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The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger (Irish: an Gorta Mór [ənˠ ˈɡɔɾˠt̪ˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ]), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, [1] [2] was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact on Irish society and history as a whole. [3]
The famine of 1740–1741 is different from the Great Famine of the 19th century. By the mid-19th century, potatoes made up a greater portion of Irish diets, with adverse consequences when the crop failed, causing famine from 1845 to 1852. The Great Famine differed by "cause, scale and timing" from the Irish Famine of 1740–1741.
The European potato failure was a food crisis caused by potato blight that struck Northern and Western Europe in the mid-1840s. The time is also known as the Hungry Forties . While the crisis produced excess mortality and suffering across the affected areas, particularly affected were the Scottish Highlands , with the Highland Potato Famine and ...
The legacy of the Great Famine in Ireland (Irish: An Gorta Mór [1] or An Drochshaol, litt: The Bad Life) followed a catastrophic period of Irish history between 1845 and 1852 [2] during which time the population of Ireland was reduced by 50 percent. [3] The Great Famine (1845–1849) was a watershed in the history of Ireland. [4]
Emigration was not uncommon in Ireland in the years preceding the Famine. Between 1815 and 1845, Ireland had already established itself as the major supplier of overseas labour to Great Britain and North America. [12] However, emigration reached a peak during the famine, particularly in the years 1846–1855. [12]
An 1849 depiction of Bridget O'Donnell and her two children during the famine. The chronology of the Great Famine (Irish: An Gorta Mór [1] or An Drochshaol, lit. ' The Bad Life ') documents a period of Irish history between 29 November 1845 and 1852 [2] during which time the population of Ireland was reduced by 20 to 25 percent. [3]
The Great Hunger is a 1962 book about the 1845–1849 Great Famine in Ireland by the British historian Cecil Woodham-Smith. It was published by Harper and Row and Penguin Books . The British broadcaster and journalist Robert Kee described it, "A masterpiece of the historian's art".
The Great Famine of 1845–1851 killed upward of 1 million Irish men, women, and children, and forced another million to migrate, especially to the United States. Poor handling by the British government left distrust and hatred in its wake, roiling every grievance that followed.