Essay On Irish Potato Famine

In 1845, Ireland was hit with a devastating blight that destroyed all of its potatoes and caused more than a million people to die of starvation and disease. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as The Great Famine, was a tragic time in Irish history, lasting from 1845 - 1849. Ireland’s poor was very dependant on potatoes, so the sudden death of the potatoes devastated Ireland’s population. Ireland got almost no help from Great Britain, so it had to help itself, but it did not have the resources to do so. The famine was caused by a combination of a population explosion, the tenant farmer system, Irish dependance on a single food source, the appearance of a terrible blight, British laws, and insufficient response of the British government. The

24). The Irish who were affected by the famine left Ireland if they could, because the alternative would be death. Many people died as a result of the famine. There were so much death in Ireland, that one could not go a hundred yards without finding a coffin or a funeral (Mahoney, par. 6). Some Irish emigrated away, but people that wanted to leave Ireland had to do so on “Coffin Ships.” Coffin ships were overcrowded ships where death and disease was common (Donnelly, pg. 179). About 1.8 million people either died or emigrated by 1851 (Great Famine, par. 5). Many of the Irish moved to the United States’ big cities (Carruth, par. 5).

The Potato Famine was a dark time in the history of Ireland. The British were the main cause of the devastation of it, with the corn laws and the general insensitivity to Irish lives. It caused numerous deaths of Irish citizens and others to leave Ireland. Although some tried to help Ireland, it was not enough, and most did not care or thought everything would be fine. The song, “Dear Old Skibbereen” depicts a father telling his son what he, and many others, lost in the famine. They lost and suffered so much even though they did nothing