Ireland (Concert of Europe)

Ireland (Irish: Éire), officially the Irish Republic (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is an insular sovereign nation in the. The nation was estabilished after a convulse period of violent civil war between Irish republicans and independentits and British forces and their supporters. The republican faction triumphed and the new country became the youngest nation in ; it is also the only independent country in which a Celtic language is widely spoken and has official status.

After centuries of British domination, a violent war erupted some years into the 20th century: most historians consider it to be another front of the, as it had a considerable weight on the outcome of the larger conflict, severely weakening the British state, and Irish republican factions were actively supported by those countries at war with Great Britain (chiefly ). When the British state capitulated at the end of the war, Ireland was granted the northern part of Ireland, which had remained in British possession even after the end of the civil war in the island.

Despite being once considered the backwater of the British Isles, Ireland experienced an economic boom in the years after the war, and its predominantly agricultural economy became more industrialized and diversified. Irish and English are the most widely spoken languages of the island, and most of the country is bilingual: both languages are used by the state. Ulster Scots, a variety of Scots spoken in, is also spoken in Ulster, which is one of the four historical provinces of the country, together with Leinster, Connacht, and Munster.