Being Irish and knowing the full story, I have one big issue with this otherwise very well made video. It fails to fully explain why we were so dependent on potatoes, when we actually farmed a large variety of food types at the time. Oats, barley, meat and more were all being plentifully produced on the island during the famine - all were forced exports to Great Britain. Cheap spuds were the mainstay of the Irish due to general poverty under British rule and lack of time and resources for homestead farming. This dependency on potatoes was artificial, a result of the demands of colonial rule. Food was continually robbed from the island even as we starved - 'starving in the midst of plenty' is a quote taken from a sympathetic landowner of the time. While this video acknowledges to a degree the British role played in the starvation of the Irish during the 1840s, it actually understates it, and in so doing suggests that it was Irish short-sightedness or, even worse, laziness that led to an over-reliance on a single crop type. The Irish have been master farmers for centuries upon centuries, and although new to the potato as a crop, would have been well aware of the dangers of putting all their eggs in one basket, so to speak. They simply had no choice but to do so.
Exactly, the English landed gentry was in power and saw an opportunity to expand its holdings and further enrich themselves. Who cares about people below 'the cut'? No ruling class has been as hypocrite as the English toffs and still is. They did it again in 2016 by fooling people into Brexit from which the wealthy profit immensely. And again in 2022, grabbing billions in the midst of an extreme crisis for the non-wealthy. Dumbdumb Truss was fooled and now went full Trumpian with her tax bill.
The Irish would have done better agriculturally if they would have teamed up with the Dutch. But unfortunately, the Irish are Roman Catholic to the hilt and Roman Catholic countries are notorious for underdevelopment as there is something wrong with that church (I don't know what, probably the way it is organised, for the faith itself is OK) that keeps people stupid and down. You see this in every R-C country of the world.
As an Irishman my myself I can say that the great famine was one of the greatest tragedies that ever happened in Europe… some would even call it an attempted genocide
@@Felixxxxxxxxx The difference is the government (the British government) did nothing to help us. They let us starve because they thought we deserved it. We owe more to the Turks and to the Chocotaw then we ever do to the British.
As an irish person I find it absolutely baffling how there were more Irish than Egyptians in the 19th century. Ireland are doing well now but it's been a combination of hard work and smart thinking. We were poor as crap up until the 90s. While we come across very jovial at times scratch below the surface and there is still a lot of pain.
Ireland is wealthier today because it abandoned the idea of government socialism and adapted free market thinking but it has a welfare state mentality. And slowly that welfare state is eating up all of the great market gains Ireland achieved.
Irish GDP per capita tends to abstract away the "pass-through" economy problem. Essentially, the Republic of Ireland is perhaps the best entry point into the European Union economy, primarily (but not only) because of really low taxes. A lot of goods and services enter into Ireland only to be sold to the rest of the EU. GDP is going to be artificially high, but the benefits to the Irish economy and people are tiny.
A 2019 UN "Quality of Life Index" of all countries ranked Ireland as having the 2nd best "Quality of Life" in the world. Only oil-rich Norway scored better. No country is perfect ...but... being ranked the 2nd best place to live in the world by the UN must mean something. Happy New Year from Ireland.
You did a great job with this video! I'm a 22 year old Irish woman, I've lived in Mayo in the West of Ireland (which was one of the counties that suffered the most during the famine) for my entire life, and I can absolutely still see the great effects the famine has on the people. The tiny road I live on, which is barely a kilometre long, used to have 100 people living along it. Now there are less that 40. There have been studies to suggest that current generations are still effected by the feeling of starvation and scarcity mindset that means that our bodies actually hold onto more calories than average. It can be hard to find records of our ancestors, as so many moved abroad and brought their documentation with them. I know maybe 4 people who speak fluent Irish, but that's only because they grew up in Gaeltacht areas, where most people speak Irish on a day-to-day basis in their communities. Most of my peers would regard the famine as a genocide. Although the overreliance on potatoes was real, other crops still existed and would have kept us afloat if the English didn't insist on exporting them. It's true that the average Irish male ate approx. 20 potatoes A DAY, but we did have other food available. During the famine, people resorted to eating grass, hedgehogs, all sorts of stuff because they were so desperate. Some of the quotes from English leaders at the time about the famine are actually appalling and downright heartless. They had no problem stripping the lands of its resources, helping out their own English landlords, and leaving the Irish to starve. No wonder we still have bitterness towards the English.
@@NashvilleUK Scotland and Wales were colonised by the English. So I think blaming the individual coloniser, the English, over the British as a whole, makes more sense
Despite all that happened, in schools they never call it a genocide, to avoid anti British sentiment. We are a nation that experienced immense tragedy whether it be under the British as well as under our own catholic church and laundries. Hopefully as we begin to thrive we can be a good example to other nations.
My grandparents left Ireland in 1961, they said there were no economic opportunities for them at home. They're amazed at how much the country has grown since
Same thing happened to my grandparents and my my grandaunts and uncles, but luckily my grand parents ended up moving back after 20 years. But since my grand aunts and uncles didn’t I have a lot of American/English/Welsh relatives
I've lived in Ireland for the past 13 years, and it's fascinating to think of how the country would have looked had it not suffered the famine and reached the 20+ millions you indicated. Instead of just Belfast and Dublin we might have had other large cities, perhaps in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, or Galway.
The world would suffer. Remember, the Irish had the 3rd largest voting population in the US. Without them, most nations would still be a colony after WW2.
If you look at the population spread from 1800, it’s seems most populated areas where mid north east. I’d say we could have had a few mega city’s up the east coast, like Dublin, in Drogheda and Dundalk leading up to Northern Ireland city’s.
@@somerandomperson3970 US would have been better for it too, if the famine did not happen. We're talking about a massive butterfly effect here that gets stronger the more time goes on. By the time ww2 comes around people who wouldn't have otherwise been born in Ireland could end up changing the geopolitical landscape as we know it, long before ww2. Perhaps Ireland annexes England or becomes their equal in power. Many possibilities.
My great-grandmother x3 came to Australia 1849. She was a famine orphan. Came through the Earl Gray transport system. She had a hard life, had 11 children and I thank her for giving me a life. I've been to Ireland,and I hope to return one more time. The Irish are truly welcoming people.
During the Famine, Ottoman Sultan sent three ships loaded with wheat. The British blocked the ports for them, but one of the ships managed to drop the cargo at a beach close to Drogheda, it helped local starving fisherman.
@@lasakau272 No, truth in that one. The Drogheda football team even have a crescent moon on their jerseys in honour of it. Worth a look, and if you're interested in outside help to Ireland check the Choctaw Nation from the USA, amazing solidarity
@@jamescurtis9634 Glad you mentioned the Choctaw- Their numbers were literally decimated, having just struggled to their new, bare land over the "Trail of Tears." Yet their hearts were so touched by this evil, they sent almost $100 (which was clearly worth far more then than now) to those suffering in Ireland. I will always have a warm place in my heart for the Choctaw.
Real Engineering helped paint graffiti featured in b roll footage of the footage explaining how our population is small... Forget the video, that shows how small we are lmao
As a Brit, what England did do Ireland is heart breaking, it's not something we learn about in schools very much which is a crime, we need to hear about the consequences of Empire more often
@@WinterIsBestSeason69 This has to be one of the stupidest comments I have ever read. Yes they let their own country starve and were able to do that because it was their country. If Ireland were independent they would have kept the food. So not only did they not help Ireland by giving their own country food, they took whatever food they had. Also they essentially made them slaves for food. Do you not realize how barbaric it was.
You missed out on an important figure, Thomas Malthus. He was a Welsh economist who theorized that Ireland was overpopulated in 1794, thus leading to the action of forcefully withdrawing food from the Irish by the British army, causing a famine. Malthus actually coined the term "overpopulation", that we now use today. He wrote an essay titled, "A Principle on The Theory of Population" in the late 1700's where the term was first used. In it, he theorized that populations can be controlled through war, famine or disease. I would recommend everyone read it. Malthus is often quoted by some political figureheads today which is a bit concerning to me, personally. Klaus Schwab wrote a a dissertation in 1964 regarding controversial Malthusian ideas, here's the title of that, "Thomas Malthus was right and I can prove it." Some governments still seem to be on board with the idea of controlled famine, so what happened to Ireland doesn't seem to be ancient history. It may even be regarded by some as a blueprint for successful depopulation.
@@MiloManning05 it saddens me when white nations are put in collision with each other, instead of synergizing. Analyzing these instances (of clashing) is very important
As a young Irish lad from Dublin, I have to say that this is one of the best summaries of recent Irish history that I've seen, and way more consumable than hisory class. I want Ireland to do great, and I primarily want the Irish language to grow. This video has reminded me how important this country and this language are to me and other Irish people. Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. Go raibh míle maith agat don físean seo! Tiocfaidh ár lá!
I agree I really hope the Irish language will flourish again someday. I am an American with Irish grand parents so it’s difficult for me to learn Irish. But if I had the opportunity I absolutely would!
Nowadays it’s not a shortage of food, it’s a shortage of housing. Right now we aren’t able to keep a roof over the heads of our homeless, refugees and sometimes even students. Definitely a problem we’ll have to work hard to tackle over the next decade or so
How do you rationalize a country where new housing is always being built and the average family has 1.38 children also has a housing crisis? Seems obvious that the problem isn’t housing…
@@darkMuffin31 do some research before you comment, it’s not just the fact that there are little houses being built, it’s the extortionate price of rent that landlords are charging meaning young people and worse off families are unable to have their own home.
@@conallmccabe385 But they couldn't charge a lot if loads of houses were built, increasing competition between landlords. The same thing is happening in Canada, I loan my house, it used to be very hard to find people that wanted an apartment, but now that there are no houses being built and no apartments left, I crank up the prices, just like everyone else since there is no competition. That and rising interest rates mean the house costs more, which is then passed on the people loaning. Landlords don't do charity, welcome to the real world.
@@darkMuffin31 Well if I remember correctly I read that Ireland and the UK have enough house for all their homeless and about 10% of houses in London for example are vacant because people who buy real estate do that to push up prices and profit.
@@v.e1374 if You break down the white population by race there's more of German ancestry than Irish in the US. There's probably more English tbh but a lot of English Americans had been here so long they just started marking down American in the census after that option was opened up so it's hard to know exactly.
One important thing to point out, Ireland's gdp is distorted by the presence of large American multinationals. The Irish government posts figures that exclude these distortions, and these numbers indicate that while Ireland is wealthy, its roughly in line with other parts of Western/Northern Europe.
Greetings from Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. I am a 70s baby growing up in a hugely challenging and changing Ireland. I thoroughly enjoyed watching RealLifeLore breakdown of Irelands turbulent past. The piece was well researched and written by . No real sticky bits. Thanks RealLifeLore.
As an Irishman I would have loved if Irish was still the main language of the island. I've learned it throughout school but sadly hardly remember any as it isnt widely spoken, especially in the east where I live.
From what I've been able to hear, it's a beautiful and unique language (at least within the context of European languages). Really does suck that England is such a sucky overlord.
Economically, Ireland is better off having English as the main language as English is the world's lingua franca and it is one of the main reasons for foreign direct investment.
@@silveriver9 That is certainly true! It would just be nice to have our own language I believe. I am also envious of the fact that the majority of Europeans are bilingual and how they seem to find it much easier to pick up other new languages as they already have experience becoming fluent in a second one.
This is one of the most accurate accounts of the situation we faced here in Ireland. Thank you for drawing attention to the devastation our country suffered.
I am thoroughly disappointed for this video not showing the oppression of Ireland that has been going on for centuries before this, and outcries of "let the Irish starve, it is their divine punishment" kind of rhetoric that existed during the famine but was certainly far older, as in the 1600s, some English scholars suggested an artificially created starvation to teach the Irish their place. Not to mention numerous attempts to paint Irish as "half-ape subhumans related to half-ape Iberians" etc. to dehumanize and discourage any human sympathy to the residents of the island. The starvation and the refusal to give back what they exploited for centuries by basic relief aid, was just what the English were trying to do for centuries: steal the land and drive out the population. Not to mention the steady decrease in land fertility was at the expense of Ireland but done for the benefit of England. Then of course when the English took everything and some Irish followed it to England, the English will portray this as Irish being spiteful but cannot help but eat off the England's hand. But in actuality more like robbing people and using to build industries with it, then pretending giving mere crumbs of what was stolen that Irish are forced to "work to earn" as "magnanimous ever-sympathetic charity" from the English.
As an Irish person settled in Norway with Norwegian family I can say that the need to emigrate is still very high in Ireland . Modern issues mostly revolve around housing , we can’t get that right even after the worlds worst housing crash the world has seen.
Sure even those of us looking at a year or two back are eyeing up Belfast. The Republic is no place to risk being homeless/living out of grossly overpriced short term lets or airbnbs while looking for work. Even those living back there still, many have moved up North from what I see.
It's even infuriating, like with India and Pakistan, even as the English were driven out they sowed division in Ireland to make the nation to split apart to delay England from receiving the tiniest fraction of what can be called its just desserts.
@@CrabTastingMan You can't blame the English if south Asians and Irish hate each other, it's not England's fault if Irish protestants and Catholics hate each other or Hindus and Muslims hate each other.
The most amazing thing about Ireland is how they turned their history into a positive by helping other countries who struggle with hunger, I love the Irish!
Thank you for making this video. Its a tragic history that I wish more people were aware of. Both my mom and dad's side were from families that fled Ireland during the famine. There's so many layers to this tragedy beyond just the initial loss of life and lands. My fathers side never recovered financially from leaving. They still live in pretty serious poverty generations later after coming to America.
I'm British and it makes me sick what our government did in that period (and still f**king do). At least a national recognition in Britain is in order, if not a full official apology from the royal family. I have never met an Irish person I disliked, and agree that as a nation, it is truly remarkable how much they have given the world, in music particularly. Long live Ireland!
Thanks, Hugo that's a really nice post. We did get an apology of sorts from the Queen when she visited Ireland. She said "things that were done in Ireland which she wished never happened" We'll take it and move on. It's not like the ordinary British people were treated any better in the industrialised city slums of GB. The rich are always fu*king over the hard-working middle class and the poor.
Tears of Crocodiles. Edit: If a butthurt is still reading this, do not reply. I am tired of this and you will neither get nor deserve any reply from me.
Apology? What's apology gonna do? That's right! Nothing. Your government comitted massive atrocities in my country India but as an Indian, I would rather have British Government have some dignity than Tears of Crocodiles. Apology for something which happened centuries ago is not going to change anything. If I was a British Person, I would've been extremely ashamed of you. My country is not Innocent BTW, over 400,000 Hyderabadis were killed in the Hyderabad Genocide. I do feel sorry for it but I do not think I am the one who's accountable for that horrific events. I would stand against any form of apology though I will 100% support reparations. This is what I don't like about the modern west. They base their entire Identity around a guilt that happened a long time ago.
@@mohdadeeb1829 what do you want them to do? Yes, the people who ruled britan a century ago did unspeakable things to India and all the other colonies, but what do you want the modern british population to do? They can't go back in time to stop colonialism and why should they pay for something that they have nothing to do with and that they didn't even ask for? No one can fix the past and that's that. If you don't want an apology from them then there's nothing else they can do for you.
