Americans React to the Real Story of the Irish Potato Famine

[@doseyjosey1010]

The native Americans were always very good to the Irish people

[@Barry.ONeill]

Yep did you ever here about the handful of Irish that went to fight along side the native Americans

[@martinamassey5379]

Yes they sent money that they needed themselves bless them 🙏 ❤

[@martinamassey5379]

There is a beautiful monument in east cork called midelton, it's a beautiful monument. ❤

[@brianbeag]

@@doseyjosey1010 yes, the Choctaw tribe.

[@marianneryan3569]

During covid the irish fundraised to repay the native americans who were so kind to us during the famine. We fundraised quite a substantial amount but we can never fully repay their kindness.

[@eimhearodalaigh7714]

Trevelyan is almost as vilified in Ireland as the original C-Word Cromwell

[@selfish-perverse-n-turbulent]

Yes, read The Immortal Irishman

[@grantjohnston7972]

At least Cromwell had his boots on the ground. Did the dirty work himself. Not sat in an office with his feet up neglecting an arm of the empire. I'm a planter decendant and my family still got shafted by both of them so no one was safe 😂

[@KeeshaByrne]

I am irish and proud of my people

[@hey12542]

You're a bot that's what you are.

[@watermelon-hs5fe]

I agree Irish people should be proud of our culture

[@ajorngjdonaydbr]

Growing up in Ireland, it was ingrained in us that the Famine was never called the Famine, we call it the great hunger. We also read a book at your elementary level called Under the Hawthorn Tree, which tells the story of children during the Great Hunger. Most on the planet call it Famine, we call it a Genocide.

[@mogmacphee7595]

Thick as mince. They lived on an island, go fishing for food!

[@shamnet]

@@mogmacphee7595 "Thick as Mince"?? what kind of idiot are you. Extreme poverty on a land that you are NOT in Control of!!! Everything you did to get food was greatly hampered by Troops ... Basically There was NO FKN Chance of getting food. N OW GROW the actual Fk up and learn.

[@vcrossCelticfc]

​@@mogmacphee7595They were banned from getting fishing or hunting licences by the English overlords. When they did and got caught they were put on the death ships.

[@freneticness6927]

A genocide from the almighty.

[@Safi-Dee]

@@mogmacphee7595 please say this is sarcasm

[@iandempsey7040]

As a Irish man I have seen the video you just watched, and it still gets me , you should look at a film called black 47 👍👍 thanks for the channel ❤ the video

[@darylconnolly6877]

Choctaw nation we dont forget 🇮🇪

[@lindamcloughlin1326]

Kindred Spirit Monument in Midleton, Cork is a testament to that 👏👏👏

[@shanemolloy4731]

The greatest gift ever given . From poor to poor . Love those people

[@wiccanmoon0001]

My family lived because of the aid they received from those beautiful people. We will never forget their kindness. ❤

[@gerrym.9354]

...and, neither do the Irish. Thank you. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4epgoWfjdWbbpY

[@bruecknerjared]

@@lindamcloughlin1326 Walk past that every day! Used to live near a native reservation when I lived in America. The lads there all got a kick out of hearing this story

[@hutt52]

Thank you for this. Im from Dublin and we all learned this in school growing up. It hits hard when you learm this about your people ..The rest of the world calls it a famine. Most Irish people call it genocide.

[@sean_d]

Most Irish people call it The Famine. We have Famine Graveyards everywhere. No Irish historian calls it genocide, it wasn't intentional, had a similar effect though.

[@jeepsthetimebandit]

Do you know what is the most shocking thing about the potato famine? That it has never been taught in British schools! I can't talk for NI schools, but here in England, it's like it never happened! I only knew about it because my parents were Irish. We should be taught about it. It's one of the most significant times in Irelands history, and the way those poor people were treated was beyond shmeful. 😢

[@patrickporter1864]

Ireland was part of the UK but then it was not.

[@martinamassey5379]

Even though my ex had an irish background, the family we're anti Irish..

[@orlacof]

​@@martinamassey5379strange! He is missing out. 💚 🇮🇪

[@grainnehendrick2015]

Thank you for saying that! Well usually historical records are somewhat bias when it comes to the winning side. Yes the Irish were treated like non humans and gutter rats by the British empire but it's not something I guess is taught in English schools, the conquest is more important I imagine. The Aggressor very seldom wants to admit their actions or aggression afterall they had land to take and people to control. The famine was a quick fix to eradicate the nuisance of our existence but I can't see that been taught to English kids in school today, can you? Anyhow as an Irish woman I am fortunate that I haven't lived in those times and thank God things have improved but it is part of our history. It has become much ingrained in the Irish psyche even today. Although the two islands have come a long way including this in the english syllabus would help foster understanding and compasdion

[@beautyofislam8253]

Help from Ottoman sultan Thousands of miles away, in the Ottoman capital Istanbul, Sultan Abdulmejid I was made aware of this great human suffering when his dentist, who came from Ireland, told him about the desperate situation. The sultan quickly offered 10,000 British pounds - just over a million pounds at current values, or $1.3 million - to be used to help the starving people of Ireland. However, Queen Victoria had already aided Ireland with 2,000 British pounds, and her advisors in London refused to accept any offer exceeding the monarch's aid. Faced with this dictate, Sultan Abdulmejid unwillingly slashed his original offer of aid and sent Ireland 1,000 British pounds instead. However, the sultan had a fierce desire to extend more help for this humanitarian cause. "He was eager to do more, and that's why he ordered three ships to take food, medicine and other urgent necessities to Ireland," said Levent Murat Burhan, Turkey’s ambassador in Dublin, describing what happened next. Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Burhan said the historic aid operation was done on the sly, as the British navy would not allow any foreign ships to dock at harbors in either the capital Dublin or Cork. "So the Ottoman ships had to travel further north and deliver the aid to the harbor of Drogheda," Burhan said. The aid was delivered to the wharves of Drogheda on the coast of the River Boyne, and it is especially in that place that the generosity of the Ottoman Empire is still remembered by the locals, 173 years later. Visitors to Dublin museums can come across memorials and information about this unforgettable aid from the Ottoman Turks, but a plaque on the wall of a central Drogheda building, unveiled in 1995 by Mayor Alderman Godfrey and then-Turkish Ambassador to Ireland Taner Baytok, reads, "The Great Irish Famine of 1847 - In remembrance and recognition of the generosity of the People of Turkey toward the People of Ireland."

[@kylemenos]

Thanks.

[@TerryByrne67]

And now we have 5000 Turkish kebab shops

[@ummnajeeyah]

Irish is a Semitic language. Ancient Gaelic as the Irish are a Semitic people. Ireland the Ur of the Chaldeas book by Anna Wilkes expounds on it. Irish people call Jesus Iosa krist pronounced same as Isa in Arabic.

[@jackieblue1267]

@@ummnajeeyah Irish is a Celtic language. Semitic languages are Afro-Asiatic languages whereas Irish is an Indo-European language. So completely different language tree. Also Ireland is in Northwestern Europe so why would the Irish speak a Semitic language?

[@glendasmith6192]

Heartbreaking in this day and age to think that's happening right now with a flotilla carrying thousands of tons of aid being obstructed trying to reach Gaza. 😢

[@sarahwaterfield1428]

As a British person it's a dark shadow on my country's history.

[@kylemenos]

No worries. Many of us hold no grudges. Just if your kids are shouting potato into a microphone on the PlayStation give um a slap on the back of the head lol.

[@fyrdman2185]

Shut it woman, this is why women shouldn't be allowed to vote or have a say in politics

[@freneticness6927]

​@@kylemenosAnd Im sure no irish person will say anything anti british and will apologize for the ira I assume.

[@vladuriniov6733]

It's similar to the Russians. We did a lot of horror to the native people. BUT we accept the same from our kings, dukes, princess...

[@paulallen443]

as an Irish person I dont have any hatred for the English people but the royals thats a different story

[@KayosHybrid]

Ireland donating money to the Navajo nation during Covid brought me to tears - solidarity between exploited peoples from colonial empires is beautiful and painful.

[@freneticness6927]

The british also donated some warships to the confederacy. Same charity.

[@elsapena5055]

Yes. During the Ireland femin

[@christina3959]

​@@freneticness6927the Irish people donated the money in honour of our ancestors and for what they did for us during the famine ,

[@freneticness6927]

@@christina3959 They didnt do anything. Its made up. But some irish choctaw slave owners donated two quid though so bully for you.

[@christina3959]

@@freneticness6927 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣people may not be alive but the narrow minded and bullying complex of your ancestors seems to be flowing through your orange veins

[@Lars-k1p]

Really nice reaction guys. Thanks, love from Ireland ☘️🇮🇪☘️

[@peteymax]

There was no potato famine, but there was an gorta Mhór, the great hunger. Please do not call it a potato famine, that’s really disrespectful. It was British government induced genocide.

