What really caused the Irish Potato Famine - Stephanie Honchell Smith

Dig into what caused the Irish potato famine, and explore how the UK government’s response turned the crisis into a catastrophe.
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For over 200 years, potatoes thrived in Ireland; roughly half the country’s residents lived almost entirely on potatoes. But when harvesting began in 1845, farmers found their potatoes blackened and shriveled. While this failed harvest created a crisis, the government’s response turned it into a national catastrophe. Stephanie Honchell Smith digs into Ireland's Great Famine.
Lesson by Stephanie Honchell Smith, directed by Denys Spolitak.
This video made possible in collaboration with Gates Ventures
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[@derkaiser420]

An interesting happy story that came out of the Irish Potato Famine is the Choctow Nation sent $170 to help the Irish during the famine. There is a great statue that commemorates this in Cork County. In 2020, the Irish returned the favor raising $1.8 million to help the Choctow during COVID. The Irish said that the Choctow 'donated money, then were subjugated to the Trail of Tears by the United States.' This was a comparison to how the English treated the Irish. The Republic of Ireland officially states that the Choctow are allies of their Republic. These are stories that show that even Natives from the USA and white Europeans can help each other through horrible times and even become generational allies.

[@rochiegabatilla4622]

cool

[@Natasha-ew6qu]

Something tells me that the angels and the First Nation's spirits saw that and gave them a standing ovation

[@aislingmol]

Extremely similar to the ongoing national Irish support of Palestine, somewhat understanding the oppression they face

[@medusagorgon8432]

I knew about this but had forgotten. Thank you for reminding me.💚

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

The "Trail of Tears" ethnic cleansing actually happened in the early 1830s, years before the Potato Famine.

[@WolfetoneRebel1916]

The term famine is wildly inaccurate to describe what happened in Ireland at the time. There was enough food grown in the country to feed it's entire population but it was all being exported by the English to England. Genocide is a term much closer to being accurate.

[@jezalb2710]

The potato blight was an act of God. The famine was an English creation.

[@purbayanchowdhury7836]

The reason we know why Ireland supported India in its war of liberty

[@happyapathy22]

Intentionally negligence, apparently yes. Genocide? Debatable. Words have connotations that often stand alongside or replace definitions, so when we use loaded (i.e. controversial/deeply negative or positive) words in new contexts without clarifying why, we muddle and dilute their meanings.

[@Kenuptn]

Irish genocide

[@nilsp9426]

This is similar to the "famines" under the Mao regime in China. They also involved the export of crop yields (in this case in exchange for weapon system knowledge from the Sovjet Union). In that case, it was a genocide on Mao's own people to keep his dream to become the leader of a nuclear superpower alive. In both cases, the research and communication of history is vital to lasting peace, justice, and a proper understanding of power and politics. Inaccurate history books, written solely by opressors, are a danger to us today, not only a danger to the remembrance of our ancestors. The current government of China still draws some of its legitimacy from the Mao regime and censors history books. Similarly, Great Britain is far from having worked through their colonial history while the ripple effects still cause massive harm today.

[@gustavovillegas5909]

Something the blows my mind is that Ireland’s population STILL hasn’t recovered today. There are less people in Ireland now than there were before the famine.

[@mrslinkydragon9910]

The entire population of Ireland can fit within London...

[@christianweibrecht6555]

The trade off being they now have a massive diaspora

[@PerceptionVsReality333]

That's sad.

[@nicholaspowell8262]

Even if you add foreign born citizens it still doesn’t even come close

[@Edmonton-of2ec]

It doesn’t help that the population, at least in the Republic of Ireland, didn’t start growing again until the 1960s. So that was over a century of continuous population decline

[@BrackenStrike]

The potato famine is the reason there are roughly 6x as many people who identify as having Irish heritage in the US than the entire population of Ireland.

[@eagle_spangled_tricolor2073]

​@acmulhern after what happened to Irish by the English can you blame them

[@sor3999]

I would think after a generation or two European immigrants tended to lose any identity with their home country. German-American or English-American is just not a thing despite most white people having their roots there.

[@purplecouch4767]

Oh, I’m American and some of my ancestors are from Ireland.

[@0.o.0.o1]

Canada too

[@DegreesOfThree]

Is it too late to send them back? 🤔

[@micahbush5397]

3:25 What’s interesting about alcoholism claim is that just a few years before the potato famine, Ireland was the site of a massively successful temperance campaign led by a Catholic priest, Theobald Mathew. So successful was this campaign that between 1838 and 1841, national alcohol consumption was cut in half.

[@jesseberg3271]

It's also absurd for the Brits, in almost any century, to be lecturing anyone about alcoholism.

[@Imperial_Navy_40K]

​@@jesseberg3271I mean it's the Br*ts, I'm not surprised. What a despicable nation

[@TaLeng2023]

​@@jesseberg3271the Brits were such drunk they had to ban gin distilleries from London, which didn't got lifted until recently

[@Dreyno]

Britain had relied on food imports for half a century by the time the famine happened and were importing food from Ireland, including during the famine and they still don’t see the irony in saying Ireland couldn’t feed itself.

[@joanhuffman2166]

I had never heard of a Temperance movement in Ireland before. Thank you.

[@ElysiumCreator]

I wish you had touched on why we were dependent on the potato so much. Because of the British Occupation, we had to subdivided our land and our farms, and because people had larger families back then, very soon, people could only grow crops for their consumption on land the size of an average garden. The potato was the only crop that could be grown in such small crops, we survived before the potatoes introduction because we had control over our land and had enough to grip other more various crops, if the potato didn’t exist, we could have grown any food at all.

[@malahammer]

And that the native Irish had all the bad land (guess who grabbed the good land), where only the potato crop could grow and could grow 2 or 3 times a year.

[@Dreyno]

@@malahammerYou can’t grow potatoes 2 or 3 times a year. Not in Ireland and probably not anywhere. You can grow early and main crop varieties. But mostly it was one main crop of Lumper potatoes.

[@blvck5943]

I heard about this part of history and was looking for a video on it. Thanks for saving me 5 minutes

[@SolarPodcast]

Cry harder.

[@maithilibhate6149]

Thanks for sharing this info, I've been trying to find accurate resources to study about Ireland's history including the impact of British occupation and colonization. So if you have any recommendations, do let me know...thanks.

