Ireland

, which is often called the Irish Republic to distinguish it from British Northern , emerged from the conflict that marked its birth as an independent state to become one of Europe's economic success stories in the final decade of the twentieth century.

Long under English or British rule, lost half its population in the decades following the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s, becoming a nation of emigrants. After World War I, independence from the United Kingdom was only achieved at the price of civil war and partition.

After the country joined the European Community in 1973, it was transformed from a largely agricultural society into a modern, high-technology economy.

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For centuries British dominion in gave rise to unrest which finally erupted into violence with the Easter Rising of 1916, when independence was proclaimed. The rising was crushed and many of its leaders executed, but the campaign for independence carried on through a bloody Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921.

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It was in 1922 that 26 counties of gained independence from London following negotiations which led to the other six counties, part of the province of Ulster, remaining in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern . Partition was followed by a year of civil war.

Relations between Dublin and London remained strained for many years afterwards. Northern saw decades of violent conflict between those campaigning for a united and those wishing to stay in the United Kingdom.

In an unprecedented and concerted effort to resolve the situation, the Irish and UK governments worked closely together in negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement on the future of Northern in 1998.