Ireland's Holocaust

History of the Irish Starvation

The start of immigration or eviction?

During the period 1845 to 1850, blight swept over the potato crops in Northern Europe. The people of Ireland, who were forced to rely on this source for almost all of their nutritional needs, suffered far more than their neighbors who had other foods available to them. The Great Hunger in Ireland triggered by the failure of the potato crop in 1845 led to the single greatest loss of life in Europe

between the Napoleonic Wars and World War I. It was a human tragedy of appalling dimensions. The real tragedy is that this so-called "Irish Potato Famine" never should have occurred.

At the VERY LEAST one and a half million Irish starved to death and another million were forced to emigrate, food was being forcibly exported from the Island by its foreign rulers - food sufficient to feed the people several times over. This period represented the blackest days of Irish history.
The years 1995-2000 represent the Sesquicentennial of this tragedy where twenty-five percent of the population of Ireland either died of starvation or were forced to flee their homeland. Thousands upon thousands of them set sail in "coffin ships" and never arrived at their destination.
Those who did manage to survive the arduous journey, found less than a welcome on these shores. In the words of Peter Quinn: "The Irish were swiftly identified in the popular mind with poverty, disease, alcohol abuse, crime and violence - all the enduring pathologies of the urban poor. Indeed, the level of social turmoil that followed the Irish into America's cities would not be seen again for another century, until the massive exodus of African Americans from the rural South to urban North."

May the all rest in peace R.I.P

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Amazing
• grace
• ireland
• genocide
• famine
• oppression
• the
• potato
• great
• hunger
• gaelach

[aranterranting]

@lubeydoobie utter bollocks

[lubeydoobie]

@marcusantonio91 We can't forget but we should move on. Thing is Britain has not learned from these mistakes and continues this sort of thing with America in many parts of the world eg Palestine. We must make sure these stories are known if we are to have any chance to change things.

[lubeydoobie]

@lubeydoobie eventually, 26 of the Irish counties regained independence. However the 6 remaining counties were full of these scots (the scottish planters they had sent over), and these are now the 'loyalist' or protestant communty now. In the 6 remaining counties fighting continued and it wasnt for some time after the formation of Northern Ireland that Catholics gained civil rights. So basically, the english nor the loyalist of northern ireland should even be here in the first place.

[lubeydoobie]

@rmsangel242 No one hates each other per say anymore. It started hundred of years ago when Britain invaded Ireland (and Scotland). English landlords took away the land of the Irish, made them pay incredibly expensive rent for their land that they could not afford, made it illegal for Catholics to read,write, vote etc (the majority of the Irish population was and still is Catholic. Then they sent scots to Ireland (these scots were basically just their bitches) to run the land for them.

[lubeydoobie]

@aranterranting Not much, Ireland was under British rule so had nothing to with the Vatican, as Britain is Protestant. It was up to Britain to 'relieve' Ireland, they never sent for any help and just made life for the Irish much worse.

[aranterranting]

And what did the wealthy vatican do during this time???

[ron66hand]

5,500,000 is the more likely number. Records and archeaology bears this out.

[Jennylovessheba]

@rmsangel242 Britain tired to rule the world, by bullying and domineering, There was a time when it could truly be said "the sun never set on the british empire" because britain ruled over so many countries. But this was done most savagely. Ireland aside. Look how the british treated every country they envaded! Did you know When the British Armies and settlers went to australia in was BRITISH LAW! tho kill native aboriginees if they were in a group of four or more! regardless of sex or age!

[JustSomePerson888]

@rmsangel242 - it's basically about oppressing what you could call celtic peoples, Britain (in older times that included Brittany...the standing stones there linked up to the ones on what's now British mainland) would basically be like the 'legends' of Glastonbury & Merlin etc all over, if it weren't for all that Empire crap & religious rubbish that takes peoples souls away from the Earth. that said, earlier Christianity was also pagany anyway, you can tell it's nicer if you been to old haunts.

[JustSomePerson888]

@rmsangel242 - it's partly if not mostly to do with England taking Ireland in the Elizabethan reign, which is also where the Catholic & Protestant 'sectarian' issue stems from -

Henry XVIII had made the biggest split from the Roman Catholic church (in Britian / England) while retaining a Christianity in the form of Church of England, and later on the Eire occupation continued the suppression of Roman Catholicism.

See also Highland Clearances of earlier times, not specifically religious.