otato, the people of Ireland were doing well as far as survival but in the fall of 1845 disaster stuck. When the fungus, Phytophthora infestons, had run its course at least 1 1/2 million, possibly as many as 2 million, Irish had died and another 1 1/2 million had emigrated out of Ireland.2 The potato failure of the mid to late 1840's has been variably referred to as The Great Hunger, The Great Famine and The Great Starvation. One's choice of words to describe this colossal human tragedy is often determined by political ideology or personal agenda. Irish landowners referred to the time period as that of "The Great Hunger." Most of these landowners were absent and did not experience first hand the ravages of the potato blight. They, unlike their tenants, were not dependent on the potato for their survival. While potatoes rotted in the fields, landowners continued to eat a varied diet.The British call it The Great Famine. The scarcity of food was blamed on the weather, the potato fungus and, perhaps, most of all on the notion of overpopulation. The Irish had over bred and there wasn't enough food to feed them all due to the crop failure. However, as Frank O'Connor once observed, Famine is a useful word when you do not wish to use words like genocide and extermination.3Later it was referred to as The Great Starvation, which is a more realistic way to refer to the time period when Irish peasants starved. Barley, butter, eggs, oats, wheat, beef and pork were exported from Ireland in large quantities during the famine. In fact, eight ships left Ireland daily carrying these products. Starvation among the peasants is blamed on a colonial system that made them dependent on the potato to begin with. Racist insensitivity toward the troubles of the starving also played a major role in the death and large-scale emigration which marked this time. The British failed to take swift and comprehensive action in the force of Ireland's disaster. In recen...
