There are many quick to blame the Irish Potato Famine on the fungus that destroyed Ireland’s potato crops, a fungus known as Phytophthora infestans or blight. However, the unmitigated disaster for the Irish people was actually the result of complex and multidimensional factors, including politics, cultural animosity, and poverty. During the first half of the 19th century, the Irish peasantry existed under abominable conditions. Ireland was a conquered country. Most of the population were Irish Catholic peasants, peasants who were forced to lease their lands from a small group of Protestants of the Church of England. The Protestant landlords cared little about the conditions of the Irish peasantry and exploited them as much as possible for profit. Peasants had no incentive to improve their rented lands, and anything they made over and above sustenance levels were extorted from them. There was no escape from poverty and the peasantry married early and had large numbers of children as a source of labor and as protection from starvation “Children were a precious asset, for there was absolutely no welfare or social security system, and an infirm or aged person’s best hope to escape starvation was a dutiful son or a loving daughter” (McKay, Hill and Buckler 698).
The Irish population continued to grow, while its survival became increasingly dependent on one crop, the potato. As the population grew, the potato became an even more crucial staple. However, in the years leading up to the great Famine of 1946-1951, Irish potato crops suffered from disease and varied significantly in yield from year to year. By the time it is discovered a potato crop is diseased it is too late to plant other crops. Further, the potato crops of Ireland were a subsistence economy, meaning there was not a well-established network of transportation making it capable to import other types of foods during times of crisis. Disaster seemed inevitab...