This text aims to provide an assessment of the First World War in Ireland and its consequences, arguing that this is the key to understanding the complexities of the Irish nation today. The author explores how the War transformed the nature of the Irish and Ulster and questions how Ireland arrived from devolved self-government within the UK to a free Irish republic outside the British Empire, considering such influential figures as Michael Collins, and issues such as conscription. He examines both this process of re-evaluation, and the question of the consequences for Northern Ireland today.