The Great Irish Famine

Furthermore, the farmers did not know what a problem this fertilizer would cause, which ended up ruining all of the Irish crops. The parasitic fungus, also known as phytophthora, is a destructive spreading fungus causing a brownish rot in plants. In addition, the blight first infected Irish potato crops in September of 1845 (Kelley 136). The blight caused the potato to rot in the ground, making it inedible (Kinealy, The Great Irish Famine 34). In addition, spreading the fertilizer all over the land not only ruined the crop, but the crop field as well.

Because they could not afford anything else, the Irish were very dependent on potatoes. The potato was a cheap source of protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins that were suitable for survival. The substantial reliance on potatoes was one of the main reasons the famine was as destructive as it was. It started in the summer of 1845, when the blight was first discovered. It sickened all of Ireland’s potato crop and the vast majority of the Irish people depended solely on potatoes.

Kinealy, Christine. The Great Calamity: The Irish Famine, Boulder: Roberts Rhinehart Publishers, 1995. MacIntyre, Angus. The Liberator: Daniel O’Conell and the Irish Party, New York: The MacMillan Company, 1965. MacManus, Seumas.

The Fall of the Potato: Causes of the Great Famine Phythophthora infestans was the lethal fungus that infested Ireland's potato crop and eventually ruined all of the land it grew on. This time is called the Great Famine and has impacted Ireland due to its destructive extinction of the potato farms which caused disease, extreme poverty, and death. There are several circumstances to take into consideration when looking at the causes of the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. Due to the great dependence the Irish people had on the potato, it is clear how blight could devastate a country and its people. To understand the Irish people's dependence on the potato for diet, income, and a way out of poverty, it is necessary to look at several key factors that were evident before the famine.

Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers LTD, 1989. Daly, Douglas C. “Famine's ghost.” Natural History 105.1 (1996) : 6 Kinealy, Christine. The Great Irish Famine. New York, NY: Palgrave, 2002. Leo, John.

Farmers in Ireland were forced to export crops such as corn, wheat, and oats to Britain, which left the potato as the main dietary staple for the people, especially the poor. Therefore, when the fungus Phytophthora infestans caused some, and eventually all, of the crop to rot over the next couple of years, the reliance on the one crop made the people of Ireland extremely susceptible to the famine. The effects were devastating, and poverty spread across the nation causing a huge increase in homelessness, the death-rate, emigration, and a change in the Irish people and country overall. One direct effect of poverty during the Great Famine was homelessness. “The total number of people who had to leave their property was around a half million” (Kinealy Calamity 218).

Irish people were facing great starvation. People were very discouraged. The famine began with fungus growing over the crops in Irish farmlands. Potatoes were important, because they were the most abundant product on farms in Ireland. There was not enough food in the farmlands either.

The Great Irish Famine happened during the mid-19th century, and was caused by potato blight, which hit Ireland in 1845 (Grada, “Ireland’s Great Famine” 43). It destroyed a big portion of crops so it became “lethal” due to the fact that Ireland was very dependent on potatoes in their everyday meals (Grada, “Ireland’s Great Famine” 43). This led to a scarce amount of food and many died from starvation, or other diseases that resulted from the famine (Grada, “Ireland’s Great Famine” 51). In the 1800s, Ireland had already lost their own parliament, so “all legislative and executive power was therefore centralized at Westminster,” which meant the UK parliament of the British government was responsible for Irish relief in their time of need, especially when the potatoes failed (Kinealy, Death-Dealing Famine 41). The British government had many interventions in Ireland during the Great Famine, and the interventions were supposed to contribute to famine relief, and improve social conditions in Ireland.

During the mid-1800s, an event called the Great Famine happened in Ireland. This event was caused by the organism phytophthora infestans, commonly known as the potato blight, which infected the farmer’s potatoes and rendered them inedible. During this period, P. infestans left many people suffering or even dead because of their lack of food. This paper will go over various topics on the famine such as how it arrived in Ireland, the potato, effects of the famine on the Irish people, and the people’s dependency on potatoes. The Great Famine was a national tragedy for Ireland and caused mass devastation in the country.

The Great Famine of Ireland At the start of 1845, all was well on the island of Ireland. The union with England gave the over eight million Irish the protection and support of the most powerful and prosperous nation of the time, as well as offering a strong market for exporting the more profitable agricultural produce. And the potato, the blessed potato, provided a cheap, healthy diet for many farmers and laborers. The Irish loved their potatoes. In fact for two-thirds of the entire population the potato was an integral part of the diet, and half of them ate almost nothing else (Harris 2).