The Great Famine: Britain’s Act of Genocide in Ireland?

Abstract

The Irish Great Famine is commonly acknowledged as a horrible natural catastrophe
brought by a potato plight from 1845 to 1852. The consequence of the Famine impacted Ireland for over a century, as the Irish population decreased almost by half. In 1841, the population in Ireland was 8.18 million; in 1861, after the potato blight struck Ireland, there were only 5.8 million people, a 30% decrease in the population. Starvation accounted for approximately 1 million deaths, and emigration contributed to approximately 2 million losses of the Irish population during the famine. The repercussions of the event continued to impact Ireland through 1931 when the population had decreased to 4.21 million: approximately 4 million people had left Ireland.2 Nevertheless, when the astonishing mortality statistics and inhumane acts of the British are considered, this catastrophe, instead of being viewed as a purely natural disaster, can clearly be seen as an avoidable act of genocide by the British. The fundamental purpose of this paper is to establish the possible contributing factors of British policies to this Irish tragedy.