The Great Famine, also known as the Irish Potato Famine, is quite possibly one of the most tragic episodes in human history. In the mid-1800s, nature’s cruelty collided with human neglect and created devastation as the people of the Emerald Isle starved to death.
What began as a botanical affliction in the soil soon spiraled into a national catastrophe, not solely because of failed crops, but because of failed leadership and the indifference of a ruling power distant in both geography and empathy.
The humble potato may have been at the root of this disastrous period of the past, but there were far more sinister powers at work that allowed this humanitarian disaster to escalate. Click through this gallery to find out more.