[@pageturner2958]

Learning about the potato famine in US elementary schools: "Wow, what a horrible situation to occur" Learning about the potato famine when you are older: "What in the actual world..."

[@jamiegreenberg8476]

i didnt learn about the potato famine until middle school and it wasnt even in class- it was from instagram

[@Dazzlefisher]

We never mention it in French school, which makes sense since it doesn’t affect us much but it’s still sad to skip it

[@pageturner2958]

@@Dazzlefisher Yeah, probably the only reason American schools mention it is because of the immigration that was caused by it if I am going to be completely honest

[@sor3999]

Right, should've called it genocide because that's what it was.

[@TunaBear64]

​​@@sor3999The British attempting an Irish genocide? Typical Britain

[@TheNovaChronicles]

Gotta love when the solution to a crisis is to tax the people affected by the crisis to "help them"

[@raunakrai_10]

The british are notorious for that in India and south Africa as well

[@bluedragontoybash2463]

sounds awfully familiar

[@TunaBear64]

Because it wasn't a crisis, but a genocide, the British wanted Ireland to starve and disappear, less land for the non-british, more land for the British.

[@dustyhedger380]

Carbon tax anyone ?

[@UncleJoeHikes]

The irony being this story abruptly left-turns to Climate Change at the 4:11 mark which is essentially just that.

[@niamhbrunell]

Key to remember is that Ireland always had food during the famine. As your video pointed out, we produced plenty, but were forced to export it. People protested and begged and tried to rob food storeages at the time. Despite the obvious suffrage of the Irish people, the British Crown ignored improving things for the Irish. Their attitude was of complete indifference. They allowed Irish people to starve, nay encouraged it. This occurred while also anglosising our culture and carrying out a variety of other forms of oppresion. The famine is therefore seen by Irish people as a genocide and rightly so. Whole families were wiped out forever. All of which is far less palatable a reality than merely an agricultural misfortune.

[@JamieMcFly3]

I always saw the Irish Potato famine as just a country that underwent an agricultural misfortune, as you say. However, this video made me realize that it truly was a genocide. More people should become more aware of this so that these wrongdoings aren't done again.

[@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208]

Isn't it happening again now , in Gaza?

[@_blank-_]

​@@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208 And the UK is still on the wrong side of history.

[@user-4m9-dr80h4]

​@@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208 Absolutely: *Quran 9:29* "Fight against those who do not believe in Allāh" *Quran 8:12* "I shall cast t____r into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike them upon the necks" *Quran 3:151* “We will cast t____r into the hearts of those who have denied the Truth *Quran 9:111* “Allah has indeed purchased from the believers their lives and wealth in exchange for Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah and k__ or be k____.” *Quran 9:123* “Believers! Fight against the disbelievers who are near to you; and let them find harshness in you. Know that Allah is with the God-fearing. O ye who believe!”

[@mozi3051]

You truly understand occupation and its tertiary effects.

[@diomuda7903]

Back in 1944-45, northern Vietnam was struck with a devastating famine that killed two million and it was done by the Japanese and the French, altogether, to exploit our paddy fields. The Irish famine tragedy really struck hard to me, for how eerily similar the British tactics was to that of Japan and France to our unfortunate people.

[@bondrewdthelordofdawn3744]

The whole eastern and South eastern Asia suffer from Japan occupation

[@BbcBcc-gs1qw]

Entire African continent, British raj and British malay also suffered from British colonization, sometimes much worser than that of Japanese(e.g. Bengal famine) Stop scapegoating English disgraceful behaviour by quoting Japanese warcrime literally EVERYTIME you guys talk about ur own sh*t

[@diomuda7903]

@@BbcBcc-gs1qw So every famine is British made, ignoring that not all famines were British. Why do you have to impose your viewpoint? You psychopath.

[@kotenoklelu3471]

During WW2 in my region there was also famine due to draught and mismanagement of local authorities (14-26% of population died).

[@cpj93070]

@@BbcBcc-gs1qw Britain just rules end off, Do you ever think why God punished everyone else but not the English?

[@SteveDavison-mj7lo]

During the fammine my people of the Choctaw nation helped the people of Ireland and my father whos irish from Munster met my native American Choctaw mum when he came to visit my cousin is Gary Batton hes the 47th chief of the Choctaw nation 😊

[@seanmccann8368]

And the Choctaws haven't been forgotten for their kindness.

[@williamdolan3599]

The Irish reciprocated when Covid struck the Choctaw. The tribe never forgets decent honorable people. God bless the Choctaw nation members

[@Extremelychubbyglutton]

It’s insane to think about how much of a food surplus we have in the West, when many people in lower income countries couldn’t even eat a 6th of the amount that the average person here eats per day.

[@poenpotzu2865]

That's capitalism and neo colonialism in a nutshell. Fabricated scarcity and control.

[@Extremelychubbyglutton]

@@poenpotzu2865 Well said.

[@djdjdjshhsuss3941]

​@@poenpotzu2865that's just a whole other level of dumbing a problem down.

[@miguelpadeiro762]

​@@poenpotzu2865Also the fact that western countries have a more agreeable weather/enviroment compared to Middle Eastern and African nations and saids nations have higher populations in a lesser developed enviroment, which only makes the disadvantageous weather (which includes droughts, etc) even more problematic to handle and survive We can blame this lack of development on neocolinalism/capitalism, but it's not like the west is exploiting the 'third world's' crops for their own benifits like the British did with their colonies. Infact, said agriculture-friendly enviroment has made several western nations breadbaskets of the world, such as the US and Ukraine.

[@Ruhee27]

Huh west would have surplus because the countries u call lower income are now lower income because of west

[@avevee9708]

I didn’t know the part about the exporting… that’s horrible. They had food, but they literally couldn’t eat it because their government said they weren’t important.

[@Dreyno]

Ireland was a net exporter of food for every year of the famine. It was also a net contributor to the British exchequer for every year of the famine as well.

[@williamdolan3599]

Just Goggle the food that was sent to England from Ireland during the famine.

