le “In 1845 and 1846, and again in 1848 and 1851, the potato crop failed in Ireland and throughout much of Europe. The general result was high food prices, widespread suffering, and social unrest. In Ireland, which was farthest down the road to rural overpopulation and dependence on a disease-prone plant, the result was unmitigated disaster—the Great Famine” McKay et. al 699).
The peasantry of Ireland suffered horribly from the blight which destroyed the potato plants, roots and all. Starvation pervaded the land as people turned to diseased cattle, dogs, and horses for food while some even turned to cannibalism. Fever epidemics also plagued the peasantry and the dead were often found with grass in their mouths. Typhus, fever, dysentery and scurvy ran rampant during the Famine. The result was that more than a million people died in the disaster, with another million or more fleeing to other countries like Great Britain and the United States “In 1845, the population of Ireland was roughly 8 million. Yet, in 1851, the population was only 6.5 million. Fully a million emigrants fled the famine between 1845 and 1851. Thus, at least 1.5 million people died or went unborn because of the disaster” (McKay et. al 700).
Because of reluctance on behalf of the British government to come to the aid of Ireland, their efforts were too little and too late to provide real relief. The landlords continued to collect taxes and demand their rents, with the result that tens of thousands of peasants were evicted from their lands. Irish population growth suffered a reverse as people continued to migrate elsewhere, and the government discouraged early marriage and encouraged celibacy. Much of the former potato lands were transformed into grazing lands for sheep and cattle. While the British did not have a purposeful plan to exterminate the Irish, many have accused their lack of effort and aid as virtual genocide “The treatment of ...