The Great Famine In Ireland In The 1800's

In the mid-1800s, Ireland was a nation which depended on agriculture. The Irish were among the poorest people in the world, relying on crops to feed their families. The Great Famine, or An Gorta Mór, commenced with the potato failure in 1845. It lasted for six years and caused the deaths of over one million men, women and children. It also led to a huge increase in emigration with two million people fleeing the country in the search of both food and a life free from corruption. The Great Famine was a tragedy which devastated Ireland, forcing hunger to take on a new form. Hunger and starvation became the emblem of Ireland and deaths became second nature. From the 1870s onwards, Bengal in India, whom were also under rule of the British Empire,

Ireland was, reluctantly, part of this empire since the early 1800s. The British government had easy access to anything they wanted. At that time, money was no object. When the failure of the potato crop struck Ireland, the British government sat and watched. They had access to a mass of resources which could have prevented a large amount of deaths and put a stop to starvation, but they allowed hunger to continue to take on new forms. The Great famine in Ireland was the first ‘natural disaster’ (as it had been deemed) to ever receive fundraising from other countries. Fundraising began in Calcutta by British people residing there who believed that by raising money for the Irish would illustrate some of the benefits of being part of the British Empire. They raised £14,000 for the starving Irish. This money was channelled through local Catholic Priests. However, it is believed that the majority of this money never actually reached the starving Irish. People all over the world began to fundraise for victims of the famine in Ireland but rumours began to circulate that the famine was not as bad as advertised, and this dramatically reduced fundraising aid. By 1846, the potato failed yet again but it was even more virulently and had a much more drastic impact on local families. The British government appeared to their allies abroad as a caring government who yearned desperately to seek relief for the poor Irish, whilst initiating constitutional policies which quite simply, deprived the Irish people of the little food they had. The Great Irish famine was irrefutably a constitutionally inflicted famine by the British Empire; a means of killing a nation and destructing their land. They stripped the Irish of any food they had, whilst pleading around the world for