Love the video, I feel you did the history a justice. One short note though: I feel like it's important to explain why the Irish became dangerously reliant on potatoes, because it wasn't out of choice or ignorance. The vast majority of land used for agriculture production was owned and organized by platantioners from England and worked on by Irish laborers. Most Irish had to grow crops in off seasons or on land considered unsuitable for crop production (except for the amazing potatoes that grow anywhere) when the famine hit, most of these plantationers were concerned about their yields and profits and not the lives of those living and working on their plots, so they sent mercenary tax collectors and farm managers to make sure tenants were still paying dues (or being evicted if they weren't) and still producing their crops. That's why food exports didn't stop during the famine, that's why the whiggs built workhouses instead of provide aid to make sure the Irish were still producing value instead of consuming. In my opinion, it's profit incentivized genocide and should be labeled as such. The same title can be given to the horrific famines during colonial India imo. But we should legitimize this definition of genocide.
Yeah I was a bit ticked this video kinda makes it look like Ireland just screwed itself over with eatingn too many potatoes like some dumb pig. I am thoroughly disappointed for this video not showing the oppression of Ireland that has been going on for centuries before this, and outcries of "let the Irish starve, it is their divine punishment" kind of rhetoric that existed during the famine but was certainly far older, as in the 1600s, some English scholars suggested an artificially created starvation to teach the Irish their place. Not to mention numerous attempts to paint Irish as "half-ape subhumans related to half-ape Iberians" etc. to dehumanize and discourage any human sympathy to the residents of the island. The starvation and the refusal to give back what they exploited for centuries by basic relief aid, was just what the English were trying to do for centuries: steal the land and drive out the population. Not to mention the steady decrease in land fertility was at the expense of Ireland but done for the benefit of England. Then of course when the English took everything and some Irish followed it to England, the English will portray this as Irish being spiteful but cannot help but eat off the England's hand. But in actuality more like robbing people and using to build industries with it, then pretending giving mere crumbs of what was stolen that Irish are forced to "work to earn" as "magnanimous ever-sympathetic charity" from the English.
@@wainber1 England killing 7 million people in the Bengal Famine, despite even the viceroyalty objecting Churchill's requisition of Indian grain "for English to eat in case the war drags on for longer." (Churchill ignored the warnings and said something along the lines of "if the famine is so bad, why isn't that rebel Gandhi dead yet?") was tantamount to the 7 million for the dead Ukrainian deaths during the Holodomor. This is why 50,000 Ukrainians fought their oppressor Stalin with Germany's help in the Ostlegionen, and 5,000 Indians even went to Germany to form the Free India Legion to fight the English oppressors.
EXACTLY!! It wasn't a famine--there was food to be eaten, but the Irish weren't allowed to eat it. It all had to be exported. Behind the Bastards did a great 2 parter on this back in April (That Time Britain did a Genocide in Ireland) that goes over all the ways that The Hunger was a genocide and not a famine.
I’m British and I seriously, *seriously* wish this was taught in our schools. Ireland is our next door neighbour, we have similar geographies and ancestries. We should have been natural allies. I’m sorry that the British aristocracy and political class used and used Irish lands like they meant nothing. Great video as always.
Sometimes I really think countries really love to leave out major horrible conflicts they did to others out of their education system to keep students from knowing it
Another one is British rule in India. At least 3 big famines(larger than the Potato famine by deaths, doesn't make any of these famines more important just a comparison. Benghal famine of 1770, Bangalore Famine 1876-8 and the Benghal famine of 1943-44. Largely due to the priority placed on growing cash crops to export to the UK compared to food for Indians.
I couldn't agree more here. Whilst we are generally taught about the atrocities caused by and as a result of British imperialism, Ireland in general is barely touched upon despite it essentially being lodged under England's (later Britain's) foot for 800+ years. There's a focus on teaching appreciation of humanity's past mistakes to prevent them from being repeated (transatlantic slave trade, inter-war Germany etc.) and yet our mistreatment of our neighbour was never covered when I was at school, despite the millions of lives lost or ruined as a result. You'd think the comparatively recent troubles would make it even more relevant in context, but apparently not. The actions of those Brits mentioned in the video, as well as others like Oliver Cromwell, are in my opinion completely and utterly despicable and I seriously wish all the best for Ireland as a nation, regardless of whether or not the north reunites with the republic :)
And to remind ourselves of our own story. I deliver goods across all the country and I've seen just how fine the Irish people are in every corner. Obviously you get the scum as in every country but overall some great people. It's no surprise that the Irish have flourished across the world.
Im British born but all my grandparents are from Ireland and we werent taught nothing about the famine. I love the U.K. but its really hard not to be angry at what happend and just seeing how even my grandparents coming here 100 years later in the 60s were consequences of the famine. I also think seeing that map of Ireland and the U.K. with Northern Ireland separated really is like a last kick in the teeth after so much torture.
Greetings from Ireland, I've always loved Bosnia and feel we share a history of enduring hardships. I'd love to visit your beautiful country one day. 🇮🇪❤️🇧🇦
It’s very nice, but they need more trees. Also I noticed an astonishing lack of plant diversity even in the wilder areas. I was in the southwestern part of the country.
@@grumpofitzgerald4350 Strange thing I noticed, a lot of us Bosnians feel attracted to Ireland for some reason. Maybe it is our similar histories of hardships? Either way, I hope to visit Ireland aswell some day
@@aliannarodriguez1581 this is a legacy of our colonial past. Our country was originally covered in wonderful Irish oak, which was felled to build the cities and infrastructure in England. Today, you can visit the Mary Rose or the House of Commons - all built using Irish oak.
My family left during the famine after we were nearly wiped out. I love the Irish, their history, and how they have bounced back in many ways. They are always quick to have sympathy and empathy for others going through struggle and give everything they can. Love you guys, you make me proud and I hope to visit some day 🇮🇪☘️💚
@@ThwipThwipBoom I know that I was just saying I'm sorry to hear that. That's all and that I hope he and is Family are doing ok now that's all. Nothing wrong with that
To be honest… I haven’t really watched your videos in a while, but years ago, on a different account, I used to be a HUGE fan. Your tsunami video is still my favourite UA-cam video to date. The book you wrote is sitting on my shelf right now, one of my favourite non-fiction books. I watched your 100k, 1 mill and 2 mill QnA’s. It’s crazy coming back to you with 6 mill. I think I’m gonna start watching you consistently again, since I don’t really know why I stopped watching you in the first place. I love your channel!
it's kind of sad that the Irish population is declining. i visited Ireland back in 2015 with a few friends and honestly the Irish are the sweetest and funniest people ever and the landscape is so sooo breathtaking. hope to visit soon. love from Pakistan.
The GDP grossly misrepresents Ireland's economic standing, big-pharma have some manufacturing and r&d here, plus you've got a bunch of tech companies with European HQs or offices - but the massive profits they makes are barely taxed & flow straight back out of the country. As for population growth, rent is extortionate (and all costs of living are rising unlike pay), foreign investment funds outbid and buy up newly build homes instead of locals, and you've got people in their 20s, 30s and 40s forced to live with their parents or on a friend's couch - not the kind of place you start a family.
It's absolutely appalling that the government have no problem letting big tech and pharma companies in with basically no taxes and pushing the educated population to move to those companies, but they don't actually give those people any resources to like, live. And it's only getting worse. I think it's the pressure that the government felt seeing all these neighboring countries making bank and wanting to feel caught up, but not actually doing much for their own people.
Sounds a lot like the UK, the people in charge basically don't understand economics and are wilfully sabotaging living standards for the sake of making the GDP bigger, or 'line go up' as the meme seems to be.
More than 70% of Google jobs don’t go to Irish people; so you've got people moving here from abroad, further reducing the available housing. For a short time during the pandemic, tech companies told people to go back to their own countries temporarily - as they were working remotely anyway. The tech companies should've been encouraged to build their own new city somewhere in the midlands - (do a compulsary purchase order somewhere in the midlands or west coast) give them free land with a 50-100 year lease & lets them finance the construction layout and chip in to build road & rail links to an airport eg Shannon or Knock.
I didn't realize until visiting Scotland that there was also a potato famine in the late 1840s in Scotland also, and it coincided with the Highland Clearances. Though that only affected a few hundred thousand people (as opposed to millions in Ireland) it might make for its own video. With that said the Irish famine had/has tremendous world-historical importance.
The potato famine affected most of northwest Europe. It hit Ireland hardest, mostly because potatoes were poor people food and most other veg was rich British absentee landlord food.
the potato famine hit the US and nearly all of Europe. the only reason Ireland was affected as hard as they were was due to the English’s policies on governing Ireland. They would not let them import other cheap foods. They wouldn’t let them own land, etc. Ireland would have been impacted the same as say belgium (which relied even heavier on the potato yet didnt starve to the same extent) if it weren’t for the English
@@Dutcheh that’s just not true at all, the Irish were allowed to own land and the Belgian reliance on the potato wasn’t even close to the Irish reliance. Ireland suffered from this because they relied strongly on the potato and were poor/unindustrialised.
*me, Irish and a history student, watching this video to see if he made any mistakes* But you didn't! Everything you said was dead on. It's so nice to finally see a video on the Great Famine that actually spoke about the reality of the situation. We didn't starve because of the potato. We starved because of the British policies against us. It was a mass attempted genocide. And it partially worked. Thank you for the amazing content as always!!
Penal laws? Cromwell? The 1740-1 proportionally deadlier famine? 1780 food shortages as dealt with by Dublin Parliament versus laissez faire approach by London Parliament in 1848 onwards. Role of Catholicism and po Oh and potatoes don't make lots and lots of babies and population growth, human adults having sex do...and seeing huge levels of population growth as being a good thing...
@@joerourke8393 "Cromwell? The 1740-1 proportionally deadlier famine? 1780 food shortages as dealt with by Dublin Parliament" If you care to read the title of the video, it says "why does Ireland have a lower population today than **200** years ago" Now, I understand that those events did have an effect on the overall population growth of Ireland, but by by the time we hit 200 years ago from today which is 1822, the population is higher than before those events so, so they do not have a lot of relevance in regard to the question posed by the title. "Oh and potatoes don't make lots and lots of babies and population growth, human adults having sex do" This is abundantly simple and if you just payed attention in first year geography you might have a basic understanding of demographics. But since you didn't, let me explain! If a woman and man have a child, they need to feed it. If they have two children they need to feed two children. If they have three children they need to feed three children, and so on. Now the thing is, humans are intelligent, and if a human mother and father notice they cannot provide enough food for more children they will attempt to not have more children. In even simpler terms: 1 potatoes can feed one person a day(not actually but just for the purposes of explaining). Man and Woman have three potatoes, so that means they can have one child. If they have two children, one of them will starve. so man and woman will try not to have more than one child.
I'm Argentinian and a great-grandfather and a great grandmother of mine came here around the 1870s. It's a little known fact that the fourth biggest inmigration group was Irish. The first and second were by far Italians and Spanish, and third and fourth French and Irish. And there's a few Irish groups that exist here in Argentina today.
@@gerrytyrrell1507 I don't know a lot about El Che Guevara but I think I read that sometime somewhere. Didn't remember it, thanks. Just checked it, and he was of Spanish, Irish and Guaraní descent, apparently. Coincidentally, there's an Irish pub in my city called "Galway", in honor of the owners "hometown".
Ireland is insane. One of the fastest developing countries in world. There were zero highways in ireland in the 80s, now there’s dozens . My father grew up in a practically broken old serf house. Now his house is surrounded by mansions and now the house is being fixed up and we’re planning to move back to ireland soon.
Ifyou do, make sure to visit all the places, I live in Ireland and I love the country and never knew that a lot of people didn’t know about this, as my ancestors lived through the fammon and I do have relatives in Canada but I’m not sure if they moved there recently or from the fammon, so if you move back here, there are too much places you can visit 😂
Partially is due to the EU. Remember that Farage when asked how the irish issue will be solved after brexit, he said that brexit will have a domino effect and then Irexit will happen (which he campaigned for) and then both countries could have their own little union. Reality is that Ireland is one of the most europhiles countries in the union and partially is because of the British mistreatment.
In NY where many Irish folks fled to (including my dad's family), there is a special memorial for the famine called the Irish Hunger Memorial right by the WTC. The Irish Hunger Memorial's construction began in March 2001, and despite 9/11, it was completed and dedicated the next year in July. The memorial was designed at a slant to replicate a typical Irish hill. It features not only labeled stones from every Irish county as well as native Irish plants but also an actual 19th century cottage from Attymass in County Mayo that was abandoned in the 1960s as the family who lived there all left for the US and let the memorial have it. So it's a little piece of Ireland right in the middle of a very Irish part of the country, dedicated to both the famine and its legacy through the diaspora.
I'm glad you didn't leave out the impact that the British had on the potato famine in Ireland. Belgium had the same potato blight disease around the same time, but they only lost about 40,000 people or so. The deaths in Ireland were greatly exacerbated by the policies of the British.
All of Scandinavia and the German states also suffered from the Potato blight (fungus). The governments of those countries imported grain from USA *for years* to sustain their farmers on marginal land. (There was several waves of potato blight from 1840's to 1920's) These governments also offered incentives to relocate to the US, Canada, South America. After the American Civil War (1860 - 1865) European governments also made contracts with land developers in the Midwest of US/Canda to purchase land for their poor of the poorest subjects (Europe's population was too large to be sustained on the available Europeanfarmland.) The above is why huge swaths of the Midwest (US/Canada) have people descended from Germans and Scandinavians. At the time of WW1, fully one quarter (25%) of the population of USA had at least one "German" (Scandinavians were grouped with Germans) grandparent.
@@gurrrn1102 If anything, he downplays the British impact, no mentions of the landlords, famine roads and sick workhouses for one thing. Also kind of makes it seem like the Irish farmers only grew potatoes when that wasn't the case, it was just the rest of the crop had to be sold to pay rent and taxes
I am an Irishman living in Australia. The Irish migrated to US, Canada and Australia and made huge contributions, and dominating these countries. Now free Ireland is a major economy.
As an Irishman, it’s really refreshing to see someone outside of Ireland seeing the seriousness of the famine and how much of an impact it has on our lives over constant destructive and ill-thought British interference here even to this day. I was very surprised about the estimated population growth, shame we might never see 10s of millions of Irish on our land in our lifetime but it’s finally a positive turn for our country. Thank you for the video again mate 🇮🇪
31.5 million residents Residents With Irish Ancestry Are in All 3,142 U.S. Counties and Make Up 20% of the Population in Some. Irish heritage is strong in America: More than 31.5 million residents claim Irish ancestry. We can all come back if ya want??
Irish guy here - have to say this was very well put together. The numbers and statistics are all accurate and well presented. I would argue we would have had massive emigration anyway, even without the famine, as we never industrialized and didn't have the capital or resources to do so. That is now to our advantage as we don't have "old" industries to keep us down and can focus on services and high technology.
I see how Ireland has weaned itself off old industries as a huge contrast to far too much of the rest of the world. Sure Ireland's public transit system may not be the best in the world, but when I visited there, I didn't see the amount of urban blight as I'd seen in Philadelphia or NYC in the past (with my 1st trip to the Republic having taken place the year after my 1 and only visit to Philly, for the wedding of an adopted cousin).
I would think that without the famine, you'd see emigration closer to the levels of other relatively poor European nations at the time, such as for example Norway. That probably wouldn't be enough to set the nation on a downward trend for a century.
As an Egyptian I have always loved the Irish they are strong respectful people who went through hardship and came out only by the hand of their people despite the challenges. they understand suffering and help against it today with the majority supporting Palestinians against the occupation. All my love and support to Ireland 🇮🇪 🇪🇬
I also support the Palestinian people... .. Many things to consider though.. One is the "good fight" , another is whom is more powerful... I would gladly continue in the footsteps of those that had a hand in Lord Mountbatten.. fuck the crown IRA FOREVER!