[@mmaye9105]

Absolutely…There was no Irish Potato Blight no Famine ?…. …... the British raped the Irish lands …. The British were the Blight the disease

[@PaulMuzik]

We Irish had it hard, but we still live on. You take every day as it comes.

[@freneticness6927]

And then they went on to colonize most of the world with the british and americans and then pretend hitler was ok.

[@CHOMPY73]

⁠​⁠@@freneticness6927How did we colonise most of the world? And we never pretended Hitler was okay. We remained neutral during WW2, if you even use 2 of the 3 braincells you have you can see it was the correct decision. If we became an ally, we (an extremely poor country due to protectionist policies at the time) would have suffered immensely, we had no way to defend our land or sky and would have most certainly been pretty much wiped off the face of the planet. Our government was much more helpful towards the allies, allowing British and American planes to fly above, and only arresting German pilots after crashes while allowing the allied pilots to “escape”. It baffles me as to why some British people still have a hatred for Ireland, I can understand a hatred for the IRA, but they do not represent the Irish people.

[@deirdrenugent1887]

It's wrong to call it potato famine..it was intentional starvation....

[@thebee8415]

The educated call it the “Great Hunger”.

[@RazorMouth]

​@@thebee8415 The only reason for that is so we're not educated from Birth to hate the British.

[@mart7986]

reminds me of something going on in the middle east currently.

[@patrickmcguigan7253]

Glad yous watched that video, I'm from Ireland, County Derry in the north of Ireland. A lot was left out of that video including the slave trade of the Irish population, the raping and slaughtering of my people. There are other videos out there on the subject. Thank you for sharing the video and bringing the real history to light.

[@davekendk89]

Some of those involved in making the famine so bad where also responsible for a similar famine in India not to long after the end of the Irish famine, might make for an interesting video topic. As a thank you to the Choctaw tribe there's scholarships for free collage for them over here, there's also a large stature as a way of remembering their generosity "Kindred Spirits: Choctaw Native American Monument"

[@freneticness6927]

Im sure the choctaw sold some of their slaves to send the money to ireland. Its a shame there are no more indians and irish people in the world after the famines. Maybe a bit of family planning and birth control would help.

[@RoadkillbunnyUK]

I’m from Liverpool, a city that is often considered as an Irish city for example IRA would never strike here, these is a high proportion of people who’s family link direct to Ireland and the famine (including my own) it as a city is often nicknamed as East Dublin. When I was in primary school in the 80’s we were taught about the potato famine in depth. I remember going to the maritime museum for the day to do potato famine workshops, I remember that our main museum guide was Irish her self and even though they didn’t go too dead into the horror as we were somewhere between 7 and 9 I think but now finding out what others learnt in other English schools we were defiantly given much depth to our education on the subject. A few kids were able to share their own families stories. If I knew more detail about my own family I have unfortunately forgotten it and my grandfather has sadly long ago passed away. What I do know is that my Great Grandfather and grandmother came to Liverpool with their own families as young children fleeing the famine in Ireland.

[@christina3959]

You are our most eastern county 😉 💗

[@hey12542]

Your in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 😂. Liverpool is geographically part of England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 whether the Scousers like it or not. Maybe we will all start having to chant that we are being occupied by Irish descendants 🇮🇪 in our country and claiming it's a plantation and that they should all go on home like the Irish keep doing with regards to NI. Liverpool will always be England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

[@jackthelad5366]

@@hey12542you sound like a right p***k , now get yer head down and hide behind your keyboard

[@missharry5727]

My family was most recently from Yorkshire, but we have a direct link to the famine. My mother's father was born in Liverpool to parents who had come over from Ireland to escape the famine as small children. He was born in 1899.

[@emmamarie8480]

I love your empathy for irelands real history thank you ♥️ hope you have a nice st.patricks day if you’re celebrating!

[@wiccanmoon0001]

Thank you for your kind hearts. My family lived because of the aid they received from the incredibly kind and very generous Choctaw people. We will never forget what they did for us.❤

[@maitiu6802]

How cruel the British were to Ireland 🇮🇪

[@elizabeth10392]

How cruel the British were to everyone! The Highland Scots, the American native peoples, the Australian Aboriginal people the Indian people under the British Raj. The Maori of New Zealand faired better.

[@maitiu6802]

@@elizabeth10392 Yes, forgive me for just narrowing my response down to Ireland 🙏🏻 They were cruel to everyone as you stated.

[@elizabeth10392]

@@maitiu6802 I was just elaborating on what you said. No forgiveness need be involved 🙂 The story was about Ireland after all. I was just saying ...

[@mrwelshmun]

Ahem. English

[@maitiu6802]

@@mrwelshmunTans 💩

[@gillyellis3294]

Hi I’m an Irish woman from Dublin and I recently got told about your utube videos and I love I think your channel is brilliant and when watching this particular video and saw u both cry u made myself cry for such a small country we are a strong and proud country and I am so proud and thankful to be part of a nation like that x

[@RayWhiting]

Yes. Supply isn't the problem; distribution of food is the problem.

[@designxyz5007]

And that's still the case today througout the world.

[@martinkdoorstoperception.1913]

no its evil that is the problem, and the love of money is the root of all evil.

[@jacoswart2432]

Shortly after arriving in Scotland from South Africa, I went for a drive through Northern Scotland. I was amazed to see how empty the place was. When I asked around the Scots told me it was a consequence of the “Highland Clearances”. Again for the sake of profit, rich landlords forcibly evicted most of the tenants so that they could use the land for grazing, resulting in many people being made homeless with no way to earn a living. Many emigrated to America to start a new life.

[@reactingtomyroots]

That's pretty awful

[@lordprefab5534]

They didn't emigrate, they were forced off the land and onto the ships after their houses had been burned. I had ancestors who were sold as slaves to a plantation in Maryland by the English government, which isn't mentioned much and isn't taught in Scottish schools

[@blackbob3358]

@@lordprefab5534 It was a BRITISH government, mister. I know ya game.

[@gallowglass2630]

very similar to ireland and the west of ireland in particular.The poipulation of connacht for example where i live has only a third of the population it had in the 1840s.

[@lordprefab5534]

@@blackbob3358 It was the English government, after the battle of Dunbar. The survivors had a death march to Durham Cathedral where the wounded were slaughtered and the rest sold as slaves to the new world and transported on English navy ships. It's on ancestry if you want to check it out.

[@DylRicho]

I can say with confidence that this is not taught in British compulsory education (go figure). What a truly disgusting period for the people of Ireland. This just makes me love our Irish neighbours even more.

[@eimhearodalaigh7714]

Both my Handsome Husband and my Gorgeous Girlfriend are English. Neither had heard of the Famine prior to moving to Ireland.

[@cdunne1620]

I would say it was a disgusting period for the british, their blood lust and cynical callousness on display to the whole world, it was more tragic for the Irish not disgusting imo

[@mcnally145]

*It’s not you mean

[@shivskin]

This is why some Irish consider the famine as an act of genocide.

[@shivskin]

A great movie that covers parts of the famine is called “black 47” which was the worst year of the famine worth a watch

[@mydigicraftscrafts8649]

IT WAS GENOCIDE

[@bada2839]

I remember when we learn about this economy in high school and we got in to a huge debate. I raised my hand to speak and I ask my colleagues to imagine themselves searching on the rubbish bins for something to eat. They all mimicked faces of disgust. I asked them to imagine the pain on them stomach to resource on filthy rubbish bins. After I ask them: " now imagine that there is no rubbish bins" but the pain still in your stomachs" Sadly and suddenly everyone went silent. This was my dad teaching to me. My dad was a poor fishing sailor in Africa, we are spanish and every campaign in the sea he will depart with huge suitcase with all our old clothes already in very bad condition as we didn't have much. Me being attached to what was mine even if I didn't use it anymore, selfish as every kid is, till they learn better. I use to complain a lot. So he told me the story that years after left my colleagues speechless. My already worn clothes were treasures to Angolan kids during war, and my dad being the good heart he was, wouldn't let those kids get unnoticed. He also get sometimes in trouble because he left expired products in nice bags at the seaport instead of wasting them in the sea, before reaching the port. International authorities regulated that is better they die from hunger than get 1 "possible" stomachache from a expired product. Irony of the "civilised" world

[@ei-on4eb]

the british exported all of our food and left us to die

[@27kaptein]

it was genocide

[@chrisnagle2902]

Fantastic video guy's. I am of Irish ancestry, but I was born here in the UK. We were never taught this at school. Very sad to learn.