[@rosscooper7778]

Not our government, the British

[@gabrielfinneran3611]

And the UK blockaded fishing grounds so those near coasts couldn't fish

[@Relatedonthate]

Because the British government wanted them dead so they could continue to take their land. It was a land grab and a genocide. My g grandmother fled with her brother to the US and I am grateful for that otherwise I would not be here for sure

[@Sunflowersarepretty]

Our planet is abundant in resources. Its human greed and selfishness that so many have to pay the price for.

[@jeffreygao3956]

Don’t be a misanthrope!

[@Echo81Rumple83]

Greed needs to be defined as a mental illness in the next DSM.

[@andieallison6792]

My maternal great-grandparents immigrated to Canada and then moved down to the US during the potato famine. We have documents and papers that show where they resided at the time (Castlegregory), what ship they were on and when they landed, it's so depressing and fascinating at the same time!

[@Dreyno]

Castlegregory is a nice part of the world.

[@xdani_thethinkingneko]

That is so cool. My family did the same thing! We originally immigrated to Nova Scotia, and then came down to Massachusetts, and some of us ended up in Connecticut where I am now. A few of us did come through Ellis island, but the majority of my family came through Nova Scotia. Especially the Family I’m directly descended from. It’s nice to hear that other people still have the paperwork, and the pictures potentially related to this. My family still has that stuff too. 😊

[@user-zf3xb3qx8w]

@@xdani_thethinkingneko Canadian ship landings, mainly Cunard Lines, are archived in Ottawa as a matter of record, as long as the people were aboard and recorded legally. Records are very accurate.

[@keelahrose]

I feel comfortable fully blaming the British for this historical tragedy.

[@davidthomas967]

It’s 180 years ago, time to move on

[@abdulsalamadamu3918]

​@@davidthomas967easy for you to say. But if we were talking about an ottoman atrocity from way past, would you say the same?

[@EternalMuscovite]

​@@abdulsalamadamu3918depends if the stance has changed

[@cloudythewolf5449]

​Yes

[@iqrakhalidzakariah4842]

Im from Pakistan and,yes. Yes to everything.

[@gourabchakraborty2209]

Hello Ted Ed. Please do the story of the Bengal famine. How the starvation, desperation, and british apathy has scarred the subcontinent cannot be understated .

[@phoque121]

How many people would Bangladesh have if it had only half of the population it had in the 1850s, like Ireland?

[@DETROPY]

@@phoque121 The Bengal famine took place in the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh.

[@dhanvi-shah]

There's a novel showing how life was back then called 'Under the Hawthorn Tree' if anyone wants to read about it

[@michellebermingham2350]

My children read that novel in primary school. An accurate account of the suffering and death from starvation. 😢

[@marke4576]

Love it. Dan: Peace to this house, and all who live within it.

[@taral5856]

My family was one that had to flee during the famine. I'll never forget my roots and will forever respect my great-great grandparents for not only surviving the famine but also the death ships and the discrimination

[@LuckyErmine]

As someone who has Irish Ancestry, I am great full to the Choctaw tribe for the donation.

[@taraotoolemattson289]

Was the Choctaw tribe~how very kind if them.

[@LuckyErmine]

@@taraotoolemattson289 oh, sorry.

[@be_al]

Shoutout to those resilient Irish families and the living ones today!

[@James-hu9ki]

Let’s not forget how other countries were reluctant to even provide relief, as to not upstage the British response. For example, Sultan Abdülmedjid pledged £10,000 (over a million today) but upon hearing Queen Victoria sent £2000, he reduced his donation to £1000, out of diplomatic politesse.

[@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208]

The British asked him to reduce it so as not to embarrass the Queen.

[@TheSourKnight]

He also sent several ships full of food to make up for it.

[@Pizza23333]

Incorrect. There is no evidence he reduced, asked to reduce or sent ships of food. All of those are just mindlessly repeated by people who have never once provided credible evidence of such.

[@zelbi]

​@@Pizza23333apakah anda hidup pada zaman itu???

[@Pizza23333]

@@zelbi That's a silly question. Historians have repeatedly pointed out the lack of evidence, if not outright debunked the claims made. The Irish famine is actually fairly notorious for the amount of disinformation provided relative to the corresponding evidence. We can literally trace the story of the Ottoman Sultan and how it originally transformed from Queen Victoria donating to a dog shelter. It simply isn't true.

[@jonathanneal1319]

I remember reading "A Modest Proposal" in grade school. My first exposure to satire, but it was centered around the British government's failures. "Angela's Ashes" also alludes to it as well.

[@monkeykingeater]

"A Modest Proposal" was written before an Gorta Mór. Hunger was not new to Ireland, nor was British indifference to it. In fact there was a famine in the mid 18th century, a few decades after "A Modest Proposal" was published, where a higher proportion of the population died than in 1845-52.

[@A190xx]

The history is deliberately miss told today. The British government included Irish MPs and it was custom not to interfere in domestic matters. Irish landlords were the villains and it is conveniently forgotten that famines were common before 1801 due to systemic poor landlords. Indeed Britain resolved the problem following the famines that followed the Act of Union so they never happened again and Irish landlords lost their control.

[@anasshahbaz4573]

The Ottoman Empire originally tried to send 10,000 pounds sterling in assistance to the Irish people, but the British government forced them to lower this amount to 1,000 (to ensure, apparently, that their aid did not overshadow England’s 2,000 pound contribution). While there is documented evidence of this monetary contribution, there is no set proof of an additional physical contribution: 3 ships of food, bound from the Ottoman Empire to Ireland, supposedly snuck past the blocked ports of Dublin and Belfast and delivered their cargo to the town of Drogheda. In gratitude, the modern Coat of Arms of the town contains a star and crescent symbol on the top.Phytophthora infestans was a disease (originally from Mexico, actually, that travelled to Europe via boat) that devastated crops in Ireland from 1845 to 1852. A million people died of starvation or disease, and two million more immigrated to other countries. Ireland lost ¼ of its entire population.

[@NeonChaabi]

Yeah they dont want to show that part

[@vatsal7640]

" overshadowed by England's 2000 pounds". That was queen Victoria, not the entire England. The largest donation to Ireland actually came from England. More specifically various charitable organizations.

