00:00:00
the Irish potato famine 1845 through
00:00:03
1852 in 1845 in Ireland the potato crops
00:00:09
were failing and potato plants were
00:00:10
turning black and rotten the cause was
00:00:13
potato blight but more specifically the
00:00:15
fungus Phytophthora infestans caused by
00:00:18
the wind rain and insects it spread
00:00:21
throughout Europe but hit Ireland the
00:00:23
hardest this would be known as the great
00:00:26
famine or the great hunger by 1845 the
00:00:29
potato which was originally brought into
00:00:31
Ireland by the landed gentry was
00:00:33
Ireland's most important crop almost
00:00:35
half of Ireland's population mainly the
00:00:38
rural poor were dependent on potatoes to
00:00:40
live the average Irishmen ate 14 pounds
00:00:43
of potatoes a day that grew well in
00:00:45
Ireland's climate and even in poor soil
00:00:47
and in wet and cold conditions potatoes
00:00:51
were nutritious a great source of
00:00:52
vitamin C and their harvest was
00:00:54
plentiful so there was enough to feed
00:00:56
families and farmers had enough surplus
00:00:58
to feed their livestock the Irish were
00:01:00
overly reliant on one variety of potato
00:01:02
called the Irish lumper this lack of
00:01:05
variation put Ireland at high risk of
00:01:07
mass famine when blight hit the potato
00:01:10
plant it may look edible from the
00:01:12
outside but it was a slimy pulp inside
00:01:14
it would soon appear rotten and
00:01:16
shriveled once the fungal spores settled
00:01:18
on the plant which spread to healthy
00:01:20
potato plants around it quickly through
00:01:21
the breeze the smell was so revolting
00:01:25
that it could make a person vomit and
00:01:27
eating an infected potato would leave
00:01:30
them in agony one of the sources for the
00:01:35
blight may have been the United States
00:01:36
arriving through ships coming to Europe
00:01:39
a strain of blight was seen in 1843 on
00:01:41
America's eastern seaboard but going
00:01:43
further back the pathogen could be
00:01:45
traced to Mexico Great Britain had the
00:01:47
richest empire in the world at this time
00:01:49
and had an oppressive rule over Ireland
00:01:51
for the first year of the famine there
00:01:53
was little death from hunger British
00:01:55
Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel imported
00:01:58
corn or maize from the United States
00:01:59
however there weren't enough mills to
00:02:02
ground it and the poor couldn't afford
00:02:03
it as well as this the Irish peasants
00:02:05
diet of potatoes made the corn
00:02:07
unsatisfactory
00:02:08
unlike potatoes at lacked vitamin C so
00:02:11
dependence on corn
00:02:12
doulton scurvy while some Irish got used
00:02:14
to the cornmeal there was not enough to
00:02:16
go around
00:02:17
surprisingly even as things got worse
00:02:19
brain and other foods were still being
00:02:21
exported to Great Britain during the
00:02:22
famine Lord John Russell took power as
00:02:25
Prime Minister in June 1846 and formed a
00:02:27
Whig government it took a Lay's a fair
00:02:30
approach which meant minimal government
00:02:32
involvement in the economics of Ireland
00:02:34
the British government looked down upon
00:02:36
the Irish as less than human and their
00:02:38
potato crops as lazy suggesting that
00:02:40
they needed to unlearn dependency on the
00:02:42
government the protestant evangelical
00:02:44
belief that the famine was an act of
00:02:46
Providence a divine judgment also
00:02:48
justified in action
00:02:50
Charles Trevelyan a civil servant with
00:02:52
direct responsibility for the
00:02:54
government's handling of the famine was
00:02:55
a big supporter of this idea the British
00:02:58
government opened soup kitchens in 1847
00:03:00
which fed over three million starving
00:03:02
Irish peasants but they closed them down
00:03:04
after six months they also continued to
00:03:07
export food that could have fed the
00:03:09
starving Irish population as they did
00:03:11
not want to interfere in the business of
00:03:12
the English landowners Public Works aims
00:03:15
were also introduced to provide
00:03:17
employment but mal nourishment made hard
00:03:19
labour extremely difficult for workers
00:03:21
most of the Irish were Catholics and
00:03:23
half did not own the land they worked on
00:03:25
instead they were renting and working on
00:03:27
tiny plots of land for English
00:03:29
landowners many who were absentee
00:03:31
landlords who lived in Britain not
00:03:33
Ireland because of the famine Irish
00:03:35
peasants fell behind on their rents and
00:03:37
were evicted their houses were often
00:03:39
demolished to prevent them coming back
00:03:40
many went to the overcrowded work houses
00:03:43
where disease like typhoid was rampant
00:03:45
as well as death from starvation famine
00:03:48
related diseases killed many of those
00:03:50
suffering a cause of a weakened immunity
00:03:52
from malnutrition those that were
00:03:54
evicted from the lands and had nothing
00:03:56
to eat could be seen dying or dead in
00:03:58
ditches along roads many committed
00:04:01
crimes stealing food are trying to get
00:04:03
caught on purpose in an attempt to be
00:04:05
sent to jail or a penal calling like
00:04:07
Australia where they might be fed by the
00:04:09
time the potato crops recovered in 1852
00:04:12
1 to 2 million Irish left the homeland
00:04:15
and emigrated some to Britain and many
00:04:18
to North America where many died on the
00:04:20
coffin ships during the journey from
00:04:22
hunger and disease
00:04:24
the Irish refugees that reach the east
00:04:25
coast of the United States established
00:04:27
themselves in cities like Boston New
00:04:29
York City Philadelphia and Baltimore the
00:04:32
Great Famine was one of the worst times
00:04:34
in Irish history and left 1 million dead
00:04:38
the Irish population had dramatically
00:04:40
declined with 1/4 dead or emigrated
00:04:42
spurring a century-long population
00:04:45
decline subscribe for more history
00:04:49
videos hay simple history fans if you
00:04:58
are looking for a better way to support
00:05:00
the channel and help us create more epic
00:05:02
content consider becoming a sponsor on
00:05:04
our channel sponsoring means that for
00:05:06
just 5 bucks a month you get these
00:05:08
amazing perks you can be the first to
00:05:10
see new episodes with early access
00:05:12
you'll be able to watch new episodes
00:05:13
before anyone else with this perk a
00:05:16
custom icon that shows alongside your
00:05:18
username in the comment section and in
00:05:20
live chat when you sponsor us you also
00:05:22
become an influencer with sponsor only
00:05:25
comments you can communicate directly
00:05:27
with us and help us pick the topics that
00:05:29
we'll do next on simple history our
00:05:31
videos will continue to be uploaded as
00:05:33
usual and remember it's not mandatory to
00:05:36
sponsor us thank you for letting us feed
00:05:39
your hunger for history