My grandpa told me his great grandpa came to Canada from Ireland in the late 1840's. Lines up with the famine. He worked as a carpenter in Ontario, got married and saved up enough to buy some land in the prairies. Built a farmhouse and home quarter and multiple generations were raised there. House is still standing but no longer in the family sadly. Best memories of my childhood are in that house and running around that farm with my cousins like a pack of wild dogs. I would like to go to Ireland one day. I bet there are a million other "Ryans"😃
Plenty of Ryan's still in ireland as well. Very hard to track down long lost family, considering most of that information was destroyed during the civil war. I remember hearing of family that went to Ontario, I'm sure plenty of Ryan's went there.
Your great grandfather was probably carried by a cargo ship. During the famine, cargo ships would ship raw materials from the United States or Canada; cotton from the United States and wood from Canada, and not having anything to export back to those countries, would fill their holds with Irish looking for passage.
My triple-great grandfather, Daniel Hagerty, emigrated at the tail end of the famine in 1858. Like about half of the Irish immigrants he entered through Boston where I was born (well, technically Quincy) and still have a strong family presence. Only three years after arriving in the new world, Daniel enlisted in the Third Massachusetts Regulars as a farrier (horse caretaker) for the Union Army in the Civil War. My dad moved our family west in the late 50's almost exactly a century after Daniel arrived to, ironically, pursue job opportunities.
@@occamraiser - maybe by today's standards, but not150 years ago. "Farrier" back then was responsible for the complete health and well-being of the horses, not just their feet.
My 3x grandma Thompson's family came over during the famine. Wish her stories weren't lost to time. Her family settled here in Ohio, which oddly enough had the same potato blight as Ireland at the time. Thankfully we have so much food diversity it wasn't an issue. Oddly enough here in Ohio growing potatoes has been quite rare till about 10yrs ago.
@@cc23001 and I had never heard of that one I can't say I'm super surprised but I do know that the strain that affected Ireland was also here at Ohio. I ran into a potato farm in Southern Ohio very recently and they told me the yields they were getting and they were absolutely absurd. I told the farmer I was shocked that everybody here did not grow potatoes and then he went into the story about the blight and the potato famine. I know when people grow potatoes here on their own property and their backyards a person can easily grow a ton of potatoes in a moderately sized backyard. We also have the hillbilly method which I would not be surprised if that is a Scott or Irish thing that we just brought over where they grow potatoes above ground in vertically stacked tires
That's because the blight affected most of Europe and North America, it only became a famine in Ireland because of the actions / inaction of the British government and their strict adherence to free market capitalist principles.
First of all it's a well made video, however the narrator seems to talk in a way that what he's saying is absolutely fact which is his first mistake. He's completely wrong about how irish people became largely dependent on potatoes somehow implying that they somehow knew no better and that it was their own choice to become complacent. The truth is that the British forced this diet on the poorer and working classes of the day. Before the potato blight it was common practice for all grains and meats harvested to be taken by the British to be shipped around the empire. Ireland was yielding incredible amounts of food both before the blight, during it, and afterwards. When the blight happened it was seen by the British as an opportunity to thin out the troublesome irish population who had already many many attempts to break away from British rule, most notable at that time was the 1798 rebellion. The British were losing their grip on this valuable island, the blight came at the right time for them. What they did then was possibly the worst crime against humanity in human history even rivalling the holocaust. They simply did nothing and continued to remove food from Ireland and even increased exports under armed guard. They systematically starved my ancestors. There was no famine in Ireland. It was merely a result of tyrannical rule under one of the most evil empires ever to exist. It took 800 years of continuous attempts to free Ireland of Britain, so this video is poorly informed to think that the Irish were some sort of absent minded race of people who just became too reliant on one crop. Also the narrators version of events after the war of independence is the result of lazy research. It's far more complex than what he says. I could go on and on but I'm not going to. I'll just say I wish this guy done more research about my homeland in which I still live. We are a proud race of people with a rich history that can be traced back to ancient times, long before British rule where we built some incredible structures that predate the pyramids. The British almost wrote us out of history, but they didn't succeed, we're still here and we still have our cultural identity and heritage.
I am Irish and the famine still affects us to this day. My family has this hammered in idea of eating everything on your plate. And I feel like a piece of crap whenever I throw away food, even if it’s rotten.
The thing about finishing your plate is definitely a left over habit from poverty of the past. My grandparents grew up during the great depression here in the US as countless others did. They showed their kids how to conserve and it keeps getting passed down the generations. Im the same about feeling bad for throwing away food. So now I order smaller meals and make my own plate smaller. Our ancestors were primarily concerned with survival and mouths to feed but they didnt realize those habits would be part of the perfect storm to cause weight problems throughout that society. With those big challenges gone, everyones just been enjoying the craic and stuffing their faces on both sides of the Atlantic, it seems. PS Always throw away rotten food, but you could make a compost pile and start a garden there if you're into that. Best wishes to you
I reckon it has something to do with our obesity level too. Ireland was the most obese country in the world in 2015, North America second. I always had a hunch it was connected to the relatively recent famine.
I work in an electrical shop in West Cork. One day, a 70+ year old bloke pulled up in his Ducati superbike, he was wearing a red kevlar jacket. It was a quiet day, we were the only two in the shop and a terrible shower had just come down, so I invited him to take shelter in the shop for a few minutes. Intrigued by the elderly gent, I asked him what he did for a living. He told me he was a retired flight simulator engineer and pilot. In order to follow his dreams, he moved to the UK and later Belgium and worked there nearly all his life so he could do what he loves and I could tell from talking to him that he had a passion for aviation. He explained to me that in order to pursue his ambitions, he had to leave Ireland for new horizons. He said "The factories on the banks of the River Liffey [in Dublin, where he was from] were a great source of work for young lads, but I dreamt of bigger things so I emigrated. There's just not enough opportunities here". He could tell I looked puzzled. "The banks of the Liffey?", I asked him. "Yes", he replied, "it's all just factories. Mine was an office job." Apparently, he hadn't been to Dublin City Centre since moving back to Ireland. Ever since, the smokestacks of factories have been replaced with glass-facade, state-of-the-art office buildings that act as European headquarters for massive multinational corporations such as Google, Apple, Dell, HP (the list goes on and on). When I told him this, it was like trying to convince someone that the sky wasn't blue. He simply wouldn't believe it, however, I insisted it was true. He paused briefly and reflected. I told him that the reason I knew this was because I had just started studying electrical and electronic engineering in university and all of these companies are based along the banks of the Liffey in Dublin (0:41) as well as in Cork (3:06). I struggled to explain to him using words the immense wealth of opportunity I have in Ireland as an aspiring engineer. It was like we were time travellers sharing details about the different worlds we live in, even though we're both Irish and he was doing the same thing I am doing now just 50 years ago. It was an incredible, eye-opening experience for me to talk to this man. Our conversation ended when the rain dissipated. He zipped up his jacket, wished me well in my studies and headed for the door. His bike was parked just outside the shop. I asked him where he was headed. He turned to me and said with the utmost determination "I'm going to Dublin to see it for myself." Though I haven't seen him since, I hope he got a chance to see the Grand Canal in all its contemporary beauty. I also hope to be there the next time he comes into the shop so I can ask him about it.
I remembered reading that a ottoman sultan tried helping out but the British refused aid out of shame because England didn’t donate the same amount as the ottomans did
BTW - there is no record of this actually happening. Lots of aid came in from lots of countries during the famine (including donations from the Ottoman sultan). There is no evidence of any aid being stopped or hindered by the Brits. In fact the British aid for Irish famine relief was the largest single humanitarian effort in the history of the world before 1900. It just wasn't enough.
Jesus, "British humanitarian aid was the largest in the world at that time," is a funny way of saying, "Ireland was a net exporter of high quality food during the entire famine sending huge quantities to England they couldn't buy or eat themselves due to an array of cruel and disastrous English policies; and the aid being sent in was low quality maize from America that required complex processing in order to become edible and failed to meet the nutritional needs of a starving population who were, horrifyingly, producing huge amounts of life saving food they weren't allowed to eat." There's a real solid argument to be made that the famine was attempted genocide by the English. Truly an awful point in time.
You didn't take something into consideration . In the 1996 census, the population of the Republic was 3.6 million. After the fall of the soviet Union, and Eastern European countries joining the EU, The main reason for the population growth was from immigration from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, etc. Ireland still has a culture of emigration with many young adults opting to leave for America, Canada and Australia.
Opting to go where they can earn enough to pay rents without penury and where the standard of housing isn't a mouldy draughty ould shack/bedroom/bedsit more like. Plenty of us in the EU too.
Considering the housing crisis in Ireland at the moment, it will be interesting to see how we continue from here. I'm 25 and from a pretty small town in Ireland (~30,000 people). I'm planning on moving to a city and Dublin and Galway are not looking very promising at the moment as rent is ridiculously expensive. A lot of young people are moving to Australia, Canada, and the UK, and I don't see that slowing down for quite a while.
@Garrus Vakarian at least there are houses there though lol. The reason Dublin is so expensive is because there is essentially nothing left. There are photos of lines that are a whole street long just to view a shoebox sized house. Also, getting visas to Canada and Australia is wayyyy easier and cheaper, and no need to get one for the UK. US visas are such a headache to get
@Garrus Vakarian comparing Dublin and Vancouver, they're both almost identical in prices (~€2,300 per month for a one bedroom apt )but at least anecdotally it seems there is at least slightly more availability over there, not to mention the lifestyle changes it brings. I bring up Vancouver too cause that is essentially where a lot of Irish in their early 20s are going.
@Garrus Vakarian oh yea that's where i think my generation differs hahaha. I can't even fathom ever owning a home. Just going to be overpaying rent for the rest of my life it looks like lol. And re: your other comment, yep a lot of groups of friends decide to go at once, not sure why. I guess we have a bit of a mass exodus mentality over here haha
Never let victimhood define yourselves. All cultures have been victimized throughout history and have persephered and prospered to become strong confident nations. There is no pride in being a victim.
@@randymoyan7871 Shared trauma is what builds and defines relationships. Generational trauma is a real thing. When I say it defines us as a people, I mean a sense of community, shared deprecating humour, integrity, pride, willpower and determination. Victimhood is not what I was insinuating.
Population doesn't equal wealth, if everyone in your largest city learned collaborative behavior and simple infrastructure engineering you would easily out pace Ireland in quality of life
Thanks for the excellent video! However, the statistics regarding Ireland's recent GDP growth are extremely misleading. Since introducing very low corporate taxes in the 1990s, many multinationals have, on paper, relocated activities to Ireland, giving the impression that Ireland's economy is much bigger than it actually is. It's worth noting that this policy is extremely bad for other European nations, as it allows companies to avoid paying tax that would otherwise to European public budgets. Perhaps this is Ireland's revenge for the near-genocide of the nineteenth century?
This is a good, well-balanced story of Ireland's recent history. My family has roots in Kerry on the west, but moved - as many did - to work in the mines of Wales. In the late 19th century, they moved to America, finding work in the steel mills and coal mines. My parents' generation and subsequent ones are doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, authors and artists. We won't forget our Irish heritage.
Very same family history, except my grandfather worked in Wales in coal mines, and came over to Indiana, and worked at US Steel Company in Gary. He had a large Catholic family, all of whom have done well! Last name was Stack.
I did a report on the Irish Potatoe Famine in highschool. It astonished me, even as the descendent of Irish immigrants to the U.S just how impactful this was. I can't say I am fully Irish but my family those who immigrated had stories about how their lives were, stark contrast to that of the Welsh side of my family who, ya weren't that well off either but still had better chances. Just shows how disease can harm and how humans can make things worse.
yea it's really sad how 170 years has passed and even still to this day we have not fully recovered from the Great Famine for example at the start of the famine my county had over 200,000 people living in it today it has just under 65,000 people living in it ........ not even 1/3rd of our highest population Island wise we are still 1 Million people short of our all time highest and i may be wrong but i believe we are the only country on Earth with a lower population now than the 19th century
We had a golden age before the English arrived. We were one of the most enlightened countries in the world during the dark ages 500-1000 AD, and led the world in mathematics, astronomy and sciences at that time. We had Christian scholars who saved Europe from the Huns after the fall of the Roman Empire by preserving Christianity and reintroducing it to France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. These scholars invented written Latin and wrote European history down for the record. This written language then permeated Europe for the next 1000 years. If there are ancient Latin documents ....the rule is they were probably written by Irish scholars. We wouldnt know European history if it wasnt for the Irish.
Strictly speaking, Ireland as a name describes the whole island. It’s a bit like Borneo which is also an island, huge by the way. But Borneo is divided up into Brunei, a bit of Malaysia and a bit of Indonesia. Ireland is divided into , for ease of reference, the “republic” and the “north” What you call it day by day largely depends on who you are. It is a Derry/Londonderry thing. Like north east Italy, German speaking in parts,Italian in parts, take a train front Innsbruck in Austria to Verona in Italy over the Brenner Pass and come to Vipiteno, or is it Sterzing. If you dig deep you’ll find that Europe is full of this. The famine, I only know enough to be clear that it was abject poverty borne out of oppression borne out of politics borne out of the Reformation. It casts a huge shadow over the Irish psyche even today. Respect that.
Ireland is a country that not much people talk about, as its location in Europe is pretty far away from major countries except Britain. However looking at it deeper reveals a really fascinating and heartbreaking history.
During WW2 our position was what stopped us from being pulled into a war, and cause of the Atlantic us in Galway are some of the safest people in the world in the case of nuclear war
Fantastic video. I'm Irish and while I knew a lot of what you mentioned there was still a lot of things I didn't know and a lot of nuance to the things I was thought in school.
One thing. You failed to say why many of us Irish can't speak Irish fluently. The real reason was the Penal Laws. The Penal Laws applied to Catholic's and Christianity was the main religion on the Island at that time,so it affected practically the whole Island. Penal laws included:No Catholic had the right to attend school,No Catholic could practice Catholism,No Catholic could practice Gaelic Football and Caomogie (girls version of hurling),No Catholic or anybody on the Island could practice Irish/Gaeilge. There are much more rules that I can't list at the top of my head. As a Irish person I try my best to focus on learning Gaeilge and I very proud that I can call Ireland home. P.S. you make awesome video's!
Bha mi air saor lathain,Erin cuideach, tuath agus deas, tri bliandha air ais, sgoinnnel. I was on holiday in Erin north and south, three years ago, brilliant.
It’s really difficult to explain this kind of thing to people these days, especially if they have visited Ireland in the last decade or two and had very little knowledge of it before then. They see a modern style European market economy with a thriving service industry and high incomes. But they don’t understand the deep underlying demographic problems and the scale of the national trauma that have profoundly influenced the country and made it quite different to almost anywhere else in Europe.
Demographic trauma? Everyone leaves Ireland for cultural reasons. The world quite likes the Irish so as youngsters they travel, find that they are welcome in most of the world and many stay. I fail to understand the mystery. People have always been Ireland's main export, even when times are good.
Neither "GDP" nor "GDP per capita" are good indicators to depict Ireland's economy. The country serves as the mailbox for many large corporations operating within the EU. It is debatable how much they truly contribute to the Irish economy.
I live in the Appalachian Mountains. I’m told Scott-Irish people came to our area during this. It ended up playing a major role in Appalachian culture and music.
The big immigration to the Appalachians from Ireland was about a century before the famine -- it was overwhelmingly protestants -- most from Ulster -- escaping the grinding poverty there.
@@otsoko66 Don't oversell it. While the Ulster Protestant contingent was dominant in the 18th Century, there was a significant minority of regular Irish who also came during the period. Most of the latter converted to Protestantism at some point.
Ulster-Scots or Scots- Irish as you call them, were Protestant invaders that dispossessed the native Irish of their lands during the plantations. Different people.