[@vatsal7640]

​​@@NeonChaabiprobably cause it isn't true

[@NeonChaabi]

@@vatsal7640 well it is, and you can find many signs of gratitude in Ireland to the ottomans

[@Buttercup697]

@@NeonChaabiask the Greeks how they feel about the Ottomans… I can’t imagine they did this as a deed of good will… there must have been something political about that gesture, to embarrass the English for helping Greece rid the scrurge of Turkey from Greek lands.

[@ridwanhossain4421]

I always feel close to ireland in terms of colonial rule and oppression. We had to face same type of famine in Bangla during the british occupation in late 1800. It also stemmed from heavy taxes and jeer.

[@robynbrowne1277]

typical british

[@Aurorr]

Oh , The Bengal Famine 😢

[@A190xx]

India kingdoms had suffered famines every few years prior to the arrival of the British and the princes often did nothing. Britain brought modern farming, education and equality, so famines reduced to become unusual events, albeit not wiped out. Nationalist historians quote the few famines since British rule, but ignore the hundreds before.

[@A190xx]

​@Aurorr This was 1943 and due to WW2. Due to British farming technology, famines went from every few years to rare events, which made this the first famine in decades. The war problems caused the famines, but unlike those before the British arrival, it was short and resolved by the British commonwealth with food from Australia. Previously the local Prince might simply let the people starve.

[@murdermittensnyc]

Theres also a bigger reason the blight wiped out entire crops, the Irish grew only a few types of potatoes. That’s what the British (navy if i remember) would buy. So that’s what farmers grew. Diversified food or even diversified potato plants would have kept the blight at bay. One bad year became many because the next planting season even more land was dedicated to the crop (that would fail again … and again). Those potato varieties had been good crops so they kept doubling down hoping to dig out of a hole to disastrous consequences. In conversations with an agricultural biochemist i learned that that same blight is still around and still impacts potato crops but farmers who plant a variety of potato types survive it.

[@Vegie007]

Please remember that the understanding of farming today compared to 200 years ago is very different. Modern wide scale farmers can use accuarte weather preedictions, drone imagery and modern funigalicides to prevent this blight. Horticultural scientists understand how to cross breed plants or splice desired genes to train for resistance but that was impossible to even understand for an uneducated farmer living at the poverty line.

[@Dreyno]

Diversified potato drops would’ve kept the blight at bay? How? Blight resistant potatoes have been bred by scientists in the last half century. Any inherent blight resistance in the 19th century was marginal at best and unlikely to have been of any benefit due to the complete lack of chemicals to combat it. And as for diversified crops? That shows a complete misunderstanding of why people were so reliant on potatoes in the first place. You could not grow enough calories in any other crop. Anything you planted was taking up valuable ground that could’ve been growing potatoes. So yes, you could’ve grown an acre of oats but it wouldn’t have kept you alive for very long. It seems there’s always people finding reasons it was the fault of the Irish that they starved. Also, the blight which caused it (Herb-1) has been classed as extinct over the past decade. Another blight called US-1 had been misidentified as the culprit and is still around.

[@h00liganismo1]

And do you think these tenant farmers had any choice over which varieties of potatoes they grew? Short answer: no. The British controlled everything in and out of Ireland, just as Israel with Gaza today.

[@Wasserkaktus]

This is exactly why world banana stocks are screwed because they are almost all clones of Cavendish.

[@beback8226]

The British didn't buy our potatoes they were for consumption, the British took over Ireland and installed British planters on all the good land forcing the natives into artificially created destitution The British nobles who owned the main land sold their crops abroad for a good price

[@cronnyberg]

I come from an industrial city in the north of the UK, with lots of Irish heritage on all sides of my family tree, including a Cork-ish surname. Absolutely unsurprisingly, you can trace back in various directions, and find someone who came over from Ireland in the late 1840s. It's honestly like 4 different family branches, and that's just me. I'm sure there are millions of similar stories in family trees across the world. Crazy the effect this blight had on history, and the more you learn about it, the more upsetting it gets.

[@michellebermingham2350]

The blight was one thing but the shipping of all of irelands bounty to England was indeed GENOCIDE 😢

[@msjennifer6119]

The Irish Potato Genocide

[@aleksandarvil5718]

British-made *"Genocide by Hunger"*

[@Neophlegm]

@@aleksandarvil5718 Even Irish historians reject this terminology (e.g. prof Cormac Ó Gráda)

[@peteraston4753]

The blighted potatoe,s came from America sent via hamburg to england and was rejected and sent back to hamburg and then brought by greedy irish landowners

[@phwbooth]

The Irish Famine of 1740-1741 (Irish: Bliain an Áir, meaning the Year of Slaughter) in the Kingdom of Ireland, is estimated to have killed between 13% and 20% of the 1740 population of 2.4 million people, which was a proportionately greater loss than during the Great Famine of 1845-1852. (Cathal Póirtéir)

[@majzzz786]

YOU FORGOT TO MENTION ! One of the unexpected sources of aid in this crisis was the Ottoman Caliphate. How an Ottoman Sultan helped Ireland in the great famine. Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majeed the 1st went out of his way to try to help, so he could ease the suffering of the Irish people. Sultan Abdul Majeed was only 23 years old in 1847, when he personally offered £10,000 in aid to Ireland, but this time he would have to scale back his generosity. British diplomats advised him that it would be offensive for anyone to offer more than Queen Victoria, who had only donated £2,000. It was suggested that he should donate half of that amount so he gave £1,000. The press also blamed the British diplomats in Constantinople for rejecting the initial donation of £10,000 just to avoid embarrassing Queen Victoria. Meanwhile, Sultan Abdul Majeed had found other ways to help. Today, the port town of Drogheda in Ireland includes a crescent and a star, both of which are symbols of Islam, in its coat of arms. Local tradition in the town has it that these symbols were adopted after the Ottoman Empire secretly sent five ships loaded with food to the town in May 1847. The reason for the secrecy is that the British administration had allegedly tried to block the ships from entering Drogheda's harbor. Evidence that backs these claims include newspaper articles from the period and a letter from Irish notables explicitly thanking the sultan for his generosity and help. Facts

[@Pizza23333]

They didn’t forget to mention it. Most of what you said was completely untrue. The Ottoman Sultan sent £1,000. That we have evidence for. Everything else? False. Drogheda had had a crescent as its symbol for hundreds of years prior to the famine and the only ships on record at the time entering the port were British owned and operated. So, yea. Don’t just blindly believe rumours.