[@lucretiaworker3142]

What a crying shame, when you have England near by, what was wrong with them. They used the people to the ground, no return help.I am native American from the Navajo nation. I cried too .

[@richardmaguire9536]

The Choctaws were so moved by the plight of the Irish they collected $5000 to send for relief. There is a monument in Ireland to remember their generosity.

[@andykane9866]

Called ethnic clensing

[@freneticness6927]

​@@andykane9866Didnt do a job of it as we missed some of your irish dna.

[@freneticness6927]

Hundreds of thousands of irish moved to england. The famines over and they still havent left.

[@MySerpentine]

@@freneticness6927 The fuck is wrong with you?

[@1justme]

Most of my family are from Ireland, I learned about most of this from them and also my English family. The blight affected everyone across Europe, including us peasants in England, the government at the time couldn't care less where the peasants came from! If you were poor you starved. I'm actually so glad to be from poor, hard working stock! I can guarantee that none of my family had anything to do with the evil upper class.

[@chucky2316]

I would love to find out more about my irish history.im english from a irish background. My english side of the family worked in Londons docklands and it was hell by all accounts like most ordinary english folk. Ireland wasn't good at keeping records and of course alot was lost in the civil war etc. I know they came from Cork and limerick I also have names Daley and boyle. But I've drawn a complete blank

[@lyndarichardson4744]

Steve & Lindsey, I've read that one of the problems was that the Irish were encouraged to only plant one type of potatoes, and that there were other breeds that were resistant to blight . I think the English still feel guilty about what happened, even though ordinary people weren't responsible.

[@alibennett78]

@@chucky2316 hi how are you sorry i hope u dont mind me commenting there is a website called family search it might help u ive done a my heritage dna this year im 100% Irish Scottish and Welsh so celtic dna but most likely u might need dates

[@ko0974]

​@@lyndarichardson4744planted plenty of variety's and other veg but that was for our masters , The only spud we could afford was the cheapest one and also the only one the got blight

[@rogerclarke1739]

That sort of potato (In the 1800s, the Irish solved their problem of feeding a growing population by planting potatoes. Specifically, they planted the “lumper” potato variety. And since potatoes can be propagated vegetatively, all of these lumpers were clones, genetically identical to one another.) grew best in the soil of South West Ireland. Many absentee landlords were Irish, such as the Duke of Wellington of Waterloo fame. the real problem was that changes to the tax laws caused the landlords to evict many thousands of the peasant farmers on their land. They could not pay their rent so were evicted. They had to take to the roads, were turned away from towns and so starved. @@lyndarichardson4744

[@Polfeck21]

Now you know why us Irish support the oppressed

[@brenhutchinson5017]

Choctaw nation out brother and Sisters ..Irish nation love and respect you all for your kindness.

[@marybellehobbs7081]

You guys made me cry 😭 thank you for showing this,love from Ireland 🇮🇪

[@alanlouth8501]

From the bottom of my Irish Heart Thank You for covering this . Big hugs from our Emerald Isle . Eire ❤

[@Frarooney88]

Im Irish from belfast we were taught about The Great Hunger in primary school, maybe 8 or 9 years of age, i recommend a book for you its called Under The Hawthorn tree. im loving the videos about my island.. keep the good work up

[@mogmacphee7595]

Shove that book where the sun don’t shine 🇬🇧

[@emneeson]

​@mogmacphee7595 you would know where that is.

[@thedarkhugheshughes2640]

@@mogmacphee7595 brain dead

[@WanderlustWarrior46]

Nature caused a potato blight. The British caused a famine

[@tiedtheknotable]

Correction - the British caused a genocide. They could have stopped it but they didn’t.

[@Eritini.]

No the British caused the Famine. There was enough of different crop to save many more. Britain was still buying carrots, lettuce etc... instead of giving it to the starving/dying

[@Tedward-dh2no]

Correct thats why, the reason the irish people have a long long memory !!

[@wolfielover1172]

Not the British’. Scotland also had a potato famine … many starved or sent on ships to America & Canada.

[@joannebrady6113]

This is the truth !

[@noreenmurphy9429]

As an Irish person your video really touched me. Your reaction was so obviously very genuine.

[@AlanKSimulations]

Good Video! Another good/happy irish topic leading on from the famine for you to check out with your lady is the Choctaw - Irish - Navaho bond.

[@nigelanthony5154]

In Europe it is illegal for supermarkets to dump good food. As the food approached best before date, they must be given to food shelters etc for homeless etc. So not just wasted and dumped.

[@AndrewAHayes]

I was in India in 1995 when the plague hit, I was in Kerala, there was a movement restriction on but for some reason they allowed foreigners to move about freely ( I think becasuse so many people relied on tourist money) although we hunkered down in Kerala, the food prices started rising as there was hardly anything coming into the area of Kerala I was staying in and the home produced stuff was not being distributed fairly, the family I rented a bungalow from had family about 40 miles away who had plenty of food and so I volunteered to drive a truck to pick up this food, the day I got back was the day the movement restrictions were lifted, but it took longer for things to get back to normal than it had for them to go bad Although it never got to actual famine it was a very scary few weeks, I felt aweful as at any time I could hop on a plane and be out of it, whereas my friends and hosts couldn't

[@reactingtomyroots]

That does sound quite scary!

[@deirdrenugent1887]

This is why Ireland stands shoulder to shoulder with people who are oppressed..starved and driven from their homes by invaders..

[@KathleenHorgan]

Check out a song called The Fields of Athenry. It's about a man who stole Trivellians corn to feed his family and got deposited to Australia. A line goes "you stole Trivellians corn so the young could see the morn, now the prison ship lies waiting in the bay."

[@brianbeag]

Yes, but they mistakenly conflate this with the Israel / Palestine situation. Apparently but incorrectly associating Britain’s colonisation of Ireland with their mandate in Palestine.

[@JaneA544]

​@@brianbeagthe idiot left government and ngo's are the clowns supporting gaza, the majority of Irish people support the Jewish people, but we are drowned out by the screamers and the islamists

[@orlacof]

​@@brianbeag"mistakenly conflate" Ireland with Palestine? The similarities are STARK! Please read up on this... specifically Black and Tans Ireland ->:Black and Tans Palestine. Balfour Declaration, British Occupation, freedom fighters. We have a LOT in common. 🇮🇪❤🇵🇸

[@brianbeag]