I think one thing people are forgetting is immigration. A lot of the growth in England has come from immigration. Most of the immigration has come to England. It isn’t guaranteed that people would’ve immigrated to Ireland in the same numbers.
We weren't that wealthy until the late 1990's hence not very attractive to genuine refugees and economic migrants. The influx has spiralled since about the turn of the Millenium with many negative impacts e.g. a severe housing crisis and an overwhelmed healthcare system.
I love your videos, can't wait to watch it. I don't ever put in request or anything but your recent video on Vegas's water usage has me super interested about the impact of a Mississippi canal leading to the west coast like some folks have proposed in recent years.
The irish people are strong and their community is famous around the world. Here in Canada we have many Irish descendants and we still celebrate St-Patrick's day with a parade each year. We considered them as brothers.
Im a small time Irish youtube who has a channel about Ireland , From walking , drones and Cycling around the city and even hikes in the beautiful countryside , im sorry to hop in on another persons video and try steal focus , but im mainly targeting those who love Ireland and want to visit or who have visted and see if they may like my content , As i said im small so it might not be the best quality and no where near as much detailed informaiton as this channel , but its Quaint ... and some stupid jokes thrown in for fun lol
As a person who moved to Ireland, people that have had ancestors during the famine said it was catastrophic for the population. But Ireland is now one of the most beautiful and one of the best countries to live in the world.
@@solid7468 honestly im not one for talking big plans and policy change, it takes too long, best thing i can do for my own circumstances is leave and get a better offer in a different country
@@RoCK3rAD Most of them are already occupied in my opinion. But its defo more complex than that. All i know is that someone isnt going to pay me 15€ an hour to work at a Tesco, which means I can't save for college if i was already scraping by with an shared apartment working 40 hours a week, then college isnt an option otherwise id be homless thats the basic barrier to entry i can think off, theres probs more, im just too tired to think of much else atm
Fun fact: In italian "potato famine" ("crisi della patata") can also mean "pussy scarcity". I'll let you imagine the laughs any time our history teacher in hs would say something like "the irish population suffered greatly because of the potato famine".
*Adventures in Translation* : Episode 5484369 While in German, "vorspiel" is pronounced in nearly the same way as "forspill" is in Norwegian, never assume similar pronunciations have all the same meanings in *any* language. 🙃😈🇩🇪😁🇧🇻
Irish person here, I was literally peeling potatoes 🥔 for dinner listening to this video 😂 Our population might be small but we have to NO houses to rent or buy 🤣😭
This is because you have a open border with EU and very laxed immigration for non EU people instead trying to get your population up naturally your politicians decided to inflate it with migrants for short term gains.
I have quite a few issues with this video. I get your trying to be unbiased but It leaves out a large portion of historical context as to why the Irish were stuck reliant on eatting a single crop when a multitude of crops were grown. It doesn't specify how the British government at the time quite literally wanted the Irish to starve and thought the famine was vengeance from god. The British government at the time plundered, stole and did not care and in quite a few cases were overjoyed at the Irish suffering as it cemented England political power. The Irish ate grass while watching the food they grew be transported to England (and this was forced. Keep in mind there were few to no Irish landowners. All the farms were owned by British residents). To this day we remember the famine and the horrible attitudes people had against us. We hope the world learns from it. But the effects are still felt even today. The Irish culture and society was in short destroyed.
I gained Irish family by marriage. The younger ones want to stay and make families in Ireland, but it's so hard for them afford to stay, so they've been leaving the country for work, in hopes of starting careers they can build and return with. It's a real gamble.
You forget many irish men fought against England and died,more irishmen fought for England in ww2 and against England at same time,might help you find the missing numbers
As an Irishman, I'm very proud to see what a good job you've done in portraying the attrocities that brought us to where we are today. One of the best countries in the world and it's sad to see that we could have been so much better. Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste.
This imperialist shill hardly even portrayed the British purposeful starving of our people.... pretending that it was the "Not banning of food stuff exports" instead of what it was which is British absentee landlords taking Irish food out of Ireland to feed their profits instead of the people who grew and needed the food. Not to mention the openly genocidal Malthusian arguments that were popular among the Imperial politicians. Pretending it was a policy failure is white washing the crimes of the British
I'm Irish on my father's side, they left county Waterford in Ireland for Australia in the post famine period in the mid 1800s for a better life and they chose to live in the mid North Coast of NSW. My surname is still Irish and as a kid I hated it as I often got picked on, now it's a source of pride knowing that part if my heritage comes from such a Nobel people. The Irish are survivors and innovators
Utube clips can be mildly informative, but for those interested in real social science, the economist Amartya Sen dealt with exactly this kind of situation in his Nobel Prize winning work on economic development of nations. He summed it up in one pithy phrase - "there has never been a Famine in a democracy", pointing to the political roots of Famine. All those defenders of Britain who claim Irish famine was an economic "accident" are clearly not educated enough.
my dads parents left ireland to come to birmingham in the uk, they've both passed but were part of large families so i still feel very connected to the irish side of my family, i have so much pride in it and i think thats something common with everyone with irish ancestry!! thank u for this video, its important for us brits to know what we did
Power corrupts. If we had become rich and powerful, we’d have exploited too. Weird that it’s not taught in UK schools, but I guess it’s a touchy subject.
@@twkotb It was while I was in school, but to be completely fair the British Empire committed so many atrocities that it’s a bit difficult to cover them all.
@@randomuruk7230 Some attention? lol our famine is arguably the most famous in the world and is what a large majority of people think of when the word famine is said. (at least in the west)
The Irish Potato Famine was so severe, that it’s even cemented in American History, due to the insane amount of people that traveled to the country. New York City changed forever.
Strange fact is when the Irish moved into the south they became the core of the KKK the British starving them didn't really do anything for them to have humility and kindness for the black Americans
@@harveyjenko6666 i can relate to this since India had huge famines under british rule, in which 50 million people died. And famines were rare in Indian history before the british.
I’m a dairy farmer living in Co Kerry, Ireland and my farm is right next to a big town. On maps we have of the farm from the early 1800’s we can see the entire farm was almost like a small village, loads of what would of been mud huts with families living in them dotted all over the farm.
@@joeb7640 houses in the countryside in Ireland in the early 1800’s bar the wealthy landlords were all made of mud huts with thatched roofs, that’s the way it was
While the potato led to famine in Ireland, it did the OPPOSITE for us regarding our Arduous March. When the USSR dissolved, and economic collapse caused an electricity shortage that stopped agriculture reliant on irrigation systems, our people faced an Arduous March. The solution my father saw to save the nation? The potato. Easy to grow in the mountainous terrain, grow lots of them, and can use them for so many things. It's really sad to see the Irish language decline. There are a good few Gaeltachts in Ireland today, and with regular Irish schools teaching it as a subject, but the damage has already been done, Irish is now considered as a "dying language". The education system in Ireland doesn't help either, you don't even learn the language and how to fluently speak it, you just learn how to translate English to Irish.
I am Irish, Great video. For anyone who is a football (soccer) fan the song the Irish sing directly relates to the famine. Its called the fields of athenry. LOW LIE THE FIELDS OF ATHERNY WHERE ONCE WE WATCHED A SMALL FREE BIRD FLY OUR LOVE WAS ON THE WING WE HAD DREAMS AND SONGS TO SING ITS SO LONELY ROUND THE FIELDS OF ATHENRY and repeat as loud as you can (this is only the chorus of course)
Spot on video. Only things I would say is that Irish communities in the UK were very well established long before the 1950s, and even the famine itself, in places like Liverpool, London and Glasgow.
If the British authorities had been willing to implement relief measures similar to what took place in continental Europe then the Irish death toll would have been in the 1000's or 10,000's instead of over a million. Their total indifference to the 'savage' Irish and the insistence on exporting food totally devastated the island and the Irish language. Tragic.
Being Irish and knowing the full story, I have one big issue with this otherwise very well made video. It fails to fully explain why we were so dependent on potatoes, when we actually farmed a large variety of food types at the time. Oats, barley, meat and more were all being plentifully produced on the island during the famine - all were forced exports to Great Britain. Cheap spuds were the mainstay of the Irish due to general poverty under British rule and lack of time and resources for homestead farming. This dependency on potatoes was artificial, a result of the demands of colonial rule. Food was continually robbed from the island even as we starved - 'starving in the midst of plenty' is a quote taken from a sympathetic landowner of the time. While this video acknowledges to a degree the British role played in the starvation of the Irish during the 1840s, it actually understates it, and in so doing suggests that it was Irish short-sightedness or, even worse, laziness that led to an over-reliance on a single crop type. The Irish have been master farmers for centuries upon centuries, and although new to the potato as a crop, would have been well aware of the dangers of putting all their eggs in one basket, so to speak. They simply had no choice but to do so.
Extremely well put young jack not to mention what has happened since, I come from crossmaglen
Exactly the point in my comment also. Well said Jack.
Exactly, the English landed gentry was in power and saw an opportunity to expand its holdings and further enrich themselves. Who cares about people below 'the cut'? No ruling class has been as hypocrite as the English toffs and still is. They did it again in 2016 by fooling people into Brexit from which the wealthy profit immensely. And again in 2022, grabbing billions in the midst of an extreme crisis for the non-wealthy. Dumbdumb Truss was fooled and now went full Trumpian with her tax bill.
The Irish would have done better agriculturally if they would have teamed up with the Dutch. But unfortunately, the Irish are Roman Catholic to the hilt and Roman Catholic countries are notorious for underdevelopment as there is something wrong with that church (I don't know what, probably the way it is organised, for the faith itself is OK) that keeps people stupid and down. You see this in every R-C country of the world.
I'm not surprised. Britain did that with all its colonies. Who cares if there's a famine, right?
As an Irishman my myself I can say that the great famine was one of the greatest tragedies that ever happened in Europe… some would even call it an attempted genocide
Due to one of the main reason for why the famine happened being legal reason (britain) it is fair to say a genocide.
The English attempted genocide... I'm shocked I say shocked / heavy sarcasm
I’m sure the monarchy has taken full credit for this and worked to rectify its history
@@Felixxxxxxxxx The difference is the government (the British government) did nothing to help us. They let us starve because they thought we deserved it. We owe more to the Turks and to the Chocotaw then we ever do to the British.
So true, even the 1916 rising, the troubles or the cromwellian war don't compare to the devastation that was the famine
As an irish person I find it absolutely baffling how there were more Irish than Egyptians in the 19th century. Ireland are doing well now but it's been a combination of hard work and smart thinking. We were poor as crap up until the 90s. While we come across very jovial at times scratch below the surface and there is still a lot of pain.
Well we weren’t too bad off since the early 70s, it’s just the 90s when we got rich
Now it’s the rising cost of living putting downward pressure on population growth
Generational trauma runs deep in Ireland
Ireland is wealthier today because it abandoned the idea of government socialism and adapted free market thinking but it has a welfare state mentality.
And slowly that welfare state is eating up all of the great market gains Ireland achieved.
Look at how much arable land Egypt does not have
Irish GDP per capita tends to abstract away the "pass-through" economy problem. Essentially, the Republic of Ireland is perhaps the best entry point into the European Union economy, primarily (but not only) because of really low taxes. A lot of goods and services enter into Ireland only to be sold to the rest of the EU. GDP is going to be artificially high, but the benefits to the Irish economy and people are tiny.
Yes, there are a lot of big firms based in Dublin that do nothing for Dublin as a city, let alone the country as a whole.
A 2019 UN "Quality of Life Index" of all countries ranked Ireland as having the 2nd best "Quality of Life" in the world.
Only oil-rich Norway scored better.
No country is perfect ...but... being ranked the 2nd best place to live in the world by the UN must mean something.
Happy New Year from Ireland.
It’s no longer a republic but rather a woke democratic system.
yeah this is kinda poorly researched for this video and dissappointing
@@richl6966 but does provide jobs for your people?
You did a great job with this video! I'm a 22 year old Irish woman, I've lived in Mayo in the West of Ireland (which was one of the counties that suffered the most during the famine) for my entire life, and I can absolutely still see the great effects the famine has on the people. The tiny road I live on, which is barely a kilometre long, used to have 100 people living along it. Now there are less that 40. There have been studies to suggest that current generations are still effected by the feeling of starvation and scarcity mindset that means that our bodies actually hold onto more calories than average. It can be hard to find records of our ancestors, as so many moved abroad and brought their documentation with them. I know maybe 4 people who speak fluent Irish, but that's only because they grew up in Gaeltacht areas, where most people speak Irish on a day-to-day basis in their communities. Most of my peers would regard the famine as a genocide. Although the overreliance on potatoes was real, other crops still existed and would have kept us afloat if the English didn't insist on exporting them. It's true that the average Irish male ate approx. 20 potatoes A DAY, but we did have other food available. During the famine, people resorted to eating grass, hedgehogs, all sorts of stuff because they were so desperate. Some of the quotes from English leaders at the time about the famine are actually appalling and downright heartless. They had no problem stripping the lands of its resources, helping out their own English landlords, and leaving the Irish to starve. No wonder we still have bitterness towards the English.
Bit dumb singling out the English when it was the British government in control
@@NashvilleUK Scotland and Wales were colonised by the English. So I think blaming the individual coloniser, the English, over the British as a whole, makes more sense
Despite all that happened, in schools they never call it a genocide, to avoid anti British sentiment. We are a nation that experienced immense tragedy whether it be under the British as well as under our own catholic church and laundries. Hopefully as we begin to thrive we can be a good example to other nations.
@@niamhl6964 Scotland joined the union voluntarily.
My grandmother is from Mayo, she immigrated to the states in the 50's. She told me about the effects of the famine as well.
My grandparents left Ireland in 1961, they said there were no economic opportunities for them at home. They're amazed at how much the country has grown since
Seems they left as the island's situation was scraping rock bottom, and about to finally take a turn for the better.
Oh wow. That's my family's story too. My grandparents left the homeland in the late 50's, settled in the Bronx, NY. God bless
Same thing happened to my grandparents and my my grandaunts and uncles, but luckily my grand parents ended up moving back after 20 years. But since my grand aunts and uncles didn’t I have a lot of American/English/Welsh relatives
Me too- did they go to the USA or Canada?
So sad that Irish language is now extinct
I've lived in Ireland for the past 13 years, and it's fascinating to think of how the country would have looked had it not suffered the famine and reached the 20+ millions you indicated. Instead of just Belfast and Dublin we might have had other large cities, perhaps in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, or Galway.
The world would suffer. Remember, the Irish had the 3rd largest voting population in the US. Without them, most nations would still be a colony after WW2.
If you look at the population spread from 1800, it’s seems most populated areas where mid north east. I’d say we could have had a few mega city’s up the east coast, like Dublin, in Drogheda and Dundalk leading up to Northern Ireland city’s.
A city like Dublin would have been a metropolis.
@@somerandomperson3970 US would have been better for it too, if the famine did not happen. We're talking about a massive butterfly effect here that gets stronger the more time goes on. By the time ww2 comes around people who wouldn't have otherwise been born in Ireland could end up changing the geopolitical landscape as we know it, long before ww2. Perhaps Ireland annexes England or becomes their equal in power. Many possibilities.
@@mycelia_ow England will always be part of Ireland with Northern Ireland
My great-grandmother x3 came to Australia 1849.
She was a famine orphan.
Came through the Earl Gray transport system.
She had a hard life, had 11 children and I thank her for giving me a life.
I've been to Ireland,and I hope to return one more time.
The Irish are truly welcoming people.
how many children do you have?
@@christophercolumbus8944 five. And five grandchildren.
@@jstone247 excellent good for you
i hope theyre all full blooded irish
@@christophercolumbus8944 That doesn't really matter.
