The Irish Famine

The Irish Famine

Causes
1. The potato blight hit the Irish crop
  1. They were to late in catching the blight
    1. The blight happens quick in mild and moist conditions
2. John Mitchel says they died in the hunger in the midst of abundance
  1. He said the lord sent the blight but the English created the famine
3. large population
  1. More people needed land
    1. people depended on farming for a living
    2. Farmers had to subdivide their land
      1. 135,000 families had less than 1 acre of land
Chronology
1. 1845
  1. 200,000 thousand families lived on less than 5 acres
  2. A new disease has hit the patatos over night 1 third of the spuds were destroyed
2. 1846
  1. people where starving
  2. Sir robort peel brought over the maize
  3. They had little seed as many seed spuds were eaten
3. 1847
  1. The harvest of 1947 was a good one
  2. the crop was smaller
  3. Blight struck the next year
4. 1850
  1. The famine ended but Ireland was never the same
Consequences
1. Consolidation of land
  1. Farms got larger
    1. Landlord were in debt so wanted to sell their land
      1. Tenants stopped subdividing land
        Cottier class almost died out
2. Population Decline
  1. By 1851
    1. I million died
      1. 1 million emigtated
        Total loss of 2 million
3. Change in marriage patterns
  1. Only 1 son inherited land, but he had to wait until the father died
    1. many people could not afford to get married at a young age
      1. the catholic church became stricter about courting
        there was a decline in the birth rate
        children who did not inherit emigrated
4. Political Consequences
  1. Increased republican feeling
    1. the irish diospora increased republicanism in usa etc
Interpretations
1. The government didn't act right
  1. relief measures where not that good
    1. with all the money they had they didn't give enough to ireland
      1. People were starving
        Used the famine to facilitate various long desired changes in ireland
        Tried to wipe out the Irish race
2. The government acted right
  1. Sir robort peel brought over maize
    1. Set up Relief Measures
      1. the government helped to a certain extent
      2. soup Kitchen- source of food
        public works- to help people get money to buy food
      3. Work Houses- gives people a home and shelter and some food

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	Created by jake reid over 8 years ago