Celeste SmithHST 112FletcherNovember 9, 2009 The Irish Potato Famine: Causes, Efforts, and Results The Irish Potato Famine was one of the single-most important events in Ireland's history as the impact of the famine was felt in every aspect of Ireland's infrastructure. Causation of the famine was widespread; political, social, and environmental factors contributed to the ruination of Ireland's primary food source amongst the Irish lower class, the peasants (Hunt et al. 2007, 733). Without this necessary staple, famine lead to starvation, disease, emigration, social disorder, and political mistrust. At the famine's end, Ireland had lost nearly one-fourth of it's population through death and emigration. Potatoes contain most important vitamins and minerals, grow well in poor soil, and produce a plentiful harvest. This made potatoes and ideal food source for Irish peasants, who could afford to produce enough potatoes to feed their family on small plots of land (Gavin 2000, Introduction). It became the primary source of food for the lower class. In 1845, Irish farmers were
dismayed to discover that the leaves on their potato plants were turning rotting. The blight spread as fungal spores, which settled on the leaves of the plants, multiplied, and carried through the air. Once the otherwise healthy tubers were dug up from underground, the spores that were already in the air caused the potatoes to rot, often within hours (Gavin 2000, The Blight Begins). The more plants were infected, the more spores were created and spread to other areas of the country. Like a virus, it seemed virtually unstoppable. The Irish had never experienced a failed crop for two consecutive ...
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dismayed to discover that the leaves on their potato plants were turning rotting. The blight spread as fungal spores, which settled on the leaves of the plants, multiplied, and carried through the air. Once the otherwise healthy tubers were dug up from underground, the spores that were already in the air caused the potatoes to rot, often within hours (Gavin 2000, The Blight Begins). The more plants were infected, the more spores were created and spread to other areas of the country. Like a virus, it seemed virtually unstoppable. The Irish had never experienced a failed crop for two consecutive years and thought they would be fine the following year (Gavin 2000, The Blight Begins). Yet the famine continued for the several years, and illness resulted from hunger and viral spread. Cholera, dysentery, scurvy, typhus, and lice soon spread through the Irish countryside. Over the next ten years, more than 750,000 Irish died from disease and starvation (Guinnane 1994, 303). More than a natural disaster, the Irish potato famine was a product of social and political causes. Ireland was still under British Rule, which prevented Irish Catholics from entering into many professions and purchasing land (Guinnane 1994, 306). They were left to rent small plots of land from British Protestant landlords, who were more or less absentee and seldom visited their estates. These tenant farmers lived in cramped conditions, which contributed to the spread of disease (Gavin 2000, The Great Hunger). As the famine spread, it became clear to the British landlords that cash income would be greater if other products were farmed on their lands, which the Irish peasants could not afford to do. Thus, many landlords decided that to save their estates from ruin, the peasants would have to go (Gavin 2000, The Great Hunger). The inadequacy of relief efforts by the British Government contributed to the continuance of the famine, though this isn't to say they did not provide any effort at all. Public works were enacted, and laborers were paid to build roads and level hills, but often the laborers would starve before receiving wages and the projects were often never completed (Guinnane 1994, 305). For a time, they believed the spread and rise of the free market would help to end the famine, as well as shift the burden of relief efforts to private groups (Gavin 2000, Coffin Ships). However, as the Irish could not afford to purchase grain, even after it the repeal of the Corn Laws, starvation continued and British aid seemingly came to a halt as the burden shifted to local governments and private charities. As the famine continued, Britain adopted other measures to slow the famine's progress, setting up soup kitchens and Work Houses, though more often than not, these were the effort of private organizations, such as religious groups and charities (Gavin, 2000, The Great Hunger). Both the soup kitchens and Work Houses were overcrowded, and more than 200,000 people died within them as a result (Guinnane 1994, 306). Donations and funds came from every corner of the globe; often times, even landlords attempted to help their tenants, deferring rents or providing funds for passage to America. As a result, hundreds of thousands of the Irish population emigrated to North America or other areas of Europe (Guinnane 1994, 307). The Irish Potato Famine was calamitous. By 1851, the population of Ireland had dropped by over two million, where an estimated half died from disease and starvation, (Guinnane 1994, 303). Hunger continued for years afterwards due to the reverberation of social and economic issues throughout Ireland. Irish language was lost as most of the deaths were poor Irish farmers and tenants, leaving many of the upper-class English speakers as the survivors of the famine (Gavin 1994, After the Famine). The distrust between the Irish and English was unshakeable and lead continuing discontent and rebellion, due to poor relief efforts, eviction of Irish tenants, and overall repression; many Irish were convinced that the famine was hardly caused by natural disaster (Gavin 1994, After the Famine.) The famine also led to a huge immigration in the United States. BibliographyGavin, Phillip. "Irish Potato Famine." The History Place. http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/index.html (accessed November 5, 2009).Guinnane, Timothy W. "The Great Irish Famine and Population: The Long View." The American Economic Review 84, no. 2 (May, 1994), http://www.jstor.org/stable/2117848 (accessed November 5, 2009).Hunt, Lynn, Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein, R. Po-chia Hsia, and Bonnie G. Smith. The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History, Volume II Since 1340. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006.