During the Famine, Ottoman Sultan sent three ships loaded with wheat. The British blocked the ports for them, but one of the ships managed to drop the cargo at a beach close to Drogheda, it helped local starving fisherman.
People harp on about the messed up stuff the US has done but completely ignore the evil shit England has been doing for centuries
That Sultan probably saved lots of lives. And even more if not for the English. Thank you from a Irish American and thank you for this story 🙏
Lies lol
@@lasakau272 No, truth in that one. The Drogheda football team even have a crescent moon on their jerseys in honour of it. Worth a look, and if you're interested in outside help to Ireland check the Choctaw Nation from the USA, amazing solidarity
@@jamescurtis9634 Glad you mentioned the Choctaw- Their numbers were literally decimated, having just struggled to their new, bare land over the "Trail of Tears." Yet their hearts were so touched by this evil, they sent almost $100 (which was clearly worth far more then than now) to those suffering in Ireland. I will always have a warm place in my heart for the Choctaw.
Fun fact: I helped paint the graffiti on the building at 0:18. Finbar McHugh is the artists name!
Never thought I'll see you here
Real Engineering and RealLifeLore should form a team and challenge Sam to do another Jet Lag: The Game.
Hi Real Engineering :D
Real Engineering helped paint graffiti featured in b roll footage of the footage explaining how our population is small... Forget the video, that shows how small we are lmao
Nice, that's a cool piece of art.
As a Brit, what England did do Ireland is heart breaking, it's not something we learn about in schools very much which is a crime, we need to hear about the consequences of Empire more often
its not a crime though
its completely irrelevant
True it's not a crime, but we should and could have done a lot more to help the Irish than we did.
@@WinterIsBestSeason69 I agree with your name. It's almost that time of year! We already have snow in the mountains where I live.
@@WinterIsBestSeason69 The UK is happy to call what Russia did in Holodomor a genocide but what they did in Ireland and Bengal isn't?
@@WinterIsBestSeason69 This has to be one of the stupidest comments I have ever read.
Yes they let their own country starve and were able to do that because it was their country. If Ireland were independent they would have kept the food.
So not only did they not help Ireland by giving their own country food, they took whatever food they had. Also they essentially made them slaves for food. Do you not realize how barbaric it was.
You missed out on an important figure, Thomas Malthus. He was a Welsh economist who theorized that Ireland was overpopulated in 1794, thus leading to the action of forcefully withdrawing food from the Irish by the British army, causing a famine. Malthus actually coined the term "overpopulation", that we now use today. He wrote an essay titled, "A Principle on The Theory of Population" in the late 1700's where the term was first used. In it, he theorized that populations can be controlled through war, famine or disease. I would recommend everyone read it. Malthus is often quoted by some political figureheads today which is a bit concerning to me, personally. Klaus Schwab wrote a a dissertation in 1964 regarding controversial Malthusian ideas, here's the title of that, "Thomas Malthus was right and I can prove it." Some governments still seem to be on board with the idea of controlled famine, so what happened to Ireland doesn't seem to be ancient history. It may even be regarded by some as a blueprint for successful depopulation.
Are you saying that the British government intentionally committed genocide on Ireland's population?
definitely there are governments that want to depopulate the world nowadays
That's a silly theory, the population is the biggest drive of the economy. In Ireland case, the stupid or cruel British laws are to blame
@@AB-fo3hj you know nothing of the true intentions
@@MiloManning05 it saddens me when white nations are put in collision with each other, instead of synergizing. Analyzing these instances (of clashing) is very important
As a young Irish lad from Dublin, I have to say that this is one of the best summaries of recent Irish history that I've seen, and way more consumable than hisory class. I want Ireland to do great, and I primarily want the Irish language to grow. This video has reminded me how important this country and this language are to me and other Irish people. Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. Go raibh míle maith agat don físean seo! Tiocfaidh ár lá!
Can you tell me why are Irish so rich, the GDP per capita omg?
Cope, seethe. Rule britannia 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
I agree I really hope the Irish language will flourish again someday. I am an American with Irish grand parents so it’s difficult for me to learn Irish. But if I had the opportunity I absolutely would!
@@grandebadidea7689 because corporations register there for tax purposes pushing it up massively. Its inflated
Dia duit!
Nowadays it’s not a shortage of food, it’s a shortage of housing.
Right now we aren’t able to keep a roof over the heads of our homeless, refugees and sometimes even students. Definitely a problem we’ll have to work hard to tackle over the next decade or so
How do you rationalize a country where new housing is always being built and the average family has 1.38 children also has a housing crisis? Seems obvious that the problem isn’t housing…
@@darkMuffin31 do some research before you comment, it’s not just the fact that there are little houses being built, it’s the extortionate price of rent that landlords are charging meaning young people and worse off families are unable to have their own home.
@@darkMuffin31 there's a video by Foil, Arms and Hog: "Why you'll never buy a house in Ireland"
@@conallmccabe385 But they couldn't charge a lot if loads of houses were built, increasing competition between landlords. The same thing is happening in Canada, I loan my house, it used to be very hard to find people that wanted an apartment, but now that there are no houses being built and no apartments left, I crank up the prices, just like everyone else since there is no competition. That and rising interest rates mean the house costs more, which is then passed on the people loaning. Landlords don't do charity, welcome to the real world.
@@darkMuffin31 Well if I remember correctly I read that Ireland and the UK have enough house for all their homeless and about 10% of houses in London for example are vacant because people who buy real estate do that to push up prices and profit.
As an asian, I was always wondering why so many people in the US have Irish ancestry but I found the answer today. Thank you for a nice video!
@ Ui Chroinin Did you have a stroke when writing this?
@Ui Chroinin He/she said that they knew the answer.
most americans are germans, but yes there are lots of irish
@@kobemop that's not even true idk where u got that from
@@v.e1374 if You break down the white population by race there's more of German ancestry than Irish in the US. There's probably more English tbh but a lot of English Americans had been here so long they just started marking down American in the census after that option was opened up so it's hard to know exactly.
One important thing to point out, Ireland's gdp is distorted by the presence of large American multinationals. The Irish government posts figures that exclude these distortions, and these numbers indicate that while Ireland is wealthy, its roughly in line with other parts of Western/Northern Europe.
Exactly, his statistics gloss over what is the reality. One reality being young people unable to purchase homes and high rental rates.
Corporation Tax farming is a major income stream for ireland - that's why it dropped its rates to bring HQs from europe to irl.
I was thinking the same thing. A distorted statistic.
Greetings from Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. I am a 70s baby growing up in a hugely challenging and changing Ireland. I thoroughly enjoyed watching RealLifeLore breakdown of Irelands turbulent past. The piece was well researched and written by . No real sticky bits. Thanks RealLifeLore.
🇬🇧
Yessir fellow limerick brother
As an Irishman I would have loved if Irish was still the main language of the island. I've learned it throughout school but sadly hardly remember any as it isnt widely spoken, especially in the east where I live.
From what I've been able to hear, it's a beautiful and unique language (at least within the context of European languages). Really does suck that England is such a sucky overlord.
Economically, Ireland is better off having English as the main language as English is the world's lingua franca and it is one of the main reasons for foreign direct investment.
@@silveriver9 That is certainly true! It would just be nice to have our own language I believe. I am also envious of the fact that the majority of Europeans are bilingual and how they seem to find it much easier to pick up other new languages as they already have experience becoming fluent in a second one.
The education system teaches it horribly
@@liamcullen5105 Terrible, but no use of it outside of school doesnt help. I'd love to compare it to how English is thought in other countries.
This is one of the most accurate accounts of the situation we faced here in Ireland. Thank you for drawing attention to the devastation our country suffered.
I am thoroughly disappointed for this video not showing the oppression of Ireland that has been going on for centuries before this, and outcries of "let the Irish starve, it is their divine punishment" kind of rhetoric that existed during the famine but was certainly far older, as in the 1600s, some English scholars suggested an artificially created starvation to teach the Irish their place. Not to mention numerous attempts to paint Irish as "half-ape subhumans related to half-ape Iberians" etc. to dehumanize and discourage any human sympathy to the residents of the island.
The starvation and the refusal to give back what they exploited for centuries by basic relief aid, was just what the English were trying to do for centuries: steal the land and drive out the population. Not to mention the steady decrease in land fertility was at the expense of Ireland but done for the benefit of England.
Then of course when the English took everything and some Irish followed it to England, the English will portray this as Irish being spiteful but cannot help but eat off the England's hand.
But in actuality more like robbing people and using to build industries with it, then pretending giving mere crumbs of what was stolen that Irish are forced to "work to earn" as "magnanimous ever-sympathetic charity" from the English.
Australia and Canada will rule the commonwealth in 100-200 years, UK is next to fall
As an Irish person settled in Norway with Norwegian family I can say that the need to emigrate is still very high in Ireland . Modern issues mostly revolve around housing , we can’t get that right even after the worlds worst housing crash the world has seen.
Sure even those of us looking at a year or two back are eyeing up Belfast. The Republic is no place to risk being homeless/living out of grossly overpriced short term lets or airbnbs while looking for work. Even those living back there still, many have moved up North from what I see.
As an Irishman this still stings terribly to think about, it's insane the country was so much bigger, at its lowest we got to only 3 million I believe
It's even infuriating, like with India and Pakistan, even as the English were driven out they sowed division in Ireland to make the nation to split apart to delay England from receiving the tiniest fraction of what can be called its just desserts.
@@CrabTastingMan I don't think we sowed division as we were driven out - I think we did it 300 years earlier during the european religious wars.
@@CrabTastingMan You can't blame the English if south Asians and Irish hate each other, it's not England's fault if Irish protestants and Catholics hate each other or Hindus and Muslims hate each other.
@@bristoled93 wow I wonder if you're biased at all with that profile picture
@Reverend Boaz that's what I thought, you're probably an American aswell are you?
The most amazing thing about Ireland is how they turned their history into a positive by helping other countries who struggle with hunger, I love the Irish!
how can you love them? they are white colonizers
Cool
That's why you see a lot of Palestinian support here aswell. We understand how wrong it is to hold an entire population hostage in their own country.
Thanks
@@himynameis3664 Oh yeah hundred percent.. Cant believe after what the jews were through theyd do the exact same thing without a second thought..
Thank you for making this video. Its a tragic history that I wish more people were aware of. Both my mom and dad's side were from families that fled Ireland during the famine. There's so many layers to this tragedy beyond just the initial loss of life and lands. My fathers side never recovered financially from leaving. They still live in pretty serious poverty generations later after coming to America.
I'm British and it makes me sick what our government did in that period (and still f**king do). At least a national recognition in Britain is in order, if not a full official apology from the royal family. I have never met an Irish person I disliked, and agree that as a nation, it is truly remarkable how much they have given the world, in music particularly. Long live Ireland!
Thanks, Hugo that's a really nice post. We did get an apology of sorts from the Queen when she visited Ireland. She said "things that were done in Ireland which she wished never happened" We'll take it and move on. It's not like the ordinary British people were treated any better in the industrialised city slums of GB. The rich are always fu*king over the hard-working middle class and the poor.
Tears of Crocodiles.
Edit: If a butthurt is still reading this, do not reply. I am tired of this and you will neither get nor deserve any reply from me.
Apology? What's apology gonna do? That's right! Nothing. Your government comitted massive atrocities in my country India but as an Indian, I would rather have British Government have some dignity than Tears of Crocodiles. Apology for something which happened centuries ago is not going to change anything. If I was a British Person, I would've been extremely ashamed of you.
My country is not Innocent BTW, over 400,000 Hyderabadis were killed in the Hyderabad Genocide. I do feel sorry for it but I do not think I am the one who's accountable for that horrific events. I would stand against any form of apology though I will 100% support reparations.
This is what I don't like about the modern west. They base their entire Identity around a guilt that happened a long time ago.
@@mohdadeeb1829 what do you want them to do?
Yes, the people who ruled britan a century ago did unspeakable things to India and all the other colonies, but what do you want the modern british population to do? They can't go back in time to stop colonialism and why should they pay for something that they have nothing to do with and that they didn't even ask for? No one can fix the past and that's that. If you don't want an apology from them then there's nothing else they can do for you.
@@vladitnt7576 I just want everyone to move on just like the Japanese.
Love the video, I feel you did the history a justice. One short note though: I feel like it's important to explain why the Irish became dangerously reliant on potatoes, because it wasn't out of choice or ignorance. The vast majority of land used for agriculture production was owned and organized by platantioners from England and worked on by Irish laborers. Most Irish had to grow crops in off seasons or on land considered unsuitable for crop production (except for the amazing potatoes that grow anywhere) when the famine hit, most of these plantationers were concerned about their yields and profits and not the lives of those living and working on their plots, so they sent mercenary tax collectors and farm managers to make sure tenants were still paying dues (or being evicted if they weren't) and still producing their crops. That's why food exports didn't stop during the famine, that's why the whiggs built workhouses instead of provide aid to make sure the Irish were still producing value instead of consuming. In my opinion, it's profit incentivized genocide and should be labeled as such. The same title can be given to the horrific famines during colonial India imo. But we should legitimize this definition of genocide.
Ukraine's own Golodomor (aka Holodomor) was also a genocide although collectivization across the Soviet Union was likewise an abject failure.
Yeah I was a bit ticked this video kinda makes it look like Ireland just screwed itself over with eatingn too many potatoes like some dumb pig.
I am thoroughly disappointed for this video not showing the oppression of Ireland that has been going on for centuries before this, and outcries of "let the Irish starve, it is their divine punishment" kind of rhetoric that existed during the famine but was certainly far older, as in the 1600s, some English scholars suggested an artificially created starvation to teach the Irish their place. Not to mention numerous attempts to paint Irish as "half-ape subhumans related to half-ape Iberians" etc. to dehumanize and discourage any human sympathy to the residents of the island.
The starvation and the refusal to give back what they exploited for centuries by basic relief aid, was just what the English were trying to do for centuries: steal the land and drive out the population. Not to mention the steady decrease in land fertility was at the expense of Ireland but done for the benefit of England.
Then of course when the English took everything and some Irish followed it to England, the English will portray this as Irish being spiteful but cannot help but eat off the England's hand.
But in actuality more like robbing people and using to build industries with it, then pretending giving mere crumbs of what was stolen that Irish are forced to "work to earn" as "magnanimous ever-sympathetic charity" from the English.
@@wainber1 England killing 7 million people in the Bengal Famine, despite even the viceroyalty objecting Churchill's requisition of Indian grain "for English to eat in case the war drags on for longer." (Churchill ignored the warnings and said something along the lines of "if the famine is so bad, why isn't that rebel Gandhi dead yet?") was tantamount to the 7 million for the dead Ukrainian deaths during the Holodomor. This is why 50,000 Ukrainians fought their oppressor Stalin with Germany's help in the Ostlegionen, and 5,000 Indians even went to Germany to form the Free India Legion to fight the English oppressors.
thanks for bringing out the similarities of genocide in India in 19th century and Genocide in Ireland. British were even more evil than Nazis
EXACTLY!! It wasn't a famine--there was food to be eaten, but the Irish weren't allowed to eat it. It all had to be exported. Behind the Bastards did a great 2 parter on this back in April (That Time Britain did a Genocide in Ireland) that goes over all the ways that The Hunger was a genocide and not a famine.
I’m British and I seriously, *seriously* wish this was taught in our schools. Ireland is our next door neighbour, we have similar geographies and ancestries. We should have been natural allies. I’m sorry that the British aristocracy and political class used and used Irish lands like they meant nothing. Great video as always.