@@orlacof I’m Irish, and know Irish history. Suggest you familiarise yourself with the actual history of the formation of Israel and the ongoing conflict with the Palestinian Arabs, as they rebranded themselves with the formation of the PLO in the mid sixties. The Jews predate Muslim Arabs in the land by around 2000 years. You may remember someone called Jesus - he was a Jew! The land of Israel inhabited by the Jews was renamed Syria Palestina by the Romans after they defeated the Jewish 2nd revolt in 135 AD. Islamism was founded in the early 7th century AD in Arabia and the Islamic caliphate of the land occurred soon afterwards. In the 400 years up to WW1 the land was colonised and occupied by the Ottomans. The Brits defeated the Ottomans during WW1 and soon afterwards the newly formed League of Nations determined the former Ottoman Empire should be de-colonised into smaller nation states. The Brits and French were given the responsibility to achieve this under the mandate system. All of the new states were to be Arab with one exception, Palestine which was designated to be a Jewish state, the ancestral homeland of the Jews whilst enshrining the rights of other ethnic/religious groups living there, and as mentioned in the Balfour declaration of 1917. The history of the Jews shows them to be possibly the most persecuted and oppressed ethnic group dating back several millennia. Following their defeat by the Romans in 135 AD they were expelled from the area, although some did remain. In the ensuing almost 2 millennia the Jewish diaspora suffered further oppression and persecution by Muslims and Christians notably in the Iberian peninsula in the Middle Ages and the pogroms in Russia and Central Europe in the latter half of the 18th century. As a direct consequence the Zionist movement was created by Herzl in 1896 with the objective of re-establishing a Jewish state in their ancient homeland, now called Palestine. The displaced Jews from the pogroms began to emigrate to Palestine, buying land from the Ottomans and local Arabs. When details of a new Jewish state in Palestine emerged after WW1, the Arabs who were the majority people there were, unsurprisingly unhappy. This soon manifested itself in violent resistance against the Jews with the Brits in the middle trying to maintain peace. In the wake of worsening violence the Brits via the Peel Commission in 1937 attempted to resolve the dispute by partitioning the land into separate Jewish and Arab states. This was accepted by the Jews but rejected by the Arabs. After WW2, the Brits announced they would not be renewing the mandate which was due to expire in 1947. The UN took over and in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust and genocide of 6 million Jews was committed to establishing a Jewish state in Palestine and decided on another partition plan, again rejected by the Arabs but accepted by the Jews who then declared the establishment of a new state and named it Israel. This was quickly recognised by the international community but not the Muslim Arab nations. The local Arabs immediately declared war on the new state of Israel and were joined by the 5 neighbouring Arab states who invaded the area. The Israelis repelled the invasion, securing a small amount of land beyond the partition lines whilst Jordan occupied the area of Judea and Samaria, now known as the West Bank and Egypt occupied Gaza. These areas remained occupied until 1967 when Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan launched another war on Israel who again were the victors, driving the Egyptians out of Gaza and the Jordanians from the West Bank in the process. It should also be noted that during the period 1948-1967 Jordan and Egypt did not assimilate the local Arabs who had been displaced during the 1948 war whilst some 850,000 Jews who had been expelled from the surrounding Arab states were assimilated mainly into the new state of Israel. The displaced Arabs of around 750,000 has maintained its refugee status and after several generations has grown to around 5 million. Furthermore, those Arabs who remained in Israel became Israeli citizens and now form 20% of the total population of Isreal (excluding Gaza and the West Bank). The peace talks in Khartoum after the ‘67 war resulted in the Arab leadership walking out, adopting the infamous position of ‘the 3 noes’, no negotiation, no recognition and no peace. This has remained the position of the Palestinian Arab leadership until current times with the Arabs waging further wars, intifadas and terrorist attacks on Israel and it’s citizens and rejecting all further attempts for a peaceful 2 state solution. Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994 both signed peace treaties with Israel. The Sinai was returned to Egypt, but they rejected taking back Gaza which remained occupied by Israel until 2005 when Israel unconditionally withdrew. Jordan recognised Israel, agreed to ensure no third party attacks on Israel from its territory and various trade deals were established. Interestingly, both Egypt and Jordan have refused to accept any refugees from Gaza during the current conflict whilst Egypt has reinforced its wall on their border with Gaza. So yes, Ireland was invaded and conquered by Britain and its people subjugated and brutally oppressed for around 800 years - by the way, you neglected to mention Cromwell and his armies who were even more brutal than the Black & Tans, before gaining partial independence in 1921. Ireland ceased formal hostile activity against British occupation of the 6 counties and although hostilities were resumed by a terrorist organisation, the PIRA in 1969 this was not endorsed by the Irish State and as part of the Good Friday agreement it removed its territorial claim to the 6 counties. On the other hand the Land of Israel has been invaded and conquered by many different foreign empires for around 3000 years and its people, principally the Jews persecuted, oppressed, subjugated and expelled including the Islamist caliphate in the mid 7th century AD. Britain, being a common denominator as you mentioned, did conquer Palestine but it was a war against another occupier, the Ottomans and British forces remained in Palestine for 25 years only under a mandate system set up by the allies after WW1, to effect a decolonisation. To conclude, there is unquestionably a moral case for a Jewish state in Palestine, the ancestral homeland of the Jews. Did the allies post WW1 give adequate consideration and planning to how this was to be implemented, the answer is obviously not. Has the Muslim Arab leadership accepted the principle of a peaceful coexistence with the Jews either as an entity within a Jewish state or as a separate state, most certainly not. Has it continued to violently oppose the existence of a Jewish state, most certainly yes. One can debate the former but until such time that the Palestinian leadership accepts the latter there will not be peace.

[@stephenhodgson3506]

Discrimination against the Irish was also common in the US as more and more arrived. So the true reasons for their arrival was to some degree suppressed, as is often the case with large groups of immigrants. It is then very difficult to re-introduced into history because people say "why wasn't I taught about this." I very much doubt that anything about the Highland clearances is taught in American schools, when thousands of poor Scots were driven from their homes so their landlords could increase the number of sheep they produced. There will be many in North Carolina who will be able to trace their ancestors to those that were driven from the land in the Highland clearances.

[@reactingtomyroots]

I agree that there are many instances of history being erased or re-written, depending on whose in control. Of course, every culture and race has experienced discrimination and suffered abuse to some degree...as well as, at some points, being the ones perpetrating it. It's an unfortunate side effect of humanity, but I do believe acknowledging the past injustices helps us heal and do better in the future.

[@Tom-2285]

As an Irish lad, it brought me to tears watching both of you be human beings about this. The British ruled us for 800 years. That’s 800 years in prison until in the 20th century we fought back. We fought back to take back our land. Yes innocent died as a result and and it’s a total shame things like that have to happen but good always wins evil. The Irish people are the most humble, happy and down the earth people on the planet. We are this way because we served 10 life sentences and now we take each moment with gratitude. We never forget and we always welcome with open arms 💪 I think it’s great your learning more about our history…keep the videos coming mate

[@tanyacampbell29]

“The earliest reports of a potato blight appeared the United States, in Philadelphia and New York City, in early 1843. This was caused by the fungus Phytopthera infectans which spreads rapidly in the foliage of potatoes causing collapse and decay of the plant. The disease spreads most readily during periods of warm and humid weather with rain. It is assumed that winds then spread the spores, and by 1845, potato blight was found across the Eastern part of the United States and Canada. It then crossed the Atlantic, probably with a shipment of seed potatoes for Belgian farmers in 1845. All of the potato-growing countries in Europe were affected. By years-end, the disease had spread throughout Belgium and Holland, and into an area from northern Spain to the southern tips of Scandinavia, and east to Northern Italy. It moved inexorably through the British Isles and reached Ireland's west coast, by mid-October 1845. The ruin of Europe's potato crops was complete, but the potato blight hit Ireland the hardest.”

[@reactingtomyroots]

Yeah, we were wondering how it got there in the first place...appreciate you sharing!

[@jimryan6624]

and your Copy and Paste point is WHAT????? . . . .. .ARE you IRISH ??

[@cdunne1620]

Read Chris Fogarty’s study of the event called ‘The Perfect Holocaust’. It might enlighten you a bit and save you making irrelevant long comments about some disease that affects potatoes

[@blazednlovinit]

14:50 Even in America, traditionally the self acclaimed bastion of freedom and democracy.... many people didn't agree with it but still couldn't stop America going into the Iraq war. Imagine what options common people in Britain would have had over 100 years ago.

[@johnadey9464]

One of the few peoples who sent money to the Irish were the Navajo, they had learned of it from an Irish guard as they were being marched to their reservation, They had little of their own but they collected what they had and sent it to help the Irish. It says a lot about who they are.

[@alwynemcintyre2184]

Guys you only have to look at your own country, to see how corporations are the exact same thing to the ordinary people people of the US.

[@elsapena5055]

Where are you from?

[@alwynemcintyre2184]

@@elsapena5055 sorry I reread it ended up sounding like jiberish☹️

[@madoldbatwoman]

I'll bet your old History teacher would be very surprised at how much history you have soaked up since Steve.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Yeah, I'm sure you're right :)

[@biddygow]

I donated to the Choctaw nation during Covid. We Irish never forget kindness. Equally enemies are never forgiven. There is a song The fields of Athenry and Trevelyan is mentioned. There is a monument to the Choctaw nation in Mitchelstown Co Cork. It’s besutiful. I’ve been to it. And just recently the Choctaw have unveiled a monument to the Irish people , it’s a heart within a Celtic knot. Beautiful piece. I’m glad you both have learned about The great hunger. Not many people know the real history. Grá Mór (big love) from Éire 🇮🇪

[@AndrewwarrenAndrew]

I had a distant American relative reach out to me on Ancestry. He claimed ( or was told) that our family left Limerick because of the Famine and was still angry about it. Then i pointed out our branch left Ireland a full century before the potato blight. He suddenly stopped talking to me.

[@briangibson6527]

Love it. also, Most of us English have Irish and Scottish roots ,My grand father was a Scot, My grand mother was Irish. And I consider myself English .

[@belindakennedy5828]

Not all families had the means to leave,so your family member no doubt was right about some of his family staying your side left.like all families to day some can some can't.

[@Lovelee123]

⁠@@briangibson6527indeed my paternal grandmother comes from Irish ancestry (Protestant) maternal grandfather catholic Irish, paternal grandfather Scots Canadian and maternal grandmother English! With a splash of Russian, German and Native American in the mix.

[@fyrdman2185]

@@briangibson6527 Speak for yourself, I have no irish ancestry whatsoever, I'm purely English not a mongrell like you

[@freneticness6927]

​@@briangibson6527Shows how much the irish and scottish have colonized england.

[@kerrydoutch5104]

And to cap that off men were caught stealing Trevelyans corn/crops to put some food on their table, convicted of theft and sent to Australia as convicts. Leaving their familiesbroken and destitute.