[@davidpryle3935]

Which “Irish notables” signed this letter of thanks to the Ottoman sultan ?

[@angelcoyote9802]

It wasn’t a famine. It was Genocide by the British.

[@Pizza23333]

Weird how the vast vast majority of historians disagree with you then, isn’t it?

[@imtiyazlatoo3001]

English

[@verenamaharajah6082]

Genocide is a deliberate , intentioned plan of action. The British government had no intention of killing millions of Irish people. So you can’t call it genocide. It was much more a case of indifference and the landowners wanting to continue making profits from their exports and turning a blind eye to the sufferings of the poor, which at that time was a common attitude all over the world and frankly, still is. In the 70’s when Ethiopia was experiencing a terrible famine, I was shocked to see in our local market, a 12 foot high stack of fresh corn cobs from Ethiopia! So food was still being produced there but it was clearly being exported.

[@40ouncemind]

@@verenamaharajah6082 They even say British politicians purposefully blocked efforts to supply aid. I mean… it says it all. There

[@eoinflannery1894]

​@verenamaharajah6082 it clearly was deliberate. They took the food from the people straving they knew they were killing Irish. It is well-known the English wanted to colonise ireland

[@3oddsocks47]

It is amazing to see a real video about critical points in our history. This is quite relevent to today’s society with many countries facing the same horrifying prospects due to the climate change and war. The detail in this video is incredible and puts my history to the test😂

[@burtdeernie]

I thought it was the climate alarmists ban on the use of fertilizers that was causing issues. Look at India, Pakistan and Holland.

[@SteveJian]

As a Taiwanese, I can't imagine what it would be like to eat potato as staple food. Mostly, we process potatoes into bagged chips and French fries, which are welcomed by the young but not by the old. We also use potato as seasonings and side dishes, but we don't eat much. I heard that people in other countries would eat mashed potato. Is that tasty? I'm sure it would bring "special" texture...

[@theshlauf]

Mashed potatoes are delicious! Especially with salt, butter, gravy or cheese. If you ever get to try it, don't expect it to taste like french fries or potato chips. It's more like a starchy, kind of nutty, salty, airy, creamy dish that pairs well with meat and vegetables.

[@melaniey.5596]

Oh! Potatoes have a very neutral flavor, so they go well with almost everything as the most filling part of the meal (the rice for example). One very popular local dish that uses potatoes is “papa a la huancaina”, baked potatoes eaten with a chili and fresh cheese made cream.

[@Caprisunss]

in Ireland we have potato bread, it is incredible

[@Quinton_ovo_]

Potato is hardly different from rice or bread tbh

[@gaeig]

As an Indian, it's very interesting to hear that. Even though potatoes were only discovered by spanish/Portuguese colonizers in 16th century ig it's a staple of indian cusine along with other new world vegetables like capsicums, chilies and TOMATOES! Seriously all modern curries have one or the new vegetable in them and so many others I probably think are native to Eurasia. Idk much about authentic east asian cuisine but I thought chilies and capsicums are an integral part of taiwanese and chinese cuisine so it interests why potatoes weren't accepted

[@arrowguy0226]

There was never a famine. It was the British oppressing the Irish. It's not accurate to call it the Irish potato famine

[@mrslinkydragon9910]

But it was a famine

[@CuongHoang-iu5sg]

a British-made famine

[@PineappleOnPizza69]

​@@CuongHoang-iu5sgso technically it was a genocide?

[@mrslinkydragon9910]

@PineappleOnPizza69 no. Genocide has a specific definition. "the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group." Where as famine is greed and lack of action

[@spacenerd113]

@@mrslinkydragon9910 A passive-aggressive genocide it is then

[@amarantahh93]

It's an amazing video as always ❤ Extra history has a mini series talking about the famine as well, if you're looking more info about it.

[@sanityforall4021]

It was a great video, until it started spewing the fake climate change idiocy.

[@ganaspin]

Extra history videos on this topic were simply amazing!

[@geraldwilson681]

My father's mother's mom was born in County Clare and her maiden last name was Boland and she left Ireland during the Great Famine and came here to America 🇺🇸🇮🇪 and watching this makes my heart break!!😢

[@TheMoonEcat]

This famine is partly why my great grandma was in the USA. The family was on their way when her mother went into labor, giving birth to her. She drank like a fish. Even in her 80s, she was known to sneak out of the house only to be wheelbarrowed home totally smashed, complaining of the shame of being Irish born in London.

[@Gillemear]

The Penal laws basically ensured that Ireland largely became a single crop dependent society. Part of these laws was that land had to be divided amongst the sons of a family. Within three generations, farms were so small they were unsustainable unless they were sold or the potato was grown there. So, the potato was not a choice of the Irish, but a necessity. Coupled with that,after the Famine, Irish agitators worked by various passive and aggressive means to return the control and ownership of the land to the Irish people which a generation later lead to the struggle of Independence and finally the Irish state we have today. So the next time you hear an Irish potato joke, just try to remember that without it, there would be no Ireland

[@hembrom_a._ankit]

Today, I have learned something new about history although it was sad but the help from different places was very kind to know. I hope whenever there's tough times someone should help out just in a similar way in future.

[@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208]

In Gaza now.

[@marke4576]

You really haven't because there was no potato famine.

[@susanr5546]

I am 50% Irish from the Munster area, and though I have not found the evidence yet of when my father's family came to the U.S., I am reasonably sure that some of my ancestors came to America as a result of the famine. I also believe that the famine and all the discrimination and cruelty led to "The Troubles" that plagued Ireland for years. I am also impressed that the Choctaw Nation sent money to help the Irish and the Irish returned the favor so generously during Covid. Honorable people, the Choctaw's.

[@MWhaleK]

One thing that is rarely mentioned that I remember hearing? Is that not long before famine the Irish were more or less forced to switch to a different breed of potato that was had more water in it and I think was less resistant to the blight, also the Irish didn't have the ability to grow more than one breed of potato which could have allowed a back up crop when the blight spread.

[@Dreyno]

There wasn’t effectively blight resistant potato varieties. It’s likely all varieties would’ve been wiped out at the time.