Sometimes I really think countries really love to leave out major horrible conflicts they did to others out of their education system to keep students from knowing it
Another one is British rule in India. At least 3 big famines(larger than the Potato famine by deaths, doesn't make any of these famines more important just a comparison. Benghal famine of 1770, Bangalore Famine 1876-8 and the Benghal famine of 1943-44. Largely due to the priority placed on growing cash crops to export to the UK compared to food for Indians.
@@alcabone1126 The Bengal Famine literally caused by the Japanese invasion of India?
I couldn't agree more here. Whilst we are generally taught about the atrocities caused by and as a result of British imperialism, Ireland in general is barely touched upon despite it essentially being lodged under England's (later Britain's) foot for 800+ years. There's a focus on teaching appreciation of humanity's past mistakes to prevent them from being repeated (transatlantic slave trade, inter-war Germany etc.) and yet our mistreatment of our neighbour was never covered when I was at school, despite the millions of lives lost or ruined as a result. You'd think the comparatively recent troubles would make it even more relevant in context, but apparently not. The actions of those Brits mentioned in the video, as well as others like Oliver Cromwell, are in my opinion completely and utterly despicable and I seriously wish all the best for Ireland as a nation, regardless of whether or not the north reunites with the republic :)
@@alcabone1126 I don’t know about the other two famines but the bengal famine in 1943 is not due to the British at all.
As someone from (born and raised) Ireland and a fan of this channel, this makes me happy!! It’s good to see our story told.
And to remind ourselves of our own story. I deliver goods across all the country and I've seen just how fine the Irish people are in every corner. Obviously you get the scum as in every country but overall some great people. It's no surprise that the Irish have flourished across the world.
@Robert Evans No thanks
Im British born but all my grandparents are from Ireland and we werent taught nothing about the famine. I love the U.K. but its really hard not to be angry at what happend and just seeing how even my grandparents coming here 100 years later in the 60s were consequences of the famine. I also think seeing that map of Ireland and the U.K. with Northern Ireland separated really is like a last kick in the teeth after so much torture.
I was always drawn to Ireland the green island. 🙂 I hope to visit one day. Greetings fellow humans from Bosnia 🇧🇦
Greetings from Ireland, I've always loved Bosnia and feel we share a history of enduring hardships. I'd love to visit your beautiful country one day. 🇮🇪❤️🇧🇦
Cead mile failte
It’s very nice, but they need more trees. Also I noticed an astonishing lack of plant diversity even in the wilder areas. I was in the southwestern part of the country.
@@grumpofitzgerald4350 Strange thing I noticed, a lot of us Bosnians feel attracted to Ireland for some reason. Maybe it is our similar histories of hardships? Either way, I hope to visit Ireland aswell some day
@@aliannarodriguez1581 this is a legacy of our colonial past. Our country was originally covered in wonderful Irish oak, which was felled to build the cities and infrastructure in England. Today, you can visit the Mary Rose or the House of Commons - all built using Irish oak.
My family left during the famine after we were nearly wiped out. I love the Irish, their history, and how they have bounced back in many ways. They are always quick to have sympathy and empathy for others going through struggle and give everything they can. Love you guys, you make me proud and I hope to visit some day 🇮🇪☘️💚
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you are doing ok sir.
@@vazatimo3000 bruh nothing happened to him it was his great great great grandfather
Do, come visit us👍🇮🇪
@@vazatimo3000 Wtf do you mean? It was his ancestors who suffered, not him. I'm sure he's not starving to death lmao
@@ThwipThwipBoom I know that I was just saying I'm sorry to hear that. That's all and that I hope he and is Family are doing ok now that's all. Nothing wrong with that
To be honest… I haven’t really watched your videos in a while, but years ago, on a different account, I used to be a HUGE fan. Your tsunami video is still my favourite UA-cam video to date. The book you wrote is sitting on my shelf right now, one of my favourite non-fiction books. I watched your 100k, 1 mill and 2 mill QnA’s. It’s crazy coming back to you with 6 mill. I think I’m gonna start watching you consistently again, since I don’t really know why I stopped watching you in the first place. I love your channel!
maybe you didnt turn on post notifications.... maybe u thought u were too good for the channel and us 🤔
Why haven't you watched his videos of you're a 'huge fan'? Obviously not that 'huge'.
Edgelord responses to your comment, lulz.
it's kind of sad that the Irish population is declining. i visited Ireland back in 2015 with a few friends and honestly the Irish are the sweetest and funniest people ever and the landscape is so sooo breathtaking. hope to visit soon. love from Pakistan.
The GDP grossly misrepresents Ireland's economic standing, big-pharma have some manufacturing and r&d here, plus you've got a bunch of tech companies with European HQs or offices - but the massive profits they makes are barely taxed & flow straight back out of the country. As for population growth, rent is extortionate (and all costs of living are rising unlike pay), foreign investment funds outbid and buy up newly build homes instead of locals, and you've got people in their 20s, 30s and 40s forced to live with their parents or on a friend's couch - not the kind of place you start a family.
It's absolutely appalling that the government have no problem letting big tech and pharma companies in with basically no taxes and pushing the educated population to move to those companies, but they don't actually give those people any resources to like, live. And it's only getting worse. I think it's the pressure that the government felt seeing all these neighboring countries making bank and wanting to feel caught up, but not actually doing much for their own people.
Sounds a lot like the UK, the people in charge basically don't understand economics and are wilfully sabotaging living standards for the sake of making the GDP bigger, or 'line go up' as the meme seems to be.
We can't eat GDP or live in it unfortunately
More than 70% of Google jobs don’t go to Irish people; so you've got people moving here from abroad, further reducing the available housing. For a short time during the pandemic, tech companies told people to go back to their own countries temporarily - as they were working remotely anyway. The tech companies should've been encouraged to build their own new city somewhere in the midlands - (do a compulsary purchase order somewhere in the midlands or west coast) give them free land with a 50-100 year lease & lets them finance the construction layout and chip in to build road & rail links to an airport eg Shannon or Knock.
@@Makofueled BUT THE FREE MARKET!! INVICIBLE HAND VUVUZUELA NO IPHONE
I didn't realize until visiting Scotland that there was also a potato famine in the late 1840s in Scotland also, and it coincided with the Highland Clearances. Though that only affected a few hundred thousand people (as opposed to millions in Ireland) it might make for its own video.
With that said the Irish famine had/has tremendous world-historical importance.
The potato famine affected most of northwest Europe. It hit Ireland hardest, mostly because potatoes were poor people food and most other veg was rich British absentee landlord food.
@Robert Lemon poor people (most Irish) ate potatoes while rich people (like the British who ruled over them) ate other crops.
the potato famine hit the US and nearly all of Europe. the only reason Ireland was affected as hard as they were was due to the English’s policies on governing Ireland. They would not let them import other cheap foods. They wouldn’t let them own land, etc. Ireland would have been impacted the same as say belgium (which relied even heavier on the potato yet didnt starve to the same extent) if it weren’t for the English
The British were feasting on the food being exported out of Ireland during the famine so they didn't suffer to badly.
@@Dutcheh that’s just not true at all, the Irish were allowed to own land and the Belgian reliance on the potato wasn’t even close to the Irish reliance. Ireland suffered from this because they relied strongly on the potato and were poor/unindustrialised.
*me, Irish and a history student, watching this video to see if he made any mistakes* But you didn't! Everything you said was dead on. It's so nice to finally see a video on the Great Famine that actually spoke about the reality of the situation. We didn't starve because of the potato. We starved because of the British policies against us. It was a mass attempted genocide. And it partially worked. Thank you for the amazing content as always!!
He made loads...go read some real history books...
@@joerourke8393 he didn't? Lol
Penal laws? Cromwell? The 1740-1 proportionally deadlier famine? 1780 food shortages as dealt with by Dublin Parliament versus laissez faire approach by London Parliament in 1848 onwards. Role of Catholicism and po
Oh and potatoes don't make lots and lots of babies and population growth, human adults having sex do...and seeing huge levels of population growth as being a good thing...
Typo above by me: role of catholicism & poverty in creation of large population numbers.
@@joerourke8393 "Cromwell? The 1740-1 proportionally deadlier famine? 1780 food shortages as dealt with by Dublin Parliament"
If you care to read the title of the video, it says "why does Ireland have a lower population today than **200** years ago"
Now, I understand that those events did have an effect on the overall population growth of Ireland, but by by the time we hit 200 years ago from today which is 1822, the population is higher than before those events so, so they do not have a lot of relevance in regard to the question posed by the title.
"Oh and potatoes don't make lots and lots of babies and population growth, human adults having sex do"
This is abundantly simple and if you just payed attention in first year geography you might have a basic understanding of demographics. But since you didn't, let me explain!
If a woman and man have a child, they need to feed it. If they have two children they need to feed two children. If they have three children they need to feed three children, and so on.
Now the thing is, humans are intelligent, and if a human mother and father notice they cannot provide enough food for more children they will attempt to not have more children.
In even simpler terms: 1 potatoes can feed one person a day(not actually but just for the purposes of explaining). Man and Woman have three potatoes, so that means they can have one child. If they have two children, one of them will starve. so man and woman will try not to have more than one child.
I'm Argentinian and a great-grandfather and a great grandmother of mine came here around the 1870s. It's a little known fact that the fourth biggest inmigration group was Irish. The first and second were by far Italians and Spanish, and third and fourth French and Irish.
And there's a few Irish groups that exist here in Argentina today.
Che Gavars ancestors came from Co Galway...Ireland " bet you didn't know that my friend
@@gerrytyrrell1507 I don't know a lot about El Che Guevara but I think I read that sometime somewhere. Didn't remember it, thanks. Just checked it, and he was of Spanish, Irish and Guaraní descent, apparently.
Coincidentally, there's an Irish pub in my city called "Galway", in honor of the owners "hometown".
That’s crazy wow. Such a distant land.
Ireland is insane. One of the fastest developing countries in world. There were zero highways in ireland in the 80s, now there’s dozens . My father grew up in a practically broken old serf house. Now his house is surrounded by mansions and now the house is being fixed up and we’re planning to move back to ireland soon.
Ifyou do, make sure to visit all the places, I live in Ireland and I love the country and never knew that a lot of people didn’t know about this, as my ancestors lived through the fammon and I do have relatives in Canada but I’m not sure if they moved there recently or from the fammon, so if you move back here, there are too much places you can visit 😂
Partially is due to the EU. Remember that Farage when asked how the irish issue will be solved after brexit, he said that brexit will have a domino effect and then Irexit will happen (which he campaigned for) and then both countries could have their own little union. Reality is that Ireland is one of the most europhiles countries in the union and partially is because of the British mistreatment.
What will you do for medical coverage? You are not asenior I hope.
In NY where many Irish folks fled to (including my dad's family), there is a special memorial for the famine called the Irish Hunger Memorial right by the WTC. The Irish Hunger Memorial's construction began in March 2001, and despite 9/11, it was completed and dedicated the next year in July. The memorial was designed at a slant to replicate a typical Irish hill. It features not only labeled stones from every Irish county as well as native Irish plants but also an actual 19th century cottage from Attymass in County Mayo that was abandoned in the 1960s as the family who lived there all left for the US and let the memorial have it. So it's a little piece of Ireland right in the middle of a very Irish part of the country, dedicated to both the famine and its legacy through the diaspora.
There is 😮😊 💖🇮🇪🇮🇪
I stumbled on that memorial when visiting New York. It was a pleasant surprise - especially since my father is from Attymass.
i live in ireland, this is very romantized x sorry our hills aren't all at a slant lol
@@clairebatt4030 what does that mean?
@@clairebatt4030 ...... Isn't a hill inherently slanted?
I'm glad you didn't leave out the impact that the British had on the potato famine in Ireland. Belgium had the same potato blight disease around the same time, but they only lost about 40,000 people or so. The deaths in Ireland were greatly exacerbated by the policies of the British.
All of Scandinavia and
the German states also
suffered from the Potato
blight (fungus).
The governments of those
countries imported grain
from USA *for years* to
sustain their farmers on
marginal land. (There was
several waves of potato
blight from 1840's to
1920's) These governments
also offered incentives to
relocate to the US, Canada,
South America.
After the American Civil War
(1860 - 1865) European
governments also made
contracts with land developers
in the Midwest of US/Canda to
purchase land for their poor of
the poorest subjects (Europe's
population was too large to be
sustained on the available
Europeanfarmland.)
The above is why huge swaths
of the Midwest (US/Canada)
have people descended from
Germans and Scandinavians.
At the time of WW1, fully one
quarter (25%) of the population
of USA had at least one "German"
(Scandinavians were grouped
with Germans) grandparent.
How could he leave it out when British policy was the major cause?
Eareaeraea
@@gurrrn1102 If anything, he downplays the British impact, no mentions of the landlords, famine roads and sick workhouses for one thing. Also kind of makes it seem like the Irish farmers only grew potatoes when that wasn't the case, it was just the rest of the crop had to be sold to pay rent and taxes
@@cillian303Yes, details like this shouldn't be left out. Hope he sees this.
I am an Irishman living in Australia. The Irish migrated to US, Canada and Australia and made huge contributions, and dominating these countries. Now free Ireland is a major economy.
As an Irishman, it’s really refreshing to see someone outside of Ireland seeing the seriousness of the famine and how much of an impact it has on our lives over constant destructive and ill-thought British interference here even to this day. I was very surprised about the estimated population growth, shame we might never see 10s of millions of Irish on our land in our lifetime but it’s finally a positive turn for our country. Thank you for the video again mate 🇮🇪
I am Indian when I read first time of Irish famine I cried because it made my memory fresh of Bengal famine.
start having big familes
31.5 million residents
Residents With Irish Ancestry Are in All 3,142 U.S. Counties and Make Up 20% of the Population in Some. Irish heritage is strong in America: More than 31.5 million residents claim Irish ancestry.
We can all come back if ya want??
Wasn't a famine, it was genocide
@@RenegadeRanga shut up.
Potato Famine
Thanks bro you just saved me 17 minutes🙏
Yep
Thank you for letting me know that I won't learn anything from this video
Bri'an
Yea done video over
Our GDP is high because Ireland is used as a tax haven on intellectual property I don't believe we produce anything near that amount.
Irish guy here - have to say this was very well put together. The numbers and statistics are all accurate and well presented. I would argue we would have had massive emigration anyway, even without the famine, as we never industrialized and didn't have the capital or resources to do so. That is now to our advantage as we don't have "old" industries to keep us down and can focus on services and high technology.
I see how Ireland has weaned itself off old industries as a huge contrast to far too much of the rest of the world. Sure Ireland's public transit system may not be the best in the world, but when I visited there, I didn't see the amount of urban blight as I'd seen in Philadelphia or NYC in the past (with my 1st trip to the Republic having taken place the year after my 1 and only visit to Philly, for the wedding of an adopted cousin).
I would think that without the famine, you'd see emigration closer to the levels of other relatively poor European nations at the time, such as for example Norway. That probably wouldn't be enough to set the nation on a downward trend for a century.
As an Egyptian I have always loved the Irish they are strong respectful people who went through hardship and came out only by the hand of their people despite the challenges. they understand suffering and help against it today with the majority supporting Palestinians against the occupation. All my love and support to Ireland 🇮🇪 🇪🇬
MuIIah 😂
@@kt9021 Racist kid
I also support the Palestinian people... ..
Many things to consider though..
One is the "good fight" , another is whom is more powerful...
I would gladly continue in the footsteps of those that had a hand in Lord Mountbatten.. fuck the crown IRA FOREVER!