[@robbiedev2141]

The fields of Athenry is a classic Irish song relating to the famine.

[@cdunne1620]

.. what famine would that be, oh you mean the starvation, use the correct term please

[@robbiedev2141]

@@cdunne1620 That’s quite a blunt reply but I can see where you’re coming from. As far as I understand it, the Irish famine pretty much brought Ireland to its knees, our people had to sail for faraway shores and the British elite continued to plunder Ireland’s bounty. They refused the Irish access to food and watched men, women and children starve to death. I hope this post gets your approval.

[@ayejay5603]

You guys are great. Just found your channel. I’m of Irish ancestry, but I live in the US. Have family over there. Great reaction vid. Completely reasonable to get emotional. Subbed.

[@beadot8629]

On my mum’s side, our Scottish family tree began in the 1840s with our Irish ancestors moving from Ireland to the East Coast of Scotland. They became weavers in Arbroath. Makes sense why they moved at that time.

[@conor1821]

And it hurts so much because all the Presbyterian and protestant Scots at that time were colonising and helping destroy Ireland at the same time and for hundreds of years prior as well. Imagine having to move to a place where so many people responsible for basically enslaving so many of your people and the biggest reason why Ireland isn't a united country even to this day it's so disgusting. The divide is still evident to this day with the Irish and catholic side of things being on the side of Celtic and the Protestant English side of things representing rangers in the football it's no wonder there's such a bitter and fierce rivalry but the fact any of them can act proud of such things really shows you how fucked up the world is.

[@KathleenHorgan]

The town I live in had mills that were filled with grain which was exported while people died of hunger on the street

[@seedhillbruisermusic7939]

I'm from Scotland and we didn't learn anything about the Irish potato famine either, even though the blight was also present in Britain and Europe at that time. It's just cos the Irish peasantry was so utterly dependent on the potato harvest that it had such a devastating effect. People died of starvation in Britain and Europe as well but because the Irish peasantry was so completely dependent on the potato it had such a drastic effect on the nation.

[@indiantinamorals5791]

@seedhillbruisermusic7939 Hi, in Ireland, all livestock, grains, fish, homes, lands etc were all taken from the poor starving Irish, one were shot if one tried to catch fish in the waters, the only thing left was the potato, that is why the Irish were dependent on it, everything else was stolen

[@reactingtomyroots]

That makes sense! Appreciate the insight. Horrible on all accounts!

[@Notherenotever]

I did but not extensively in 3rd year History many years ago. At the time our lessons were based around the Industrial Revolution with part of that curriculum on Irish emigration and their involvement in building railways (navvies). I had no idea until recently anywhere but Ireland was affected.

[@vickymc9695]

It's on the English A level history from at least the 2000s. But it's not taught in GCSEs as part of the main education syllabus.

[@belindakennedy5828]

Am 63 and scottish I got tought it ,maybe not in depth but yes it was mentioned.

[@Jeni10]

“How did potatoes originate in Ireland? As was shown in the previous section, the potato gained importance as a crop in Ireland in the period running up to the famine. However, the potato was not a native of Ireland. It had been found by Spanish conquistadors in South America in the 1500s was shipped to Europe, and reached Ireland around 1590.”

[@petrokemikal]

They said they didnt, I think you miswatched the video Bub !!

[@Jeni10]

@@petrokemikal Maybe. I do sometimes misunderstand Steve when he speaks so fast.

[@MichaelGraySloan]

The population of Ireland stands at 7 million in 2024, it was 8 million in 1840. We also went from an Irish Gaelic speaking nation in 1840 to an English speaking one by 1850. This was genocide on so many levels. Now the Irish language is on life support.

[@PatrickKelly-hj4qm]

It's just over five million. But if you want to count the none Irish it might come up near seven

[@Irish780]

Loved your humanity guys from Ireland

[@sharonmartin4036]

It is vital to know and remember that the peasant classes from England, Scotland and Wales were also suffering under this Malthusian principle. They were just as much considered to be so much grist to the mill of life, expendable. The difference was that the Irish were utterly dependant on the potato to feed them which was not the case for the poor of Britain or Europe. Running the cattle farms and responsible for shipping the produce to England were "The Middlemen", mostly Irish themselves, who profited financially from the practice of forcing the Irish to sell their land or produce more cattle for England. They were the most cruel because they were doing this to their own people. They fed themselves and their own families well enough, but watched their fellow countrymen die. That's evil.

[@ko0974]

Middle men were Anglo Irish not Itish

[@sharonmartin4036]

@@ko0974 Anglo Irish is still Irish, and I said most of them, not all of them. Also I was quoting from a history book, not all my own words. So . . . argue with the historians, not me.

[@ko0974]

@@sharonmartin4036 how am I arguing? Correcting yes ,again Anglo Irish are NOT Irish they were upper class English given wealthy farms and homes in Evicted native Irish homes...History books depending when written and also where will have errors, ...Alot in recent years has been whitewashed ,after 90s books were revised minimising England's treatment and going through peace process so , paper won't refuse ink ....

[@sharonmartin4036]

@@ko0974 Correcting? What makes you right and me wrong? But you're not arguing, no? Good grief! The 'upper class English" landowners DID NOT LIVE IN IRELAND. The people physically running things in Ireland were mostly Irishmen. Greedy and criminally liable for a lot of the evil that took place in the name of their British masters. Good night now, have a nice evening. Ciao.

[@ko0974]

@@sharonmartin4036 well anglo Irish is still.Irish ...that what corrected...which is a fact.. Yes there were absentee landlords, but would have had other English in situ or scotch Irish planters ....all of Ireland was under British rule ,everyone worked for them, bar the odd few turncoats yes those whom already treated their own like shit... but Anglo..and Scott are not Irish.. Slàn

[@jtrain100179]

i live in the foothills of the smoky Mountains. 10yrs ago the mountains caught fire people lost every thing. The red cross swooped in to "Help" all of us locals was making donations to help the people who lost everything. During a press conference Red cross rep was asked about the distribution of the donations. He said the donations we are getting goes around the US to people who needs them. They was asked so what we donated is not going to these devasted people? He said some will but not all...The got ran out of town.

[@gardenbasha22.0]

It was all about GREED if you were poor in the UK you suffered the same fate. The rich land owners only cared about themselves. the same thing happened to the southern states after your civil war the name carpet baggers springs to mind.

[@lolsaXx]

I'm from Scotland and never got taught about the potato famine. Everything I learned as a kid was from watching documentaries and talking to my dad about it.

[@dafyddrhobert2414]

When I was in school in England, we weren't taught anything about the other home nations and certainly not Ireland. It has always seemed odd to me to think that we didn't learn anything about the other nations of the British Isles. I've done a lot of research, especially about Wales since moving there, and discovered the rich history that wasn't in our curriculum.

[@101steel4]

Seems strange so many were never taught this. I was

[@matt-fh6hb]

@@101steel4it was part of history lessons since at least the 1980’s in most cases, earlier in many areas. It’s been a key part of the national curriculum since it’s introduction.

[@101steel4]

@@matt-fh6hb yes I was at school in the 70s/80s and clearly remember learning about it.

[@belindakennedy5828]

Am 63 and yes it was tought at school ,but Irish,Welsh,and Scottish history was really just skipped over but mentioned, most of my history was about English history,Romans etc.

[@harbl99]

I only learned about the ongoing food exports from Ireland during my undergraduate studies (the British school system has a real code of _omerta_ about some parts of our history). It was an absolute "We did WHAT?!" moment.

[@WispaGreentop]

11:27 - Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes to Ireland in 1589, but it took nearly four decades for the potato to spread to the rest of Europe.

[@BrianBorumaMacCennetig367]

Walter Raleigh was an oppressive stodge to the Irish he colonized their land and killed women and children. He cut down massive forests left the land bare and left the timber to rot when he couldn't sell it forcing the Irish to clean up his mess.

[@billygray6757]

How many Irish Americans live in America because of the famine how many Irish presidents are of Irish decent

[@maddisonbishop6219]

I live in Ireland and I remember learning tons about the famine in primary school, even when I was a kid it really disturbed me.

[@Kell0ee]

Does it impact you view on the British as a whole, as a child or now as an adult? Or was it made clear it was the British aristocrats? Just wondering how you felt about Britain as a country after learning this. And if your feeling for any country that tried to assist also changed. /Gen

[@sharrenasimmons3469]

Lets also not forget .British citizens were also on the poverty line treated badly by the aristocratic leaders . Children being hung for just stealing bread, children working in coal mines and factory's as young as 5 . Ect. , people being sent to Australia because they stole food ,People living in the poor/work house's,people begging on streets also turning to prostitution,and starving babies and children ..... basically everyone was suffering. But this film didnt mention none of this ..

