Irish Potato Famine Essay

The Irish potato famine was caused by British policy would be the most logical argument. British policy allowed for Protestant British landlords to charge high rents on poor Irish tenant farmers. Unfortunately, it was British policy to continue exporting grains, like wheat, from Ireland, instead of providing it to the starving Irish. If the British had supported them with food not as many people would have gone starving. In Document E it states that the failure of the British government to feed starving Irish is by far the most terrible serious charge of crime. The people who ruled and managed in London didn’t help their people when they went through a huge and terrible event. This is seen in Document C when Tony Blair says that those who

The Irish population had doubled in less than a century before 1845 and in document F it says that the population doubled in over half a cent. I do not think that the population growth had part in casing the famine because they still could’ve provided little bits of food to the people. It also argues that the "Lumper" potato was the staple crop that suffered the blight and if Irish farmers had used multiple varieties of potato, chances are the blight would have only affected the "Lumper," leaving the other varieties available for eating. Also in Document D they say that relying on crops with low genetic variation can lead to disaster and that a lock of genetic variation in Irish potatoes contributed to the Irish potato famine. This is the reason that I find the argument less effective because this isn’t as valid of an explanation for me because yes, we know that the lumper potato was the one that had the disease but there is no evidence proving what could’ve happened if they planted other potatoes. Maybe the other potatoes would’ve been fine r many they would’ve had another disease causing the famine. I don not this that saying the famine wasn’t cause by the British policy is effective because the reasoning behind it is based on a belief that only the lumper potato would have had a disease and is believed to be cause by a population