Go raibh míle maith agat! Grá ó Éirinn
The pan Arab flag is a British invention which the Palestinian and Jordanian flags come from. Never was there an arab country called Palestine. 🤣
My grandpa told me his great grandpa came to Canada from Ireland in the late 1840's. Lines up with the famine. He worked as a carpenter in Ontario, got married and saved up enough to buy some land in the prairies. Built a farmhouse and home quarter and multiple generations were raised there. House is still standing but no longer in the family sadly. Best memories of my childhood are in that house and running around that farm with my cousins like a pack of wild dogs. I would like to go to Ireland one day. I bet there are a million other "Ryans"😃
Plenty of Ryan's still in ireland as well. Very hard to track down long lost family, considering most of that information was destroyed during the civil war. I remember hearing of family that went to Ontario, I'm sure plenty of Ryan's went there.
My great grandfather's story is the same but he was wealthy before leaving Ireland for Canada.
Ryan is a very popular name in Ireland
@@michaelryan9347 Michael O Riain
Your great grandfather was probably carried by a cargo ship. During the famine, cargo ships would ship raw materials from the United States or Canada; cotton from the United States and wood from Canada, and not having anything to export back to those countries, would fill their holds with Irish looking for passage.
My triple-great grandfather, Daniel Hagerty, emigrated at the tail end of the famine in 1858. Like about half of the Irish immigrants he entered through Boston where I was born (well, technically Quincy) and still have a strong family presence. Only three years after arriving in the new world, Daniel enlisted in the Third Massachusetts Regulars as a farrier (horse caretaker) for the Union Army in the Civil War. My dad moved our family west in the late 50's almost exactly a century after Daniel arrived to, ironically, pursue job opportunities.
a farrier is a blacksmith who puts shoes on horses. A horse caretaker would be a stable boy.
@@occamraiser - maybe by today's standards, but not150 years ago. "Farrier" back then was responsible for the complete health and well-being of the horses, not just their feet.
My 3x grandma Thompson's family came over during the famine. Wish her stories weren't lost to time. Her family settled here in Ohio, which oddly enough had the same potato blight as Ireland at the time. Thankfully we have so much food diversity it wasn't an issue.
Oddly enough here in Ohio growing potatoes has been quite rare till about 10yrs ago.
Oh now that you mention it, he said the blight came from the new world!
@@cc23001 and I had never heard of that one I can't say I'm super surprised but I do know that the strain that affected Ireland was also here at Ohio. I ran into a potato farm in Southern Ohio very recently and they told me the yields they were getting and they were absolutely absurd. I told the farmer I was shocked that everybody here did not grow potatoes and then he went into the story about the blight and the potato famine. I know when people grow potatoes here on their own property and their backyards a person can easily grow a ton of potatoes in a moderately sized backyard. We also have the hillbilly method which I would not be surprised if that is a Scott or Irish thing that we just brought over where they grow potatoes above ground in vertically stacked tires
That's because the blight affected most of Europe and North America, it only became a famine in Ireland because of the actions / inaction of the British government and their strict adherence to free market capitalist principles.
@@robokill387 not sure how it's free market to force people to sell food they'd otherwise eat
So ,, the globalists didn’t want any competition
As an Irishman thank you for making this video ♥️🇮🇪
First of all it's a well made video, however the narrator seems to talk in a way that what he's saying is absolutely fact which is his first mistake.
He's completely wrong about how irish people became largely dependent on potatoes somehow implying that they somehow knew no better and that it was their own choice to become complacent. The truth is that the British forced this diet on the poorer and working classes of the day. Before the potato blight it was common practice for all grains and meats harvested to be taken by the British to be shipped around the empire. Ireland was yielding incredible amounts of food both before the blight, during it, and afterwards.
When the blight happened it was seen by the British as an opportunity to thin out the troublesome irish population who had already many many attempts to break away from British rule, most notable at that time was the 1798 rebellion. The British were losing their grip on this valuable island, the blight came at the right time for them.
What they did then was possibly the worst crime against humanity in human history even rivalling the holocaust. They simply did nothing and continued to remove food from Ireland and even increased exports under armed guard.
They systematically starved my ancestors. There was no famine in Ireland. It was merely a result of tyrannical rule under one of the most evil empires ever to exist.
It took 800 years of continuous attempts to free Ireland of Britain, so this video is poorly informed to think that the Irish were some sort of absent minded race of people who just became too reliant on one crop.
Also the narrators version of events after the war of independence is the result of lazy research. It's far more complex than what he says.
I could go on and on but I'm not going to. I'll just say I wish this guy done more research about my homeland in which I still live.
We are a proud race of people with a rich history that can be traced back to ancient times, long before British rule where we built some incredible structures that predate the pyramids. The British almost wrote us out of history, but they didn't succeed, we're still here and we still have our cultural identity and heritage.
I am Irish and the famine still affects us to this day. My family has this hammered in idea of eating everything on your plate. And I feel like a piece of crap whenever I throw away food, even if it’s rotten.
I always ate well until I got Crohn's disease.
The thing about finishing your plate is definitely a left over habit from poverty of the past. My grandparents grew up during the great depression here in the US as countless others did. They showed their kids how to conserve and it keeps getting passed down the generations.
Im the same about feeling bad for throwing away food. So now I order smaller meals and make my own plate smaller. Our ancestors were primarily concerned with survival and mouths to feed but they didnt realize those habits would be part of the perfect storm to cause weight problems throughout that society. With those big challenges gone, everyones just been enjoying the craic and stuffing their faces on both sides of the Atlantic, it seems.
PS
Always throw away rotten food, but you could make a compost pile and start a garden there if you're into that. Best wishes to you
I reckon it has something to do with our obesity level too. Ireland was the most obese country in the world in 2015, North America second. I always had a hunch it was connected to the relatively recent famine.
Are you Irish or "Irish"-American out of curiosity?
Oh give it a rest and stop whinging
I work in an electrical shop in West Cork. One day, a 70+ year old bloke pulled up in his Ducati superbike, he was wearing a red kevlar jacket.
It was a quiet day, we were the only two in the shop and a terrible shower had just come down, so I invited him to take shelter in the shop for a few minutes. Intrigued by the elderly gent, I asked him what he did for a living. He told me he was a retired flight simulator engineer and pilot. In order to follow his dreams, he moved to the UK and later Belgium and worked there nearly all his life so he could do what he loves and I could tell from talking to him that he had a passion for aviation.
He explained to me that in order to pursue his ambitions, he had to leave Ireland for new horizons. He said "The factories on the banks of the River Liffey [in Dublin, where he was from] were a great source of work for young lads, but I dreamt of bigger things so I emigrated. There's just not enough opportunities here".
He could tell I looked puzzled. "The banks of the Liffey?", I asked him. "Yes", he replied, "it's all just factories. Mine was an office job."
Apparently, he hadn't been to Dublin City Centre since moving back to Ireland. Ever since, the smokestacks of factories have been replaced with glass-facade, state-of-the-art office buildings that act as European headquarters for massive multinational corporations such as Google, Apple, Dell, HP (the list goes on and on).
When I told him this, it was like trying to convince someone that the sky wasn't blue. He simply wouldn't believe it, however, I insisted it was true. He paused briefly and reflected. I told him that the reason I knew this was because I had just started studying electrical and electronic engineering in university and all of these companies are based along the banks of the Liffey in Dublin (0:41) as well as in Cork (3:06). I struggled to explain to him using words the immense wealth of opportunity I have in Ireland as an aspiring engineer. It was like we were time travellers sharing details about the different worlds we live in, even though we're both Irish and he was doing the same thing I am doing now just 50 years ago. It was an incredible, eye-opening experience for me to talk to this man.
Our conversation ended when the rain dissipated. He zipped up his jacket, wished me well in my studies and headed for the door. His bike was parked just outside the shop. I asked him where he was headed.
He turned to me and said with the utmost determination "I'm going to Dublin to see it for myself."
Though I haven't seen him since, I hope he got a chance to see the Grand Canal in all its contemporary beauty.
I also hope to be there the next time he comes into the shop so I can ask him about it.
I'd take the smokestacks and factories over the multinational corporations. Michael Collins is rolling in his grave.
Very beautiful and intriguing story sir. Thanx for sharing
The Irish are the best story tellers in the world.
What a great story, and well written to boot. Who knew that UA-cam comments are home to actual literature? 👍👍
Thanks for the story
I remembered reading that a ottoman sultan tried helping out but the British refused aid out of shame because England didn’t donate the same amount as the ottomans did
BTW - there is no record of this actually happening. Lots of aid came in from lots of countries during the famine (including donations from the Ottoman sultan). There is no evidence of any aid being stopped or hindered by the Brits. In fact the British aid for Irish famine relief was the largest single humanitarian effort in the history of the world before 1900. It just wasn't enough.
Jesus, "British humanitarian aid was the largest in the world at that time," is a funny way of saying, "Ireland was a net exporter of high quality food during the entire famine sending huge quantities to England they couldn't buy or eat themselves due to an array of cruel and disastrous English policies; and the aid being sent in was low quality maize from America that required complex processing in order to become edible and failed to meet the nutritional needs of a starving population who were, horrifyingly, producing huge amounts of life saving food they weren't allowed to eat."
There's a real solid argument to be made that the famine was attempted genocide by the English. Truly an awful point in time.
Even the Choctaw across the ocean donated money. That’s how much the scandal travelled.
@@otsoko66 How much did the queen send then?
You didn't take something into consideration . In the 1996 census, the population of the Republic was 3.6 million. After the fall of the soviet Union, and Eastern European countries joining the EU, The main reason for the population growth was from immigration from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, etc.
Ireland still has a culture of emigration with many young adults opting to leave for America, Canada and Australia.
Opting to go where they can earn enough to pay rents without penury and where the standard of housing isn't a mouldy draughty ould shack/bedroom/bedsit more like. Plenty of us in the EU too.
Considering the housing crisis in Ireland at the moment, it will be interesting to see how we continue from here. I'm 25 and from a pretty small town in Ireland (~30,000 people). I'm planning on moving to a city and Dublin and Galway are not looking very promising at the moment as rent is ridiculously expensive. A lot of young people are moving to Australia, Canada, and the UK, and I don't see that slowing down for quite a while.
@Garrus Vakarian at least there are houses there though lol. The reason Dublin is so expensive is because there is essentially nothing left. There are photos of lines that are a whole street long just to view a shoebox sized house. Also, getting visas to Canada and Australia is wayyyy easier and cheaper, and no need to get one for the UK. US visas are such a headache to get
@Garrus Vakarian comparing Dublin and Vancouver, they're both almost identical in prices (~€2,300 per month for a one bedroom apt )but at least anecdotally it seems there is at least slightly more availability over there, not to mention the lifestyle changes it brings. I bring up Vancouver too cause that is essentially where a lot of Irish in their early 20s are going.
U.S and Canada make more sense to migrate Australia is too far
@Garrus Vakarian oh yea that's where i think my generation differs hahaha. I can't even fathom ever owning a home. Just going to be overpaying rent for the rest of my life it looks like lol. And re: your other comment, yep a lot of groups of friends decide to go at once, not sure why. I guess we have a bit of a mass exodus mentality over here haha
@@Philboh8 what is the barrier to building new houses? Is a lot of Ireland not inhabitable?
Heartbreaking. I believe this event will forever define us as a people.
Never let victimhood define yourselves. All cultures have been victimized throughout history and have persephered and prospered to become strong confident nations. There is no pride in being a victim.
@@randymoyan7871 Shared trauma is what builds and defines relationships. Generational trauma is a real thing. When I say it defines us as a people, I mean a sense of community, shared deprecating humour, integrity, pride, willpower and determination. Victimhood is not what I was insinuating.
As a Nigerian, it’s so embarrassing how a country smaller than our largest city is so much richer than us…
Holup. You mean by population right? Right?
Its GDP is exaggerated because American companies use it as a tax haven for European revenue.
@@markgallagher1790 well yeah obviously lol
Lagos is tiny in size
Nigeria has lots of people.
Population doesn't equal wealth, if everyone in your largest city learned collaborative behavior and simple infrastructure engineering you would easily out pace Ireland in quality of life
Thanks for the excellent video! However, the statistics regarding Ireland's recent GDP growth are extremely misleading. Since introducing very low corporate taxes in the 1990s, many multinationals have, on paper, relocated activities to Ireland, giving the impression that Ireland's economy is much bigger than it actually is. It's worth noting that this policy is extremely bad for other European nations, as it allows companies to avoid paying tax that would otherwise to European public budgets. Perhaps this is Ireland's revenge for the near-genocide of the nineteenth century?
That would be a bad revenge though, because of Brexit
This is a good, well-balanced story of Ireland's recent history. My family has roots in Kerry on the west, but moved - as many did - to work in the mines of Wales. In the late 19th century, they moved to America, finding work in the steel mills and coal mines. My parents' generation and subsequent ones are doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, authors and artists. We won't forget our Irish heritage.
@@isaiahc8390Boring 💤
Maith síbh a Tomás, tá Éirinn I do croí.
Very same family history, except my grandfather worked in Wales in coal mines, and came over to Indiana, and worked at US Steel Company in Gary. He had a large Catholic family, all of whom have done well! Last name was Stack.
I did a report on the Irish Potatoe Famine in highschool. It astonished me, even as the descendent of Irish immigrants to the U.S just how impactful this was. I can't say I am fully Irish but my family those who immigrated had stories about how their lives were, stark contrast to that of the Welsh side of my family who, ya weren't that well off either but still had better chances. Just shows how disease can harm and how humans can make things worse.
That’s why we don’t call it the potato famine. We don’t blame the potato ;)
Welsh people were treated like dirt too and we still get told to this day to get over it, hopefully we will soon be free too
@@dantynbedw I still get bullied by my Brit buddies for being Welsh, but here in the U.S the welsh have nothing on how the Irish here were treated.
yea it's really sad how 170 years has passed and even still to this day we have not fully recovered from the Great Famine for example at the start of the famine my county had over 200,000 people living in it today it has just under 65,000 people living in it ........ not even 1/3rd of our highest population Island wise we are still 1 Million people short of our all time highest and i may be wrong but i believe we are the only country on Earth with a lower population now than the 19th century
@@twkotb I just hope the potatoes aren't hungry anymore.
Finally !! Ireland is going towards their well deserved golden age!
Wish all luck to ireland and irish people from Québec!
We had a golden age before the English arrived. We were one of the most enlightened countries in the world during the dark ages 500-1000 AD, and led the world in mathematics, astronomy and sciences at that time. We had Christian scholars who saved Europe from the Huns after the fall of the Roman Empire by preserving Christianity and reintroducing it to France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. These scholars invented written Latin and wrote European history down for the record. This written language then permeated Europe for the next 1000 years. If there are ancient Latin documents ....the rule is they were probably written by Irish scholars. We wouldnt know European history if it wasnt for the Irish.
@@chriswhamilton Interesting, i thought Ireland before the english invaded was divided into multiple clans. I should learn more of Ireland history.
@@chriswhamilton wtf are you talking about
@@chriswhamilton you were split between tribal clan lords tf are you saying enlightened? The island was never unified until the British did it.
@@OnlyGrafting there's a reason Ireland is known as the Land Of Saints And Scholars.
Fun fact: the Republic of Ireland isn’t the name of the country. It’s the name of specifically our football team. It’s simply called Ireland.
You get people who call it 'Southern Ireland' but that's outdated.
Strictly speaking, Ireland as a name describes the whole island. It’s a bit like Borneo which is also an island, huge by the way. But Borneo is divided up into Brunei, a bit of Malaysia and a bit of Indonesia. Ireland is divided into , for ease of reference, the “republic” and the “north”
What you call it day by day largely depends on who you are. It is a Derry/Londonderry thing. Like north east Italy, German speaking in parts,Italian in parts, take a train front Innsbruck in Austria to Verona in Italy over the Brenner Pass and come to Vipiteno, or is it Sterzing. If you dig deep you’ll find that Europe is full of this.