[@ko0974]

That's very true and the blight was in most of Europe....but England. Evicted us from our homes , took all our land and farms. Made us work on our own farms and charged us rent to live on a tiny piece of what was ours.?.. we produced an abundance of food and animals, that they used to feed the English and Scottish planters and exported out of the country .....genocide so I understand not easy everywhere but we had the colonisation and force from the English on top of it.

[@gallowglass2630]

They were still your aristocratic leaders though whereas the aristocrats in ireland at the time were aliens who stole their lands from native irish chieftains and their clans.I mean the native aristocracy were not perfect a great many of them fecked off to the continent abandoning the country although there lands would have been taken from them.Those that didn't leave and didn't convert to protestantism became peasants and died in the famine.

[@deannamcmurtrey5794]

Ok, but this video is about a genocide in Ireland. It's ok for it to just be about that.

[@Drew-Dastardly]

@@deannamcmurtrey5794 Not when it fuels hate and terrorism by equating "The English" as a people as the perpetrators of these crimes. All while working class people all over the British Isles and Europe were treated just as badly. There is still the ruling classes in both London and Dublin who have imported USA university woke ideologies of "white supremacy" and "hate crimes" to both Islands. Ireland is in particular ramping this absolute codswallop up while never having been a colonial power of white privilege. I will also recommend the Liverpool video to show the absurd hatred from the London elites against a city mostly originated from English, Irish, Welsh and Norwegian immigrants. Now it is a totally different demographic but we got our scouse accents from the origins.

[@hanifleylabi8071]

British people were suffering but a quarter of the population weren't driven to their graves. In fact the famine was used deliberately to clear the land of Irish people so it could be repopulated by Scots and English settlers. A famine on this scale wouldn't have been allowed in Britain because the ruling class would have had no peasants to produce their food. That's the difference and that's why there's no equivilence here.

[@darylcummins9236]

Last census population numbers for the republic of ireland had the figure at 4.8 or 4.9 million, with another 1.7 or 1.8 in Northern Ireland, so an all-island total of just shy of 7 million, compared to the 8+ million of 1840

[@gallowglass2630]

Thats not the last census that was the 2016 census.It was 5.1 milllion for the republic and 1.9 million for NI as per the 2021 censuses.There has been huge influxes since of refugees so there is now about 5.3 million people in the republic

[@BrianBorumaMacCennetig367]

@@gallowglass2630 The population of Ireland was actually 11 million but the census takers couldn't account for all parts of Ireland as the country was hard to traverse. Irelands population today should be around 30 million even korea which is the same size as ireland has a 50 million population.

[@ajorngjdonaydbr]

That's very true, but in a way I'm glad my country isn't overly populated like some other island nations. @@BrianBorumaMacCennetig367

[@vicsaunders9710]

The infected potatoes came from America.

[@reactingtomyroots]

I was curious after this video where it originated, so I looked it up. "The researchers concluded that it wasn’t in fact US-1 that caused the blight, but a previously unknown strain, HERB-1, which had originated in the Americas (most likely in Mexico’s Toluca Valley) sometime in the early 19th century before spreading to Europe in the 1840s." From a History.com article titled 'After 168 Years, Potato Famine Mystery Solved'--short but informative.

[@vicsaunders9710]

👍👏

[@columbannon9134]

It was nothing to brought the blight to Europe it was airborne fungus that was taken by the winds that spead the pototo blight.

[@OSTARAEB4]

As an American of heavy Irish descent, it was mentioned in our schoolbooks but basically only a sentence or two or at most a paragraph. My late parents told me how we arrived in USA and had to leave as Irish, religión was supressed. It was made in school to sound as if the grocery store had low inventory on potatoes. We have had to research ourselves and our story of how catastrophic this was. We are coming to terms with our history and our anger. We’re a good five, six generations out of Ireland but the nature of how we went to many countries is the why we’re learning. This is still not spoken about in many Irish American families because it’s sensitive and painful even though we didn’t actually live it. It’s in our heads and the anger is how it was dismissed. Look at other countries and how they were plundered by the country responsible for this on their involvement around the world. History not hatred.

[@Anna-ez5ij]

Just listening to that reminded me of my university days, learning about it, learning about the treatment of the Scots in the Highlands, & the treatment of the British people in general. You can guarantee the people were not enjoying roast beef! They weren’t enjoying the fresh vegetables either that Ireland continued to export. Affording a loaf of bread was difficult enough! That sometimes wasn’t even possible. English landlords, or were they Irish landlords that chose to live in England? Super rich, keeping their wealth, exploiting the people, & putting big business above the interests of the working people. ( they seems so very now doesn’t it?) What happened in Ireland though was horrific, but it was considered mainstream thinking though to let people suffer back then. All over Europe there will be similar stories, from back in the day. The filthy undeserving poor. Any rights and privileges we now enjoy, come from the suffering of most of our ancestors, through their determination, & sacrifice change was made.

[@Dreyno]

I’m sorry but it wasn’t considered mainstream thinking. It was called out at the time as a complate disgrace. There’s plenty of available information out there if you wish to read it. The simple fact is that Irish food was imported into England to keep food prices low and stop England’s poor starving.

[@belindakennedy5828]

We're considered extremists now😡

[@Anna-ez5ij]

@@DreynoI look forward to reading this, which historians & which books would you recommend? I must confess that British political history was my area of study, Ireland was Britain then. But it has been a few years since my uni days. Love to read some new ideas and opinions. Dare say others to responding to the video would be just as interested.

[@Anna-ez5ij]

@@belindakennedy5828think any that wanted change back then were called that to. 😔 We have a lot to be grateful for, our ancestors fought for a better world for us all.

[@Dreyno]

@@Anna-ez5ij Ireland was part of Britain only as a means of controlling it and extracting a full measure of wealth. When a constituent part of the U.K. Ireland was a net contributor to the British exchequer for every single year including the years of the famine. “Atlas of the Great Irish Famine” is a good place to start to appreciate the scale of the event. Cecil Woodham-Smith’s 1962 book, “The Great Hunger” is regarded as above reproach. “The Truth Behind the Irish Famine” by Jerry Mulvihill is a collection of first hand accounts of the famine combined with modern illustrations. There’s lots of excellent books on the topic but there is also a pernicious little cottage industry in revisionist historians whitewashing the facts, making false equivalencies with other parts of Europe, downplaying Britain’s contribution in making a crop failure a famine and more or less absolving Britain of blame. The facts show otherwise, that it was absolutely British policy with regards land ownership, tenant rights, penal laws and relief spending (or lack of) that were directly responsible. But their inbuilt jingoism refuses to accept it so they’ve spent the last 20 years writing laughably misleading books in service of their cause.

[@mariejoyce5150]

My GGG grandfather and 3 of his brothers came to the north of England from Galway during the potato famine

[@sparkyprojects]

There are starving and homeless people in this world, and there are paeople who go on a joyride to space !!

[@101steel4]

America and India

[@reactingtomyroots]

Yep...pretty sad. It would take very little combined effort to solve world hunger.

[@Theoriginalsparkythemagicpiano]

Irish landowners and the Irish monied class also played a huge part, a fact that doesn’t get discussed for some reason.

[@101steel4]

There's much that doesn't get discussed

[@briancostello9325]

Most upper class were Anglo Irish, Protestant, British ascendancy / colonial class. Irish Catholics were mainly tenant farmers, legacy of the penal laws. So you are right - they were never going to help

[@georgebarnes8163]

the fact that it was the USA that intentionally sold Europe the infected seed potato also goes unmentioned, all of Europe suffered badly from the Blight which is known as USA1 especially Germany, Ireland and Scotland.

[@ianprince1698]

@@briancostello9325 we have to go further back in history to Henery the viii who split from the catholic church and regarded all Catholics as potential traitors severely restricting what they could or could not do. to this day they cannot inherit the British crown

[@gallowglass2630]

Those landlords were british and mostly absentee living in england they were in no sense irish.Many of the agents were irish to be fair ,but the majority of the landlords were Anglo irish protestants who lived in england as absentee landlords for the most part.Irish catholics who were about 90% of the population were just emerging from anti catholic laws which meant that very few would have been able to rise up into the middle classes.To be fair there would have been agents of the landlords who were irish catholics.

[@ianprince1698]

to this day absentee landlord is a dirty word in Ireland, landlords in old Ireland insisted on their rent and selling goods at their best price this is how a capitalist economy works. nowadays there is still a problem many people can not afford to live where they grew up as the prices have risen so much that you cannot reside there. I could not afford to live in my bungalow without a council landlord who regulates rents.