[@barbar2090]

I am a teacher in the west of Ireland. “An Gorta Mór” or “The Great Famine” is a topic I teach. It is one I teach through the lens of objective truth: it was a genocide through both act (e.g the shutting down of the Quakers soup kitchens/workhouses/continuous export of Irish food/famine roads/higher taxes etc.) and omission. It is important to realise this.

[@A190xx]

Then you are perpetuating hate in a false premise and half truths. The genocide was my Irish landlords on the Irish people. If you read before 1801, you will see they did this many times, but could not blame Britain. And after, you will see Britain ended it. The same Britain that included Irish MPs.

[@johnclarity]

Absolute ahistory. Go read the actual words, actions, and policies of Trevelyan, Wood, Russell, and Gregory at the time.

[@aravindkrishna1751]

British did the same to India. Bengal famine was artificially created by Churchill. He exported all the grain from Bengal to beef up buffer stock in England , at a time when people were dying on the streets.

[@seanmccann8368]

Same in Persia (Iran) during WW2

[@A190xx]

It's not true. Famines in the Indian kingdoms were common and largely extinguished by Britain with modern farming technology. The Bengal famine was remarkable for that reason and solely due to the world war occurring at the time. Unlike during the pre British era though, the famine was relieved by the British empire quickly with food from Australia.

[@maddyg3208]

Mr S. Bose''s good mates the Jaoanese invading Burma and cutting off Bengal's rice supply had a lot to do with the famine

[@debangana9964]

@@maddyg3208 we wouldn't need Burma had the British crown decided to mind it's own business and not commit genocide after genocide afer genocide

[@cpj93070]

@@debangana9964 Love it, blame everything on the British right, do you ever wonder why Britain was never punished for it's empire?

[@fernquiroz]

The primary factor influencing these weather conditions was a phenomenon called the "North Atlantic Oscillation" (NAO), which refers to the changes in atmospheric pressure and wind patterns occurring in the North Atlantic Ocean. The NAO can fluctuate between two phases: positive and negative. During the negative phase, Ireland typically experiences wetter and stormier conditions due to the prevalence of low-pressure systems and enhanced westerly winds. The period from 1845 to 1852 coincided with an extended negative phase of the NAO, resulting in prolonged wet and damp weather conditions across the country. It's believed that the impact of the blight on the Irish potato crop during the Great Irish Famine could have been reduced if farmers had cultivated a greater variety of potato types. The famine was primarily caused by an outbreak of late blight (Phytophthora infestans), a devastating fungal disease that specifically targeted the Irish potato crop, which was predominantly comprised of a single susceptible variety called the Irish Lumper. The Irish Lumper variety was particularly vulnerable to the late blight pathogen, and its widespread cultivation across Ireland made the entire crop susceptible to the disease. Had farmers instead grown a more diverse range of potato varieties, including both early and late-maturing types, the impact of the blight would have likely been lessened. The reliance on the Irish Lumper as a staple crop was a result of various factors. The Irish Lumper was particularly well-suited to the Irish climate and soil conditions, making it easier to cultivate in large quantities. It was also regarded as a hardy and high-yielding variety. 0ver-reliance on a single variety of potato, such as the Irish Lumper, made Ireland's agriculture extremely vulnerable to disease and pests. The range of potato varieties grown could have helped mitigate the impact of the blight on Ireland's population. By cultivating different potato varieties, farmers could have potentially mitigated the effects of the blight. Early-maturing varieties, for example, could have been harvested before the blight had a chance to take hold, providing some food security. Additionally, late-maturing varieties may have been more resistant or tolerant to the blight, reducing the overall impact on the crop. Growing a variety of potato types would have helped to diversify the genetic makeup of the potato crop, making it less susceptible to mass outbreaks of diseases like late blight. Disease resistance can vary among different potato varieties, allowing for natural defense mechanisms against specific pathogens.

[@impish_snake3526]

Or, and hear me out because this is cRaZy…the English could have stopped forcibly importing ALL of Ireland’s other crops.

[@Dreyno]

Is there any evidence that there were other varieties which had a meaningful and inherent resistance to blight? Seeing as the particular strain of blight (Herb-1) is now extinct, how is it possible to do more than guess? And seeing as effectively blight resistant varieties had to be created by scientists in the last half century, how can you say that varieties that existed at the time offered any more than extremely marginal improvements in resistance? Furthermore, even blight resistant varieties today often require chemicals to prevent blight infestation. Chemicals which didn’t exist in the 1840s. Why must we always be subjected to people misapplying facts to find a way to blame the Irish themselves? You’ve said the same thing multiple times worded slightly different and there isn’t a lick of evidence to back it up. It sounds plausible but it doesn’t stand up to any sort of logic. The simple fact is that if not a single potato was harvested, Ireland was producing enough food to feed itself and yet a famine occurred.

[@debangana9964]

or the british could have stopped committing genocide in Ireland and other countries - some not even affected by 'weather patterns'

[@theonlyalys]

I learnt about in in last years history class even though it was an extremely brief mention, but it holds a great significance in the globalization phenomenon and reflects one of its great dangers and that was enough for me to click on this video and learn more.

[@ureshauresha6408]

After reading The hunger by Caroline Drinkwater I came to watch this video it's truly devastating how inhuman some people can be 💔

[@iqrakhalidzakariah4842]

The hunger? By Caroline drinkwater??

[@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208]

And now it's happening in Gaza

[@mestre12]

For what heard. Because of this event, Ireland is a country the help the most other countries when famime hit them

[@damtan6286]

I remember that Queen Victoria at the time donated £2000 (which is a lot at the time but not enough) and blocked any donation that might surpass her, like the ottoman sultan at the time who donated £1000, ships full of food, and other necessities.

[@holyday5853]

Corruption, ignorance, greed, apathy is a disastrous mix in leaders (of all social institutions) then and now!

[@tlielthuddab9693]

Am I the only one that was reminded of Boris Johnson's feeling that COVID-19 was Nature's (God's?) way of dealing with old people? Great video! Being an old cynic, I'm afraid I don't share your optimism for better and fairer treatment in this day and age...