The famine, I only know enough to be clear that it was abject poverty borne out of oppression borne out of politics borne out of the Reformation. It casts a huge shadow over the Irish psyche even today. Respect that.
Ireland is a country that not much people talk about, as its location in Europe is pretty far away from major countries except Britain. However looking at it deeper reveals a really fascinating and heartbreaking history.
During WW2 our position was what stopped us from being pulled into a war, and cause of the Atlantic us in Galway are some of the safest people in the world in the case of nuclear war
Mad respect to Ireland from Saudi Arabia ! I've always wanted to visit it , I've always seen it as one of the most interesting places on earth !
Me too!
Why
if you do visit I'll say there's greenery everywhere
I hated living there. Is depressing, boring and grey. England is a better place to go on vacation
@@Tdr-jv2nc other people's opinions matter if he/she wants to go then let them go
Fantastic video. I'm Irish and while I knew a lot of what you mentioned there was still a lot of things I didn't know and a lot of nuance to the things I was thought in school.
One thing. You failed to say why many of us Irish can't speak Irish fluently. The real reason was the Penal Laws. The Penal Laws applied to Catholic's and Christianity was the main religion on the Island at that time,so it affected practically the whole Island. Penal laws included:No Catholic had the right to attend school,No Catholic could practice Catholism,No Catholic could practice Gaelic Football and Caomogie (girls version of hurling),No Catholic or anybody on the Island could practice Irish/Gaeilge. There are much more rules that I can't list at the top of my head. As a Irish person I try my best to focus on learning Gaeilge and I very proud that I can call Ireland home. P.S. you make awesome video's!
I visited Ireland about 10 years ago - I loved it. What a great country
Bha mi air saor lathain,Erin cuideach, tuath agus deas, tri bliandha air ais, sgoinnnel.
I was on holiday in Erin north and south, three years ago, brilliant.
@@grahamfleming8139 go raibh maith agat as teacht go dtí mo thír álainn 😁
@Changeur2009 maybe not
@@multigamer-ms1iv as bearla nobody has a clue what your saying
It’s really difficult to explain this kind of thing to people these days, especially if they have visited Ireland in the last decade or two and had very little knowledge of it before then. They see a modern style European market economy with a thriving service industry and high incomes. But they don’t understand the deep underlying demographic problems and the scale of the national trauma that have profoundly influenced the country and made it quite different to almost anywhere else in Europe.
Demographic trauma? Everyone leaves Ireland for cultural reasons. The world quite likes the Irish so as youngsters they travel, find that they are welcome in most of the world and many stay. I fail to understand the mystery. People have always been Ireland's main export, even when times are good.
@@michaeldavison9808 the demographic trauma is the one outlined in the video. Did you watch it?
Also where do you think those cultural reasons (as you put it) come from?
@@michaeldavison9808 Yeah because immigrating to a new country is as simple as finding a place you are welcome in and staying
An important thing to consider with the Famine was how is served the interests of the landlords who wanted to have less tenants on larger farm
it is 'fewer tenants;' not 'less tenants' and grammar isn't the only error in that statement.
@@occamraiser This sounds like something an english person would say.
@@occamraiser "Less" has been used with countable nouns since Old English times (i.e. over 1000 years ago)
Neither "GDP" nor "GDP per capita" are good indicators to depict Ireland's economy. The country serves as the mailbox for many large corporations operating within the EU. It is debatable how much they truly contribute to the Irish economy.
They made us piss rich so we aren’t complaining
exactly.
I live in the Appalachian Mountains. I’m told Scott-Irish people came to our area during this. It ended up playing a major role in Appalachian culture and music.
The big immigration to the Appalachians from Ireland was about a century before the famine -- it was overwhelmingly protestants -- most from Ulster -- escaping the grinding poverty there.
@@otsoko66 oh ok. Thanks
@@otsoko66 Don't oversell it. While the Ulster Protestant contingent was dominant in the 18th Century, there was a significant minority of regular Irish who also came during the period. Most of the latter converted to Protestantism at some point.
Ulster-Scots or Scots- Irish as you call them, were Protestant invaders that dispossessed the native Irish of their lands during the plantations. Different people.
@@TheSWCantina ok. Thanks. I knew they came to the Appalachians but was sure the history of why.
I think one thing people are forgetting is immigration. A lot of the growth in England has come from immigration. Most of the immigration has come to England. It isn’t guaranteed that people would’ve immigrated to Ireland in the same numbers.
True especially since Irish didn't colonise the world so we'd have less immigrants than the British.
We weren't that wealthy until the late 1990's hence not very attractive to genuine refugees and economic migrants. The influx has spiralled since about the turn of the Millenium with many negative impacts e.g. a severe housing crisis and an overwhelmed healthcare system.
Great summary, and I appreciate you taking on this subject. Thanks and subscribed!
I love your videos, can't wait to watch it. I don't ever put in request or anything but your recent video on Vegas's water usage has me super interested about the impact of a Mississippi canal leading to the west coast like some folks have proposed in recent years.
The irish people are strong and their community is famous around the world. Here in Canada we have many Irish descendants and we still celebrate St-Patrick's day with a parade each year. We considered them as brothers.
Im a small time Irish youtube who has a channel about Ireland , From walking , drones and Cycling around the city and even hikes in the beautiful countryside , im sorry to hop in on another persons video and try steal focus , but im mainly targeting those who love Ireland and want to visit or who have visted and see if they may like my content , As i said im small so it might not be the best quality and no where near as much detailed informaiton as this channel , but its Quaint ... and some stupid jokes thrown in for fun lol
It's time to end British rule
@@jamestoh2519That can only happen if both the people of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic vote for unification.
Also out of those who migrated 95% spoke Irish and 99% of those who died due to starvation were Irish speakers aswell
As a person who moved to Ireland, people that have had ancestors during the famine said it was catastrophic for the population.
But Ireland is now one of the most beautiful and one of the best countries to live in the world.
now if only most of us irish people could afford to live here any longer it be great😅
@@jamescanjuggle Why not build planned cities? Maybe move the capital and thus government services somewhere else.
@@solid7468 honestly im not one for talking big plans and policy change, it takes too long, best thing i can do for my own circumstances is leave and get a better offer in a different country
@@jamescanjuggle where are all the well paying jobs in Ireland? I keep reading how it’s so unaffordable yet your economy is amazing
@@RoCK3rAD Most of them are already occupied in my opinion. But its defo more complex than that.
All i know is that someone isnt going to pay me 15€ an hour to work at a Tesco, which means I can't save for college
if i was already scraping by with an shared apartment working 40 hours a week, then college isnt an option otherwise id be homless
thats the basic barrier to entry i can think off, theres probs more, im just too tired to think of much else atm
Fun fact:
In italian "potato famine" ("crisi della patata") can also mean "pussy scarcity".
I'll let you imagine the laughs any time our history teacher in hs would say something like "the irish population suffered greatly because of the potato famine".
🤣🤣🤣
I'd rather starve to death. 😂
*Adventures in Translation* : Episode 5484369
While in German, "vorspiel" is pronounced in nearly the same way as "forspill" is in Norwegian, never assume similar pronunciations have all the same meanings in *any* language. 🙃😈🇩🇪😁🇧🇻
The English people started the pussy scarcity >:(
Feels so bad saying this but... that explains the drop in population 😶🌫
Irish person here, I was literally peeling potatoes 🥔 for dinner listening to this video 😂
Our population might be small but we have to NO houses to rent or buy 🤣😭
This is because you have a open border with EU and very laxed immigration for non EU people instead trying to get your population up naturally your politicians decided to inflate it with migrants for short term gains.
There's plenty about to buy and rent
I have quite a few issues with this video. I get your trying to be unbiased but It leaves out a large portion of historical context as to why the Irish were stuck reliant on eatting a single crop when a multitude of crops were grown. It doesn't specify how the British government at the time quite literally wanted the Irish to starve and thought the famine was vengeance from god. The British government at the time plundered, stole and did not care and in quite a few cases were overjoyed at the Irish suffering as it cemented England political power. The Irish ate grass while watching the food they grew be transported to England (and this was forced. Keep in mind there were few to no Irish landowners. All the farms were owned by British residents). To this day we remember the famine and the horrible attitudes people had against us. We hope the world learns from it. But the effects are still felt even today. The Irish culture and society was in short destroyed.
As an Irish man I cry with sadness from what happens to the people
Feel for you mate 😔
Oh and i may be English born, but I myself am of Irish descent - Great grandparents - Donnegal County
I gained Irish family by marriage. The younger ones want to stay and make families in Ireland, but it's so hard for them afford to stay, so they've been leaving the country for work, in hopes of starting careers they can build and return with. It's a real gamble.
I've been to Ireland several times, it's a wonderful place. Very interesting and informative video. Thank you for your work!
You forget many irish men fought against England and died,more irishmen fought for England in ww2 and against England at same time,might help you find the missing numbers
As an Irishman, I'm very proud to see what a good job you've done in portraying the attrocities that brought us to where we are today. One of the best countries in the world and it's sad to see that we could have been so much better. Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste.
This imperialist shill hardly even portrayed the British purposeful starving of our people.... pretending that it was the "Not banning of food stuff exports" instead of what it was which is British absentee landlords taking Irish food out of Ireland to feed their profits instead of the people who grew and needed the food. Not to mention the openly genocidal Malthusian arguments that were popular among the Imperial politicians. Pretending it was a policy failure is white washing the crimes of the British
I'm Irish on my father's side, they left county Waterford in Ireland for Australia in the post famine period in the mid 1800s for a better life and they chose to live in the mid North Coast of NSW. My surname is still Irish and as a kid I hated it as I often got picked on, now it's a source of pride knowing that part if my heritage comes from such a Nobel people. The Irish are survivors and innovators
So your not really Irish.
@@ChesterPerry187 shut up.
@@ChesterPerry187 Did he say so?
@@ChesterPerry187 cmere im irish born and bred and fuck off with your gate keeping , hes merely showing pride in his ancestors.
@@diegos.loayza3706 why are you so mad? He's Australian.
I love this because its so rare that we get coverage as great as this
Utube clips can be mildly informative, but for those interested in real social science, the economist Amartya Sen dealt with exactly this kind of situation in his Nobel Prize winning work on economic development of nations. He summed it up in one pithy phrase - "there has never been a Famine in a democracy", pointing to the political roots of Famine. All those defenders of Britain who claim Irish famine was an economic "accident" are clearly not educated enough.
my dads parents left ireland to come to birmingham in the uk, they've both passed but were part of large families so i still feel very connected to the irish side of my family, i have so much pride in it and i think thats something common with everyone with irish ancestry!! thank u for this video, its important for us brits to know what we did
Power corrupts. If we had become rich and powerful, we’d have exploited too. Weird that it’s not taught in UK schools, but I guess it’s a touchy subject.
@@twkotb It was while I was in school, but to be completely fair the British Empire committed so many atrocities that it’s a bit difficult to cover them all.
@@uniboio2437
Yeah they did. But id say the Dutch was actually worse in regards to the natives.
@@twkotb yeah i’ve had to stumble across the topic and reasearch it myself shame they don’t teach the bad side of their hisyoru
unlucky that u got a birmingham accent and not an irish one
Holy shit as an Irish guy i never expected to see this channel make a video on Ireland
I was wanting him to make a video on Ireland but this topic about the famine makes you wonder what the country would be like if it didn't happen 😅😅😅
How do u feel 🤔
@@NAT-turners-Revenge Honestly just glad that it gets some attention.
@@randomuruk7230 Some attention? lol our famine is arguably the most famous in the world and is what a large majority of people think of when the word famine is said. (at least in the west)
@@iwasanacciident Famine isn't really a topic of discussion regardless of where it happened.
The Irish Potato Famine was so severe, that it’s even cemented in American History, due to the insane amount of people that traveled to the country. New York City changed forever.
For the worse. Bill the Butcher was right.
I'm from Boston and like the city as I know it wouldn't exist without the famine. It's crazy
America has more Irish people than in Ireland
Strange fact is when the Irish moved into the south they became the core of the KKK the British starving them didn't really do anything for them to have humility and kindness for the black Americans
@@peterparker9954 England has more Irish people than all of Ireland.
As an Indian, I can relate.
To what exactly? India has a fucking huge population lmao
@@harveyjenko6666 i can relate to this since India had huge famines under british rule, in which 50 million people died. And famines were rare in Indian history before the british.
@@ajaysabarish9645 Yet here you are speaking in English and so many of you immigrate To the UK
@@Norwoodg00ner Yes to get our artifacts back from British
@@ajaysabarish9645 you would have to get past an undefeated military
I’m a dairy farmer living in Co Kerry, Ireland and my farm is right next to a big town. On maps we have of the farm from the early 1800’s we can see the entire farm was almost like a small village, loads of what would of been mud huts with families living in them dotted all over the farm.
They would have been made of brick not mud
@@joeb7640 houses in the countryside in Ireland in the early 1800’s bar the wealthy landlords were all made of mud huts with thatched roofs, that’s the way it was
@@joeb7640 I would think not brick , possibly stone and straw/ dung/ lime mortar.
Finally someone outside of Ireland actually knows our history
*our
Jeez. OUR
Arr history
@@r.m2192 Blackbeard - "Finally, someone outside of the West Indies knows arrrrrr history."
Yeah
While the potato led to famine in Ireland, it did the OPPOSITE for us regarding our Arduous March. When the USSR dissolved, and economic collapse caused an electricity shortage that stopped agriculture reliant on irrigation systems, our people faced an Arduous March. The solution my father saw to save the nation? The potato. Easy to grow in the mountainous terrain, grow lots of them, and can use them for so many things.
It's really sad to see the Irish language decline. There are a good few Gaeltachts in Ireland today, and with regular Irish schools teaching it as a subject, but the damage has already been done, Irish is now considered as a "dying language". The education system in Ireland doesn't help either, you don't even learn the language and how to fluently speak it, you just learn how to translate English to Irish.
hey 😏
I am Irish, Great video. For anyone who is a football (soccer) fan the song the Irish sing directly relates to the famine. Its called the fields of athenry.
LOW LIE THE FIELDS OF ATHERNY
WHERE ONCE WE WATCHED A SMALL FREE BIRD FLY
OUR LOVE WAS ON THE WING
WE HAD DREAMS AND SONGS TO SING
ITS SO LONELY ROUND THE FIELDS OF ATHENRY
and repeat as loud as you can (this is only the chorus of course)
Spot on video.
Only things I would say is that Irish communities in the UK were very well established long before the 1950s, and even the famine itself, in places like Liverpool, London and Glasgow.
Irish was one of the most spoken languages in Bristol once, Bristol has a strong connection with Ireland going back to the middle ages.
@@bristoled93 Big up Brizzle
never ask a woman her age
a man his salary
an englishman what happened to a quarter of the irish population between 1845-52
Or what happened to almost half the Irish population between 1649 to 1653
We’ve had it rough lads, let’s be honest
We'll continue to be a small, but mighty people. And will never forget our history.
It's time to end British rule
Yea, that’s why you feel ashamed to speak Your own language Irish but proudly speaks English…history 🤣🤣🤣
@@Asiandramas99 You know what? English does not belong to England, it belongs to everyone, don’t sound like a fool please.
@@someernie6179 your house also doesn’t belong to you… it belongs to everyone…
If the British authorities had been willing to implement relief measures similar to what took place in continental Europe then the Irish death toll would have been in the 1000's or 10,000's instead of over a million.
Their total indifference to the 'savage' Irish and the insistence on exporting food totally devastated the island and the Irish language. Tragic.
Makes sense now why the Liverpool booed the queen