[center][h1][color=00a651][b][u]The Republic of Ireland[/u][/b][/color][/h1]

[img]https://irishamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Irish-Flag-429h-e1529002427658.jpg[/img]

[color=00a651][b][u]Forward, Sons of Ireland!/Ar Aghaidh, A mhic na hÉireann![/u][/b][/color][/center]

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[color=00a651][b]Nation:[/b][/color]
[indent]The Republic of Ireland / Poblacht na hÉireann[/indent]

[color=00a651][b]Map:[/b][/color]
[hider=The Thirty-Two/Contaetha na hÉireann]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Ireland_trad_counties_named.svg/819px-Ireland_trad_counties_named.svg.png[/img]
[/hider]


[color=00a651][b]History:[/b][/color]
[indent]The history of the Irish is one stained with the blood of rebels, and the sacrifice of many of Ireland's best and brightest over the centuries of British rule. However, Ireland was nevertheless an integral part of the British metropole by 1900, and though resentment towards English rule had been building for years, it seemed that in 1914, Ireland would at last be free to decide its own course and its own fate, with the passing of the Home Rule Bill through the English Commons. Ireland would, after almost 800 years of English domination, be freed of the shackles of rule from London.

The Great War united Ireland like no other event before, or since. Politicians, both Unionist and Nationalist, supported the war effort, and exhorted their comrades to join the fight, to see matters through to the bitter end. Irishmen, both Catholic and Protestant, served extensively in the British forces, many in specially raised divisions, while others still served in the armies of the British dominions, as members of each Dominion's own contingent of troops. The Irish poet Francis Ledwidge's words echoed through the minds of many in the Emerald Isle: 

"I joined the British Army because she stood between Ireland and an enemy common to our civilization, and I would not have her say that she defended us while we did nothing at home but pass resolutions". 

The Irish fighters were feared all across the theatres of the Great War for their tenacity, their toughness and their willingness to hurl themselves into the thickest fighting with seemingly little regard for their own safety, and they made excellent shock troops. Yet the War began to grind. It began to stall, and stutter, and degenerate into a bloodbath of attritional warfare - a type of conflict that the Irish could ill-afford, with their population only recently having recovered somewhat from the catastrophes of the 1800s. Britain demanded much of the Irish in blood, and there was only so much that the sons of Éire could provide, before questions started to be asked. Could the British be trusted? Would Home Rule truly be delivered to Ireland as the Commons promised? Republicans within Ireland started fomenting dissent and discord amongst the population, and they began agitating for complete and total freedom from the Crown, and in Easter 1916, Republican elements within Dublin exploded in a rising against British rule, declaring Ireland independent from the 'tyrants of London'. Alas, for the Republicans, the British were quick to halt the rebellion. Those considered responsible by the British were tried and found guilty of inciting rebellion against the Crown. Initially, General John Maxwell sentenced the rebellion's leaders to death, and three were executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol; Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonough and Thomas Clarke. However, protests by Irish political leaders (including the Unionist Sir Edward Carson and Irish Parliamentary leader John Redmond) convinced Maxwell and the president of the trials, Charles Blackader, to commute the rest of the sentences to life imprisonment without parole. Nevertheless, Ireland, and Irish opinion, was shaken, and divisions between Catholic and Protestant once again began to open up.

The war reaped a bloody toll on Ireland. By 1920, almost half a million Irishmen were in the armed forces, and of those, a third had either been killed or wounded in action. Sentiment amongst the Dominions was beginning to match that of Ireland and India - open revolt. The British government, in an attempt to placate the Dominions, promised that on the conclusion of the fighting, the Dominions would be released from bondage to the Crown under the so-called Statute of Westminster, but only if they could keep holding on in the war...[/indent]