The Potato Famine


 * For the Irish, potatoes were primary food
 * Irish ate approximately 14 pounds of potatoes A DAY
 * By 1850's, smaller, less nutritious potatoes were substituting former potatoes
 * Irish population was rising

The Famine

 * 1845 -> New disease (blight) attacks the bulk of the Irish Potato.
 * Autumn of 1845 -> Blight attacks
 * 1/3 of Crop lost
 * In 1846, 3/4 of the crop was lost
 * The disease attacked potatoes in wet conditions (so many years)
 * In 1847 -> Crop was healthier but small
 * 1848 -> Blight returns -> 3/4 of crop lost
 * After 1849 -> Potato begins to recover, but the damage to society has been done.

Deaths/Suffering

 * People didn't die so much of hunger as disease
 * Riots happened in the early part of the famine
 * People eventually began so malnourished that they were too weak to rebel
 * 1845 - 1852: approximately 1 million people die
 * These are "excess mortality" which is death not to be expected by usual course of history
 * 2.25 total population decline

Landlords

 * 1850 -> 74,000 were evicted
 * Other landlords more caring, nobel
 * "Scalpeen" re-construction within the home

Population Shift

 * About 8 million people in Ireland at time
 * 2.25 million population decline (25 % of population)
 * By 1911 -> 4.4 million people in Ireland
 * From 30,000 people a year -> to 60,000 people a year

Beneficiaries

 * Large landholders
 * Lawyers (particularly those who specialize in land law)

Quakers

 * Large number of Quakers mobilized to help
 * Started soup kitchens / meeting houses to help
 * Legacy remains to this day
 * Effort was intense and dramatic
 * They also refused to proslytize
 * Which was unlike many other charities
 * This "education" for food is called "souperism"

Government Intercession

 * Robert Peel -> Tried to do somethings to help
 * Indian corn (Maize/ American Corn on the Cob) -> Offered by the Government as a relief food
 * Russell -> Initially convinced that Irish stories were exagerrated
 * 720,000 People working on Relief Projects (for food)
 * Then Russell opened soup Kitchens -> 3 Million people
 * Sawyer operated/innovated new soup kitchen that served people quick, easy food (6 minutes total)
 * Government intervention allowed new opportunity to intervene in Irish politics

Winter

 * Winter 1847/1848 -> Brutally Cold
 * Many people froze to death

Man Made Disaster

 * 1860 -> "The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps)"
 * Irish grain being exported while the Irish starve
 * "God sent the blight, but the English created the famine"
 * Failure of government?
 * Who should be blamed:
 * Blight hit many countries, why did crush Ireland?
 * Belgium, Netherland, Scotland, etc. -> Industrialization was what saved these people
 * b/c Irish weren't Industrialized -> they had no alternative / diversity of food, economy


 * BIG QUESTION: Why didn't the English ban the total export of food from Ireland
 * Some say short-sighted relief would have failed the long term ability of Ireland to be a part of the world economy.


 * Laissez-faire? -> "Let it Alone"
 * Testing ground of theology = natural law
 * Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand" (which was not a metaphor, it was based on God's intercession)
 * The Irish Famine may be the end of the status quo Theology/Economy of British Empire
 * Some people believed that

Change/Continuity

 * Is the Potato Famine a watershed moment?
 * Does it mark an inflection point?
 * Is the famine: The Big Bang of Irish experience?
 * New trend towards larger farms no contained subsistence farming
 * 20-30 acres seemed to be the point of sustainability: Above = Survive | Below = Die, Dispossesion

Impact on Culture

 * Gaelic culture had been under threat, now it was mortally wounded
 * Anglophobia -> Irish pinned blame on British mismanagement of crisis
 * Irish people also divided -> Most poor, destitute, rural, uneducated must emigrat
 * Leaving the more wealthy, educated, socially mobile.