So apparently a lot of people don't realize that famine can be man-made, and famine can still happen in an area with an abundance of crops being grown in that area. I give the criteria as to how an area that grows a large amount of food can be classified as being in a famine. The criteria of it is not limited just to what happened in Ireland.
It can be applied to any event throughout history as well as currently ongoing ones such as what is happening in Palestine. A modern-day example of man-made famine not only through violent warfare but political policies actively worsening already horrible living conditions in a war zone.
It is about the accessibility to food, not necessarily the scarcity of food. And because of this misunderstanding of what could actually create a famine, most people believe that the Irish potato famine is not a famine.
I do believe it should be renamed and there are members of the history societies that are trying to get it renamed but there's like three four different names floating around that they can't decide on as a whole as to what to call it. Some call it the Great Irish Hunger others call it the Irish Colonial Starvation.
But no matter what it's called it's still a famine and should be teached as such. However, it should be taught that it was a man-made one, Or at least that 90% of it was man-made and highly preventable. Because I remember growing up and I was wondering how an entire population could be dependent on potatoes when I look at how rich and fertile Ireland was in the photos.
To say that it was a natural famine is a lie. To say that it was not a famine because it was orchestrated by man is a lie. It was a man-made famine, and historical documents point to the fact that it might have very well have been with the intent of genocide of the Irish people. And I do touch on that in this post a bit. not just from the viewpoints of the Irish people, but actual British documents that I will dig up if requested)
FYI This is actually a copy and post of a paper I did at my University for a history class. I got a B minus on it mostly for grammatical issues that I have since smoothed over. Cuz then let me tell you when my brain don't want to write, it don't want to write.
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The Irish Potato Famine: A Man-Made Catastrophe
The Irish Potato Famine (1845–1852) is often remembered as a natural disaster caused by a potato blight. While the blight destroyed the staple crop of the poor, the famine was fundamentally man-made, worsened—and in some ways tolerated—by British colonial policies. Understanding the famine requires looking at both the structural causes of starvation and the deliberate human actions that intensified suffering.
Potatoes were cheap, nutritious, highly productive, and could grow on the marginal land available to the poor, which is why they became the backbone of the Irish diet. The tragedy of the famine was that when this single, essential crop failed, millions had nothing else to fall back on—despite Ireland producing plenty of other food that the poor could not access.
The Potato was one of the very few crops that the English did not take. And the English didn’t take the potatoes because they were subsistence crops of low commercial value, leaving the poor dependent on them. It wasn’t kindness that the English left the potatoes for the poor; it was indifference mixed with economic calculation. However this also meant that when the blight hit, millions had nothing else to eat
Ireland at the time was producing abundant food, including grains and livestock. However, the majority of the Irish people were largely denied access to this food. Much of it was exported to Britain to serve the empire’s economic interests, leaving millions dependent on potatoes as their primary food source. When the potato blight struck, starvation followed; not because of the lack of food but because the Irish people were prevented from accessing it.
British policies compounded the problem: rents and taxes continued despite widespread hunger, relief efforts were minimal, and officials adhered to laissez-faire economic principles, refusing to intervene effectively. The famine was therefore largely preventable, making it a man-made catastrophe.
Some historians argue that the famine had elements of genocidal intent. Certain British officials viewed the crisis as a way to “teach the Irish a lesson” or reduce the population. Statements from the time and the continuation of food exports despite mass starvation suggest that the suffering was politically tolerated, if not encouraged.
Importantly, the Irish Potato Famine meets the criteria used today to declare a famine:
1. Food access – Over 20% of households could not obtain enough food to survive.
2. Malnutrition – Acute malnutrition, especially among children, soared due to dependence on a single failing crop.
3. Mortality – Death rates from starvation and hunger-related diseases exceeded famine thresholds, resulting in over a million deaths.
The Irish Potato Famine was not simply a natural disaster caused by crop failure—it was a man-made catastrophe exacerbated by British colonial policies.
So while Ireland produced abundant crops and livestock, most of this food was exported to Britain, leaving the rural poor dependent on potatoes, the only crop they could reliably grow on their tiny plots. When the blight struck, starvation followed, not from a lack of food, but from restricted access to it. British authorities worsened the crisis by enforcing rents, evicting starving tenants, and providing minimal relief, often guided by prejudice or indifference. Some officials even saw the famine as a tool to reduce the Irish population. This combination of preventable suffering, deliberate neglect, and ongoing food exports demonstrates that the famine was man-made, and contains elements of genocidal intent, while still meeting the three criteria of a famine: widespread food insecurity, acute malnutrition, and elevated mortality.
So the Irish Potato Famine was both a natural agricultural crisis (the blight) and a man-made disaster (literally everything else). The fact that Ireland produced abundant food, yet millions starved due to lack of access, underscores the deliberate human factors at play. Elements of neglect and prejudice suggest some suffering was intentionally worsened, giving the famine a genocidal dimension. Yet, even acknowledging its human-made nature as well as its preventability, it remains a famine by all modern standards.
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