History Analyzed

The Irish Potato Famine

Mark Palmer Season 1 Episode 17

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0:00 | 32:47

In the 1840s a blight hit Ireland, destroying the staple crop of the Irish peasants: the potato. As a result, Ireland lost approximately one third of its population to starvation and emigration. Essentially a British colony at the time, the natural disaster in Ireland was compounded by British incompetence and indifference.