[@MartKart8]

I remember decades ago, when I heard the stories of the English, would place signs up saying No Blacks, No Irish, no dogs, that was so vile.

[@liamscott1905]

@MartKart8 Those signs are a proven myth.

[@Bridget-ff6xb]

​@@liamscott1905sorry this is true. I can clearly remember seeing those signs in North London, about 65 years ago, wheni was about 10yrs. Never forgotten it, Asking others of my generation they also remember seeing the same signs

[@liamscott1905]

@@Bridget-ff6xb have you ever heard of the Mandela effect?

[@alaskafrozen4978]

​@@liamscott1905 The signs were very real

[@eamonnmurphy5086]

@@liamscott1905 they are not I saw this in Acton in 1969, get your facts right.

[@Grainne310]

It wasn't a famine, it was a genocide. Thanks for this video and your emotion in sharing our history

[@alanmurray5963]

Thank you guy's for reacting to this and for your humanity. P.S, Lindsay is adorable, you're a lucky man Steve. An IRISH blessing to you both ☘️ ☘️

[@wowtuninglancs]

ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TACK, If you haven't already you and your family should watch 'The Snowman' animated film and the follow on films. You all would love them !

[@STHFGDBY]

I'm Irish, born and bred with the Surname KELLY, which is linked to the O'KELLY clan, in Irish O' Ceallaigh clan. The first to bear this Surname was Tadhg Mor O'Ceallaigh , a grandson of Cellach Mac Fionachta who died in the battle of Clontarf. fighting side by side with his ally Brian Boru, high king of Ireland, who also is said to have died at the battle of Clontarf. I was also raised right beside Clontarf in Killester. But I always said that any Irish blooded person that lives today must have had survivors of the famine who had either a very strong will to survive or was more simply more lucky that those who starved to death. So I believe I'm here today because of that. The Famine, any Famine is horriffic. Irish families where driven out of their homes by ruthless British landlords because they couldn't pay the rent, and they died from cold and hunger. Parents watching their children die, children watching their parents die etc. Immigrants died on the immigration boats to America, families split up because of these deaths. The only famine ship that claims to have never lost a passenger was the Geanie Johnston, this ship, or replica ship is berthed in Dublin City on the river Liffey and gets thousands of visitors every year. I visited it myself. The Irish woes never ended there, they were subjected to rejection by the Americans when they arrived in NewYork, many died on Manhattan Island because they were not permitted to enter NewYork. There is a memorial to these victims in NewYork.

[@jennd9091]

A few weeks ago I found out my great gran was part Irish and lived with her Irish family in Yorkshire. She never mentioned it I think as being Irish was a thing of shame possibly her dad was born just after the famine but her grandmother will have suffered and fled across to England for work.

[@matt-fh6hb]

There are quite a few Irish and Scottish communities in Yorkshire, I grew up in one. So distinct was the ‘English’ part of the area it was called ‘Little Wigan’ by locals, as that’s where they moved from, to find work in the collieries. I see the Catholic Church, graveyard and school from my window right now. Yorkshire people in general have shared many of the ills of aristocracy as their Irish brethren. From the harrying of the north, to the serfdom of the population, to the uprisings of Industrial Revolution and a call for the right to a paid day off at weekend and so on. There is a reason Football was organised as a pastime in Yorkshire first, and why so many football clubs here trace their roots to the church and boys clubs. Also a reason why unions were such an integral part of Yorkshire society. I just wish people making these videos understood the actual complexities of the matter rather than ‘British/English are bad’ type approaches. I totally understand why Scottish nationalism has made this fashionable again, and why Irish people in general have a legitimate reason to think this way, but it totally misses the fact that in general 95% of people across these isles share the same ills of being a victim of colonialism and empire.

[@jennd9091]

Wow yes absolutely! everything is So polaraised and over-simplified now. 'You English took our land' have had that said to me in Scotland despite part of my family being from the highland clearances and me being from a purely working class background. I attended a Welsh Nationalist event with my partner who is a Welsh Nationalist and they were talking like 'if we break away from England and Westminster it will all be fab' Forgetting that greedy rich tyrants exist in Wales who would just become another version of the Rich oppressors and that they would be breaking solidarity with the working class North of England. So silly and ignorant.@@matt-fh6hb

[@reactingtomyroots]

That's sad that she was made to feel ashamed of her heritage.

[@reactingtomyroots]

@matt-fh6hb We definitely don't think all British/English are bad--not even close! I even stated this at the end of the video. No one alive today is responsible for the atrocities committed throughout history, and we realize that average citizens had nothing to do with the treatment of the Irish back then. The government was at fault.

[@jennd9091]

i think before black people came here in the 60s from the West Indies, the Irish were the big racial targets - slaves existed from scotland and ireland sent out to work alongside Africans. History shows Jewish people too. Staying with the Irish theme - If you havent checked out Shane Mcgowan fairytale of new york please do as he has just passed away sadly and he had a great irish band and its one of the greatest and popular xmas songs ever. @@reactingtomyroots

[@ShogunPuca]

You should react to Irelands response to the Choctaw plight during COVID.

[@Lily_The_Pink972]

My mum's family were affected by the famine and emigrated to Liverpool. My son and I went to Sligo to find out more about it. Hard to believe it ever happened when you see how green and lush it is now. We were told that the English landlords found they could extract more tax income by dividing the land they rented out into small pockets. So along with the blight, these small packets of land could never recover year on year. Potatoes were the only crop that stood any chance. A book you may be interested in is The Dead Buried by the Dying, The Great Famine in Leitrim. Even today, Leitrim is sparsely populated compared with other Irish counties. I do hope you get to visit Ireland, Steve and family. It's beautiful and you'll get a warm welcome along with a huge pot of tea!

[@gallowglass2630]

Its a lot greener now in County sligo largely because of bog reclamation in the1840s peat bogland would be much more prevalent and still covers vast areas of the county

[@auldfouter8661]

Potato blight is a disease caused by spells of mild temperatures and high humidity ( these are called Beaumont periods ). Those conditions make grass grow , so the greenery is not surprising .

[@Shybuyer]

Are you sure? The laws of inheritance in Irish custom did not enforce primogeniture while in england it was l the eldest son inherited. I don't think that the english landlords would have been able to ignore the laws of inheritance that had existed in Ireland since time immemorial

[@trevorlowe141]

The blight was from a bad crop of potatoes which had arrived in chests /barrels that came from South America . This took hold over the winter of 1841 and by early 42 the crop was already in trouble, there is also a theory that it was an arobourne fungus which crossed the Atlantic in the holds of ships and was then blow west towards Ireland from ships docking in the Uk.

[@yascaoimhin]

This video. IS why Irish people do not call it the POTATO famine. It was a famine of the Irish people, with intention

[@G02372]

Charles Trevelyan. You couldn’t find as good a villains face to play him on screen as his own. Everything he said about the Irish people was true only of himself.

[@aelbereth6690]

Trevelyan's face, with that blank-eyed cold stare, reminds me very much of Keir Starmer, our present UK Prime Minister (October 2024). He admits with pride to being "ruthless". I can imagine him having a very similar attitude to Trevelyan. He's intent on taking meagre benefits away from the old, poor and vulnerable - the "useless eaters" he considers a drain on the country's resources - while he and his elite chums wallow in luxury.

[@Lovelee123]

By far the biggest donations of charity came from British citizens. More than twice as much as from America, the next biggest donators. Just curious that he never mentioned this. English Protestants donated far more than any other group outside of Ireland. “Soup taker” is a derogatory term that is still used today to describe someone who turns against their own community for their personal benefit and stems from when Catholics went to Protestant church’s soup kitchens. There was no need for them to convert to eat but for many the fact they went to the Protestant churches was enough to criticise or even ostracise them.

[@101steel4]

Yes they leave out that part of the story. Conveniently.

[@dzzope]

Turn coat, traitor would also be common.. Or a more modern take, Scum bag. Nothing is ever that simple when you are dealing with people that have been pushed to the edge by the ones offering their hand to help. People are rarely understanding enough to see anything but their own point of view as valid, which means that if the family down the road is just a bit worse off than some where, they were driven to desperation first. Those looking on know how hard things are.. but they arn't dieing of hunger so they judge those that were. There are so many variations and variables that go into any of these things that we can't know who and why and how. What I know is that people will always find a way to make things about us and them and if you associate with them then your against us. I wonder why politics never makes anyone really happy (and if it does there is probably something wrong, or ther has been and it's been fixed)

[@erikaprobst4438]

not that simple, it was a practice to convert however not as common as was preseved. Some churches even served meat soup on a fri which was against our religion. So yes there was a distain for these charities and a stigma. However not for the quakers they are still held in high regard for what they done during the famine. Yes taking the soup is still used but its mainly used in a joking way and the odd time used to show the severity of what someone has done (context of action would be specific) An example would be an irish person accepting a knighthood, people would say ah they would have taken the soup....