[@rf6497]

And Donald's trumps bleech idea

[@Adi-8529]

Excellent video, dark but excellent. Suggestion- an episode on the series of famines in India under the British colonial rule, especially the devastating Bengal famine (& the colonial government’s handling)

[@Mummyjen2012]

My great great grandfather fled northwestern Ireland during the famine, to Glasgow where he married a Glaswegian and had 5 children..the conditions were still really awful in Glasgow back then apparently ..but not as life threatening as it was in Ireland. my great grandfather (his son, who I was fortunate enough to meet when I was tiny!) and my great aunts and uncles had awful lung damage from pollution in the Glasgow poor areas but they all moved to England and lived into old age. Irish Great great grandad died in a ‘poorhouse’ in Glasgow in his 40s which by todays standards is very young, his wife died in her 40s too orphaning my then teenage great grandad and his young siblings at the time. It’s sad to think about how they must have suffered in those days compared to how fortunate we are now but I bet he thought he’d lived a long life compared to those back home in Ireland…I try to see it as though he was one of the lucky ones.

[@fleurin6789]

i love the animation of this one!

[@THall-vi8cp]

1) Genetically, potatoes in Europe are weak: when the Spanish brought potatoes back, the sample size was very small, genetically speaking. This made the susceptible to disease since the crops lacked the genetics to adapt. 2) When the blight hit, the English basically said, "We aren't going without. You, however, can fend for yourselves."

[@Alepfi5599]

Ireland's population still hasn't risen back to the pre famine level today.

[@shilpaarya5703]

We read a poem titled At a Potato Digging which was about the Irish famine in high school.

[@Mary-J-OK]

I believe my ancestors on both sides left Ireland during this time. At this point, I have little faith in the world's governments to take action to prevent these things from repeating. They are more interested in profiting from global conflicts and selling arms to both sides!

[@drunkpunkrat5764]

"Never again should a people starve in a world of plenty."

[@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208]

And yet , the people of Gaza are dying of starvation now and the lorry loads of food waiting to get in , but the Zionists won't let them in , it's deliberate genocide through starvation.

[@williamdolan3599]

They did not starve…they were starved

[@FardinArnob]

Ted ed pls do a video on what really caused the Bengal famine in South Asian continent

[@aaronargottelopez3488]

Thanks for the subtitles

[@sevynsmanyart7242]

I love the animations this made me interested in history

[@ohjoelle9614]

I think this video was very informative. I've always heavily been interested in famines, and Ted Ed is always the place to go. It motivates me to write after watching Silvia Plath videos or Victoria Woolf. It helps me study. Ted Ed I am your STAN

[@semih3043]

The Ottoman Empire 🇹🇷 wanted to help Irish people. But since the help was a lot more than the queen made, the queen didn't allow them. So the ottoman empire made a small money aid and secretly sent ships to Ireland. Today you can see the Turkish flag's crescent and star on the Drogheda United football team football team logo. ⭐🌙

[@Oreosmilkshake]

Dont care abt filtjy turks

[@davidpryle3935]

The star and crescent has been on the Drogheda town crest since the town was founded in the 1200s, 600 years before the famine.

[@Konoronn]

Why would the Ottomans suddenly gain a conscience when they never showed in any other situation?

[@alfrancisbuada2591]

A very dark page in Irish History. Thank You for sharing it with us.

[@mecahhannah]

❤Awesome as always thanks

[@liamjones7857]

As a British person I'm disgusted in the acts of our government which was responsible for so many Irish lives. And I'm sad to say our corrupt government hasn't changed much to this day. But the government don't speak for the people. The people of the u.k are much like anywhere else. Some are nice and some are not. But we're definitely not all in agreement with our governments policies

[@russellmcdonald1964]

No reference to volcanic eruptions on the other side of the world that set off the wet weather?

[@PrashanthSadashivan]

And a hundred years later, there was the Bengal Famine (modern day West Bengal and Bangladesh) at the peak of WW2 which killed 3 million+ under Churchill's watch.

[@user-il9rq1mu7o]

Yeah i could agree that is used this video for my kids in my class, then enjoyed it.

[@user-bp4nv3qp4d]

Marvelous animation 💚🤍🧡

[@raghvendra6868]

Why does Tedx or anybody else create a video, educating the world about how policies by the UK politicians created a famine in Bengal, in the modern day India and Bangladesh!!

[@Mentallyunstableflop]

Mawnontor. It was terrifying, my grandfather was alive during that time and told me about it.

[@Anthonyonlineclass]

Thanks for sharing❤

[@ieatbananaskins7926]

Charles Trevelyan doesnt get nearly as much hate as he deserves

[@MrGamerCaptain]

man this kinda fills me with despair. i can only hope the political will to make the world better gets stronger, but it's hard to see that happening with the ageing population.

[@generalramgaming6370]

During the Irish Potato Famine the British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel of the British Tories(Conservatives) tried to implement reforms on the starving Irish population however it cost him to lose support from his party the Tories and distancing him due to his policies on helping the Irish population and splinter group called the Peelites(Which was named after Sir Robert Peel) broke off the Tories which caused infighting between the two factions which led the Whigs(Proto-Liberals predecessor to the Liberal party of the UK) manage to have Sir John Russell to have his premier ship as Prime Minister due to policy failures from both parties of the British Empire the Irish were left to die due to starvation most Irish people immigrated to the United States while some Immigrated to Mainland Europe in the aftermath of the Irish potato famine Ireland's population has not recovered from 8 million pre-famine to 4 million im the aftermath but in Modern Day Ireland the population hasn't recovered from that era.

