The Irish Potato Famine

Today, Ireland is known as a land full of culture and pride. It is a beautiful land with rich music, art, religion, and tradition. Like any nation, however, Ireland has had its fair share of hardship. The most devastating of which was known as the Great Famine. The nation was deeply devastated by this event both economically and socially. The Great Famine claimed over a million lives due to hunger and disease and resulted in the exodus of another million all in the span of six years. It is uncertain whether or not the famine could have been avoided, but the severity of the famine could have definitely been reduced. There were certain policies and procedures implemented by the British that set the Irish economy up for inevitable failure.

Ireland had over eight million people during the mid-19th century. They were heavily reliant on agriculture and many of the Irish people were impoverished and living in poor conditions. The Irish were considered some of the poorest people of the west. They had a low literacy rate, low life expectancy rates, and although Ireland was an agricultural nation, they were generally low income. Because they could not afford anything else, the Irish were very dependent on potatoes. The potato was a cheap source of protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins that were suitable for survival. The substantial reliance on potatoes was one of the main reasons the famine was as destructive as it was. It started in the summer of 1845, when the blight was first discovered. It sickened all of Ireland’s potato crop and the vast majority of the Irish people depended solely on potatoes. Hayden describes it as “simply the most violent episode in a history characterised by violence of every conceivable kind, the inevitable con...

... middle of paper ...

...g/the_freeman/detail/lessons-of-history-the-great-irish-famine.

Gavin, Philip. 2000. "The History Place - Irish Potato Famine." The History Place. June 12. Accessed April 12, 2014. http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/index.html.

Haines, Robin. 2004. Charles Trevelyan and the Great Irish Famine. Portland: Four Courts Press.

Hayden, Tom. 1997. Irish Hunger: Personal Reflections on the Legacy of the Famine. Boulder: Roberts Rinehart.

Lengel, Edward G. 2002. The Irish Through the British Eyes: Perceptions of Ireland in the Famine Era. Westport: Praeger Publishers.

Mitz, Steven. 2014. "The Irish Potato Famine." Digital History. April 4. Accessed April 14, 2014. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfm.

R. Dudley Edwards, and T. Desmond Williams. 1994. The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History 1845-52. Dublin: The Lilliput Press.