[@Dreyno]

Firstly, it was supposedly part of the same country. Britain claimed Ireland as a constituent part of the U.K. Secondly, the population of the USA was only the same as that of England and Wales at the time. That it sent half as much money is an indictment of the British contribution which was nowhere near sufficient to stop the deaths of more than a million of their, supposed, own countrymen. And thirdly, some of the soup kitchens were set up by proselytising missionaries and did require people to convert. Other soup kitchens didn’t and were used by many tens of thousands of people every day. This is the problem of people with a tiny bit of knowledge taking it on themselves to spread it. Read about the famine before spreading misleading nonsense.

[@Dreyno]

@@101steel4They do leave it out. Mostly because it’s complete bollocks though.

[@dannytarr4293]

There isn’t any written record of when the potato as a crop was introduced to Ireland but it is said sometime between 1590-1600’s Sir Walter Raleigh introduced the crop to his own fields in Ireland but it was another 4 decades before the crop was fully introduced across Europe. As for how the potato blight made its way to Europe it’s like any disease at that time, by ship, likely the disease had effected crops being brought over from North America into European ports and from there spread across Europe.

[@johnf4659]

Sir Walter Raleigh (explorer) brought the potato, along with tobacco, to england during the elizabethan era. So around mid 16th century, i think.

[@gniwtram]

He was given lands in East County Cork in Youghal in gratitude by Queen Elizabeth. where presumably the potato was first introduced into Ireland.

[@BrianBorumaMacCennetig367]

Incorrect the genocidal lunatic didn't introduce the potato to Ireland it was the Spanish. The potato in Ireland was known as An Spáinneach it was probably introduced to Ireland in 1550 by the spanish at waterford.

[@BrianBorumaMacCennetig367]

@@gniwtram Given is another word for colonized.

[@moc9893]

My mother is Irish my father is English and even he considers himself full Irish. When he learned the history he was disgusted and identified more to his Irish roots, says a lot.

[@leemorgan4799]

The Irish were really slaves in their own country..my great grandfather and his brother emigrated to New Brunswick, Canada where they were given land by the government to build their homes.

[@mariedavis8635]

Love your videos. You should look at the Kindred Spirit monument in Cork Ireland. It's dedicated to the Choktaw people to thank them for their help during the famine.

[@Chellie123]

We now have a population of 5,089,478 in 2024 ... we will keep smiling as the song goes but a lot of hurt in our past it was horrendous what happened ☘☘😔😔

[@davidpryle3935]

If you are comparing the pre famine population of Ireland to now, you must include Northern Ireland. So that’s another 1.9 million people.

[@KayosHybrid]

All Irish houses in small towns and villages are short and tiny because of the famine - for generations men didn’t make it to 6 feet tall. I was a child when I went to Ireland to meet my family (born raised in UK) and I could reach up and touch the ceiling of those old Irish houses.

[@SM-oj6sg]

I remember an old Irish guy telling me this. My Dad's maternal side is from Kerry & the whole family is tiny.

[@jimjohns9051]

Ireland will never get over the trauma. We can’t

[@jimryan6624]

????? WTF ?????

[@Parker_Douglas]

What trauma have you suffered. Bet you’ve never went hungry ffs

[@carolannesigdel1793]

My great grandparents x3 moved to Dundee from Ireland for that reason Dundee had so many trades and the mill owners etc paid for the whole family to come and live so sad Xx

[@jackiea8394]

I agree with you both that it’s all down to fair distribution. There’s that saying, absolute power corrupts and the aristocracy knew how to use theirs! So much English history covering the days of the Empire is not even talked about, never mind taught. The crazy thing is, the Whigs political party morphed into today’s Liberal party and that is now ineffectual! I remember reading that based on Ireland’s economic strength today, if 4 million Irish lives hadn’t been lost or emigrated, the country would have one of the biggest economies in the world.

[@matt-fh6hb]

I mean. Where do i start here? In their earlier years the Whigs were overtly anti-Catholic and pro-wealthy elites, but given that was typically the ‘norm’ of the 1700’s and onwards, that is to be expected. But by the 1800’s the Whigs had totally shifted position and were calling for a reform of monarchy, emancipation and equal rights for Catholics, were leading on the abolition of slavery and were in favour of pushing the suffrage movement further. So much so that when the union of Ireland and Britain happened they had to be convinced to leave equal rights of the Catholics off the books, because the Protestants in Ireland would have revolted against it. Many Whigs of the 1830’s also rebelled against the Corn Laws. The Whigs also didn’t ‘morph into’ the Liberal Democrat’s, that’s a very simplistic notion. In the 1850’s some Whigs joined with Peelites (breakaway Conservatives), Radicals (aiming for electoral reform etc) and the Independent Irish Party (seeking land reform in Ireland etc). At the time of the moved from Whiggery to Liberalism the Whigs were led by Lord Palmerston, a renegade Irish Tory and essentially a conservative, capable of radical gestures. The ties to the Conservatives ran deep. Two of the greatest achievements of the Liberals in Ireland were land reform and the abolishment of the Anglian Church of Ireland, allowing religious reform and other things that essentially led to the Home Rule issue, and the right for Catholics, and tenants in general to buy their land in Ireland, and this essentially led to the fracturing of the Liberals. The price the Liberals paid for getting Irish home rule was the eventual loss of the Whigs from their stable, the elites and aristocracy went wholesale to the Conservative side and the more radical and middle class members created the likes of the Lib-Lab groupings that eventually became the Labour Party and ties to unionism. By the 1900’s the party was much more socialist liberal in nature and brought in vast change for the working classes, such as the introduction of National Insurance, sick pay and of course the Irish Free State. The First World War brought the end of Liberals, as they were ill equipped to fight wars and were brought down by unionists, and the changes the war brought to society brought polemic shift to British politics, as more people than ever won the right to vote, the working classes mainly, and Labour were brought into being a force in their own right. To combat this the Liberal factions grew ever more reliant on coalitions with their old friends, the Conservatives. This led ever more to the radical left within the Liberal party to defect to Labour and Labour took it upon themselves to become the sole left leaning political entity in Britain. By the late 1920’s the Liberals were eating themselves over if they should prop up a minority Labour government or seek coalition with the Tories, with both parties actually wanting to end the Liberals for good. The various Liberal factions did briefly reunite and saw a return to national attention but by the 1960’s were again falling out, with the National Liberals joining into the Conservatives in 1968. In 1981 the SDP, a breakaway faction from Labour, joined an alliance with the Liberals and were polling at 50% and looked ready to take a significant amount of seats but the Falklands War saw the Conservatives win that vote share and they again fell to the wings of parliamentary society. And as we know the two groups did eventually merge to form the Liberal Democrat’s. So, as I hope I have demonstrated, the Whigs/Liberals were at times massive reformers of society for the better, and the ties between Labour/Conservative and the Liberals run deep. If anything, the reason they are so ‘ineffectual’ today is that they were a victim of their own success! By bringing together the centre ground they could be radical, reformist and seek out consensus but this coalition of like minded became so broad that the left sought to lurch ever more left and led to the rise of Labour, so they lost the left leaning vote, where the right leaning vote went across to the Tories. Many see the Liberal Democrat’s today as fluffy, daft lefty types but in truth they were more like a radical centre party.

[@ClaraBrown-x8v]

This is not taught in english schools. As a teacher, whose father is northern irish and has made sure to shares with me his experience growing up in belfast (during the troubles) and the history of ireland. I do become angry at how the national curriculum creates a narrative that we were never villians (we of course were the heros of everyones history), the royals (the windsors) have done no wrong, (except change their name to remove their connections with germany). It is commanly said, once you leave school, then you actually become educated about british history. If I wasn't naturally curious and invested in learning about Irish History, I likely wouldn't know what I know. there needs to be a revamp on our curiculum and stop avoiding the bad and educate the next generation about all sides of our history, especially when its ugly. Other countries do not hide their failures. They are taught in schools to prevent history from repeating and to learn from the past.

[@odonoghuekerrie9453]

It wasn't a famine. It was a genocide on the Irish. American Indians sent aid to Ireland along with 100's of ships full of food from the Middle East, and the British took it all. They could have saved 100's of thousands of people, and the British chose to starve us instead. 💚🇮🇪

[@NeilusNihilus]

Yeah. Some of our history isn't exactly notable for the right reasons.. I'm half Irish and always used to go to county Longford every year as a kid as my fathers parents lived there. A truly beautiful place with old traditional houses and stunning scenery. '40 shades of green' as they say.