[@jezalb2710]

Ireland as a whole island. Now the population is split between the Republic and NI

[@generalramgaming6370]

@@jezalb2710 there was a reason in the Early 20th century The Home Rule Bill was introduced in the British Parliament which divided Ireland further between the Unionist of Northern Ireland and the people of Southern Ireland but Home Rule had to be on hold due to the First World War that erupted in 1914 most people in Ireland wanted to fight to achieve independence while some planned for an uprising which happened in 1916 the Easter Rising which was brutally suppressed by the British Army and executed the leaders of the uprising against British Rule which sparked the Irish People in southern Ireland not supporting the war effort except for Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the First World War the British government decided to put an end of the Irish War for independence into negotiations between Sinn Fein and the British government Partitioning the Ireland between Northern Ireland which remains Loyal towards to the British government and Southern Ireland which is the Irish Free State as a dominion towards to the British Empire but Pro-Treaty Sinn Fein led by Michael Collins manage to win seats in the Dail(which is the Irish Parliament) but the Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein led by Eamon Delvelera left the Sinn Fein which Fractured between the two groups which can lead to the Irish Civil War between the Free state and Anti-Treaty IRA and in the Aftermath of the Civil War two factions in Sinn Fein renamed themselves.Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein renamed Fianna Fail and the Pro treaty Sinn Fein Cumann Na Ngaedheal which later become Fine Gael which set the stones of the Modern Political parties of Ireland

[@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208]

Thank you for this info.

[@rera1386]

Rip to all those affected and to Thomas Malone… what a man 🫡😞

[@tj3952]

can someone point to me to where I could find more information about Thomas Malone who commuted 18 miles a day to work? This is my first time hearing about the story and now I'm invested.

[@skybluskyblueify]

I thought at the time they thought it was a fungus but now we know it is an oomycete, a kingdom Chromista organism. It looks like it split off before there were actual fungal organisms and is more closely related to algae?

[@FullBodySlam]

Shh, they don't know what oomycetes are.

[@dimamatat5548]

A reminder that the fungus that started the whole thing still exists...

[@marymcnabb7149]

My Great Grandparents arrived in the US during the this time to work on a farm. Seven years brought them some rocky Missouri Ozark farmland. A creek full of lead and cancer.

[@dejected107]

The lesson to take away from this is the importance of controlling the land and trade in ones own country.

[@Piratewaffle43]

England does it again!

[@mrslinkydragon9910]

A quick correction, phytophora is an oocyte not a fungus

[@HoangMinh-pb7gd]

The video remind me of the Vietnamese Famine which was caused by the French and Japanese Army during the World War 2.

[@12roses8]

Amazing

[@Teauma]

It truly is sickening that some people still deny that colonialism is a crime against humanity. With France, England, Japan and many others, and nowadays Israël, this always means millions of innocent lives lost.

[@Konoronn]

Who denies that?

[@sapphyrus]

Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I wanted to donate 10000£ but was told by the English ambassador that he would shame Queen Victoria I who only donated 2000£ so he had to reduce it to 1000£. He ended up sending three ships on top of that with food and medicine which had to unload covertly.

[@davidpryle3935]

No, never happened.

[@sadmikewazowski7754]

​@@davidpryle3935 source?

[@davidpryle3935]

@@sadmikewazowski7754 There cannot be a source for something that DID NOT HAPPEN. The story is Fake.

[@davidpryle3935]

@@sadmikewazowski7754There cannot be a source for something that NEVER HAPPENED.

[@sadmikewazowski7754]

@@davidpryle3935 tell me why it is fake or you're lying

[@RosheenQuynh]

My heart 😢

[@ebonyblack4563]

Extra History has a short series on this topic, for those who'd like to know more.

[@reyasem]

If this happens today, the UK government would still say, "nah" and send billions of pounds to "help" other countries

[@Konoronn]

?

[@mariaguillamont1612]

It would be cool if you guys do the bengal famine next. Another famine at the hands of the British

[@shreyashvaidya2773]

Irish: **suffering from large potato famine** British: there's gonna be a tax for that

[@UghSheGiggin]

Monoculture is the real cause of the blight. When biodiversity is limited, the organism becomes more susceptible to disease. If farmers had access to more than one species of potato, it would have been less likely that a single disease would wipe out the whole crop. Monoculture is bad for the environment and for the organism being grown. Famine is man made, however. In modern times, famines are caused by the lack of access to food, not by the lack of food in general.

[@ElysiumCreator]

That specific type was the only one that could fulfill the two needs, they needs to be packed with nutrients, and grow in cramped conditions. If the British didn’t steal our land and export our other food, it wouldn’t have happened. It wasn’t our fault the British choose Genocide by Hunger

[@mrslinkydragon9910]

Look at Panama disease, same thing just with banana plantations

[@UghSheGiggin]

@@ElysiumCreator I never said it was their fault. Monoculture as a practice is at fault. It is a decision farmers make driven by economics. And back then, less was known about the need for biodiversity. However, other species of potato are just as hearty and nutritious. The cultures of the Andes have lived off of their potato crops for millenia.

[@Cuhiskh]

And in the present day, just since the turn of the 21st century, the British government has aided and abetted the deliberate starvation of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and now Gaza -- not to mention their many, many previous victims. The real blight was the English all along.

[@MD-tv5fp]

Can you make a video about what the situation would have been like if potatoes had not been introduced to Ireland in the first place?

[@dandowning5897]

In the late 1700's the population in Ireland was about 4 million. In those days infant mortality was high, everywhere in the world. When the potato became the staple crop, the Irish were more well nourished and the population exploded to about 8 million, a level unsustainable at that time. So it could be said that the famine was in part due to the success of the potato harvest.

[@entropybear5847]

Dietary boom & bust, but Irish Nationalists and American plastics need an excuse to build a flimsy victim mentality around rather than cultivate an identity that is worthy of genuine pride.

[@khoado9512]

The old Brit seems to just srcew up any countries they ever went to.

[@davidbowie5023]

Bengali famine of 1943 was certainly inspired by this genocidal Irish famine. And who did it? Britain, of course. We also thank the Choktaw and the Turks for trying to help us in this dark time. And we can also thank India for the shared tragedy.

[@michaelchong7818]

Manufactured famines are not a new thing, hence it wasn't "inspired" by the Bengal famine. It was simply standard operating procedure for Empires.

[@marjoriedrakeabdullah5208]

And the Zionists are doing it now in Gaza.

[@neerjanikhil5673]

Reminds me of the Bengal famine

[@tonypalmentera7752]

there was nothing laissez-faire about any of those policies: managed trade, taxes, workfare (type of welfare with compelled labor, often far from home, and impractical), etc...NONE of those are in any way able to be blamed on free markets.

[@jezalb2710]

Edmund Strzelecki, the man who discovered and named Mount Kościuszko in Australia, was sent to Ireland to help with relief. The British government hoped that help offered by a non Brit would be accepted by the Irish