Irish Potato Famine Research Paper

From 1845 to 1852 the potato famine in Ireland caused great despair and panic throughout the country. As a result, one must ask the question, why did such a large number of Irish people died during the great famine of 1845? Conflict over the high death toll during the famine existed, because of the different perspectives of the Irish and the English. Although individuals suggest that the high number of deaths was a result of the famine because of disease, and hunger, a closer look at the available evidence highlights the idea that the Irish Potato famine of 1845 was a combination of biological factors, Irish fault, and English imperialism all caused an increase in the Irish death toll during the famine. Ireland's potato famine was caused …show more content…
Some of the major diseases that occurred during the famine where, typhus, yellow fever, dysentery, and scurvy which were only a few of the diseases that killed more than the third of the population in Ireland. Considering the surrounding circumstances of the Irish having little food to stay healthy and the unsanitary living and working conditions, it is plausible to believe that disease caused the majority of the deaths during the potato famine. In the Irish Famine, Peter gray suggests that, “Relatively few perished directly from starvation, but malnutrition paved the way for fatal diseases”[Gray(53)]. Furthermore, disease seemed to be killing more Irish people than starvation due from low hygienic standards, tight living conditions and malnutrition. However, this position is flawed because of the fact that disease was not the only factor that added to the number of deaths, there were multiple factors that overall outweighed disease in terms of death. Although disease was a big factor in the number of deaths during the famine other variables such as starvation played a bigger role in the total death