraise Britain's attempts at response to it. A picture of official disorganization, interagency rivalry, and amateurism emerges, redeemed at times by acts of personal bravery and initiative. A valuable and succinct account, Michael Collins and the Anglo-Irish War narrates the emergence of many of the operational and structural ground rules that even yet underpin effective intelligence and counterintelligence work."—Conor Brady, former editor of the Irish Times and historian of policing in Ireland

(Conor Brady)

About the Author

J. B. E. Hittle is a thirty-one-year veteran of U.S. intelligence, including initial service as a military intelligence analyst and later service as a senior clandestine operations officer. He is an expert on insurgency, counterinsurgency, low-intensity conflict, counterterrorism, and counterproliferation. He received his MA in modern European history from Louisiana State University, where his research focused on the polemics of Irish Marxist James Connolly.

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Potomac Books; 2011 no other dates edition (October 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1597975354
ISBN-13: 978-1597975353
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 17 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2647 in European Politics Books
- #1797 in Military Strategy History (Books)
- #1535 in National & International Security (Books)

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Barbara S. O'Brien

Learn who a people of a captured land overthrew an Empire.

September 4, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A cruel and terrible Empire brought to their knees by a small Country who wanted to be free for 100s of years.
The British thought of and treated the Irish like slaves. They try to transplant themselves there and steal from the Catholics they turned into peasants. The British expected them to fight their wars they got involved in almost every 10 years. They tried to force them to abandon their Religion and Language. Kind of like the US treated Native Ameticans. Instead they got beat at their own game and were forced to the peace table. They hated Catholic Irish and still tried to hold onto a quarter of the Ireland with their transplanted Protesants for most of the 20th Century.
They were beat by a Man who had little education but with great intelligence. The British ruled Ireland with spies and traitors. Collins beat them at their own game. I personally think you can trace almost every war and problem in the 20th Century back to the British empire. Hopefully this world will never see another Empire like Great Britian.

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General Phil Sheridan

This volume is really the best book ever published about Collins and the era--- without ...

February 19, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Having studied Irish history Socratically since completing an undergraduate course at Notre Dame in 1969, I have read about fifty books on the Michael Collins era of Irish Nationalism. This volume is really the best book ever published about Collins and the era--- without any doubt. The author peels away the layers of myth around Collins until only the truth remains. Especially interesting is his seminal work on tracing Collin's dedication to the cause while he spent ten years in England before 1916. Also interestingly, the author traces Collins' rise within the IRB and IRA as a virtual outsider from England against .the hardcore leadership in Ireland..In one of those interesting twists Collins was set to emigrate too the USA in 1905 when he suddenly switched directions, joined the IRB, and became totally committed to the movement and action in Ireland.Extremely unpublished details about the man and the organization (IRA) permeate the volume. If a novice asked me which book to buy first for a serious study of the man and organization--I would uneqivocaly recommend MICHAEL COLLINS AND THE ANGLO-IRISH WAR! .

4 people found this helpful

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Frank Lynch

More than it promises, and less.

September 5, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

In his introduction, Hittle says that his goal has been to describe Collins's efforts (and those of the British) in terms of strengths and weaknesses in intelligence and counterintelligence. What I've found so far, though (60-75% in) is that Hittle has not organized his book around practices or principles so much as events, and described strengths and weaknesses along the way as he tells his tale. It's a different kind of instruction, as a result; it's a history repurposed as an intel lesson rather than an intel lesson using history to support it.

That's not necessarily a bad thing; but if you read his introduction and expect the latter you'll be surprised. Whether or not that's a disappointment will be a matter of your preferences.

I would also like to point out that if you don't read his end notes (on the Kindle they're endnotes, I don't know what they are in the print version) you will miss a lot of the information. Many of the end notes are explanatory, and add significant context to what you've read, sometimes embellishing a story or sometimes defining a term used in the body of the text so you know what's being talked about. Hittle sometimes uses jargon ("dangle," for instance) and his meaning isn't always clear.

I would also like to add, as a Kindle user who clicks on notes regularly, this book's notes are coded in the most wonderful way. Typically when you advance the cursor to a line with a note, you then have to curse right (or left) to get to the note. In this book, you simply have to advance one click past the line (after moving down the page) and the cursor automatically goes to the note. Very easy, and especially valuable when the notes are so often "speaking" notes.

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TruthSeeker

Read and learn

June 19, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Just finished reading this and it deserves the five stars without reservation. I recommend this to any intel officer of any pay grade. The summary is right on the mark and as usual our present crop of bureaucrats have not done their history homework. Our intel folks involved in the Great War on Terror today are doing just what the Brits did in their war against Collins and his teams. Read and learn.
The book is well written and includes a slew of interesting notes.

3 people found this helpful

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Paul Sullivan

Big Book on the Big Fella

March 14, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is an excellent book written from the point of view of Collins as intelligence chief. Having performed in a show portraying Michael Collins and having researched him extensively--to say nothing of my own work in the military--I am very impressed by the analysis provided by the book and the details offered. As a history professor, I think the author did well in his historical research in general with minor quibbles, none that affect the overall work. This is an eminently readable, well researched and very valuable look at how one man's mastery of intelligence and counterintelligence work helped Ireland to, in Michale Collins' words, win "freedom ro get freedom." Well done!

3 people found this helpful

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Carol Sulli

good study material

July 1, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I wanted to prepare for a trip to Dublin by immersing myself in some history of the independence revolution. Although written somewhat in textbook style, the book was instructive and enjoyable. I felt that I received an insider's view of Michael Collins' brilliance and British ineptitude in matters of intelligence amid guerrilla warfare. Very interesting

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