It also led to a huge increase in emigration with two million people fleeing the country in the search of both food and a life free from corruption. The Great Famine was a tragedy which devastated Ireland, forcing hunger to take on a new form. Hunger and starvation became the emblem of Ireland and deaths became second nature. From the 1870s onwards, Bengal in India, whom were also under rule of the British Empire,
In 1845, Ireland was hit with a devastating blight that destroyed all of its potatoes and caused more than a million people to die of starvation and disease. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as The Great Famine, was a tragic time in Irish history, lasting from 1845 - 1849. Ireland’s poor was very dependant on potatoes, so the sudden death of the potatoes devastated Ireland’s population. Ireland got almost no help from Great Britain, so it had to help itself, but it did not have the resources to do so. The famine was caused by a combination of a population explosion, the tenant farmer system, Irish dependance on a single food source, the appearance of a terrible blight, British laws, and insufficient response of the British government.
This essay will explore the causes and effects of the Irish Famine of 1845, which had great contribution to the decline in Irish population in the nineteenth century. It is based on the accounts of the Irish famine of 1845, written by Cecil Woodham-Smith and Mary E. Daly. Both authors give special attention to the population growth during the pre-famine years, regarding it as an aggravating factor contributing to the devastating power of the famine; however, they focus on distinct events and facts as for the reasons for this huge population increase. Smith gives special attention to the fact that Ireland had been oppressed by England, which kept the country in precarious situation under unfair rules and gave the Irish no rights or guarantees.
Introduction: The Irish economy is famous worldwide, from its rapid growth in the 90’s to the massive crash of the late 00s. This essay will look at the main characteristics which led to the substantial growth sustained during the Celtic Tiger period. The answers to the mystery of the Celtic Tiger are not easy ones to explain and are rooted in the economic history of the country. It was not one simple act or decision in the 80s which set the ball rolling, but a myriad of factors the developed through decades of economic history and eventually culminated in a ‘perfect storm’ leading to massive growth. There are various theories on the area but these will be briefly discussed at the beginning.
A vision of Ireland’s glorious ancient past, predating the Anglo-Normans, was carefully constructed to inspire Ireland’s campaign for independence. This was achieved by utilising the invention of tradition and the examples given, conform to Hobsbawm’s three types of tradition. In addition, the cycle of tradition and dissent was observed in the example Irish
Catholic Ireland was ruled by Great Britain for a considerable portion of its history, from the twelfth century to 1920. During that time, there were numerous revolts by the Catholics against their Protestant landlords. The historic province of Ulster, a stronghold of Gaelic culture in the north of Ireland, successfully resisted British encroachments until the Plantation of 1609. Darby, 1976 argued that the earlier waves of colonisation had supplanted the Irish gentry with Protestant British landlords, leaving the bulk of the population Catholic and Irish. The settlement of Ulster in 1609, by contrast, was massive in scale and resulted in the intrusion of a Protestant culture that was completely alien to its Catholic inhabitants.
These schemes were enacted from the 1550’s to 1620, and all were unsuccessful, including the plantation of Ulster in 1609. The newcomers who were planted into Ireland at the time brought many attributes with them. They desired to change the Irish landscape thoroughly, by bringing with them new agricultural and economic practices they thought to be improvements over more traditional Irish methods. Protestantism, however, was introduced to Ulster somewhat successfully, this success was soon diminished as the native Irish living in Ulster remained Catholic, despite the small minority who chose to convert. The environment was also changed by the introduction of new buildings in a different and new style to a typical Irish style.
The early seventeenth century was a period when the Irish deepen dissatisfaction in various spheres. Being oppressed by the English government, the Irish lost the liberty of religion, political power, and land-ownership. The Irish raised a rebellion in October 1641, turning the plight of England politics an opportunity. Their atrocious and bloody violence in the rebellion has considered to cause numerous casualities of protestant inhabitants. There had been a great discussion about the Irish rebellion in 1641 and the 1641 depositions, which is the testimonies of the protestant inhabitants who was under the attack of the rebels and escaped from them, but both Protestants and Catholics condemned and justified each of them by the source.
However, Americans were able to succeed because of their quick increase in population and economy. One of France’s financial problems came from the money they loaned America during the war. Arthur Young traveled throughout France and saw that “lands held by the nobility are taxed very little [and] lands held by commoners are taxed heavily” (Doc B). This comes back to the idea of inequality and how the government supported a class system in France that negativly affects the third estate. Because commoners’ land was taxed so much, they were unable to feed themselves.
The state referred to as Northern Ireland (of 1921), is a divided state, by which a border separates the six north-eastern counties from the remaining twenty six. The simple cause of the initial partition was the inability of Nationalists and Unionists to agree on how Ireland should be governed, Michael Laffan refers to how it ‘gave the Ulster Unionists what they demanded’, the largest area in which they believed they would have full power and authority in which they could control. Until recently, it is known that Historians have been likely to view the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland as religious; however this idea could be contested, as there are underlying political factors which are known to have led to mass conflict in Northern Ireland.