History can be tricky, even in the modern age with all the documentation we have, in a highly documented area like film for example- if you ask several writers and producers and directors etc. for even a major detail from a film 5-10 years ago, “who wrote this great line?” “Where did this idea come from?” Etc- they may not remember and evidence may not exist or may conflict. Ask many people what they did last week and they can’t tell you- especially the every day stuff. It gets more complicated when we add in motivations that people may not want the whole truth to come out- a lot of people are being questioned about one day last January and their memories aren’t too sharp or they aren’t too keen to answer the full truth. So with the British historically occupying Ireland and shaping history for the region- it would make ot difficult to get the “whole truth” of the Damon one was a few years ago, but the farther we go back in history, the fuzzier things get.
That said, historical records strongly implicate the British in the at the very least the devastation caused by the potato famine. It’s actually quite a (tragically) interesting subject.
Now, to start, potatoes weren’t native to Ireland and were brought back to Europe from the “new world.” Most accounts credit the Spanish with the earliest mainstream European records of the plants. How did they get to Ireland? This…. Is trickier. A couple notable Brits often get the credit, intuitively it would make sense it was the British- their relationship with Ireland and the relationship between those countries; Spain, and the rest of Europe might suggest it logical. However the particular Brits often credited- their claims are dubious. So it probably wasn’t them but it could be the British…. Or not.
So we can’t say for certain who exactly introduced the potato to Ireland or who was most responsible for its spread; but the potato was a crop well suited to grow in Ireland, a place not well suited to many food crops. Now, it seems obvious that without potatoes you can’t have a potato famine- but the question of introduction of the potato is rather important beyond that fact- it probably wouldn’t have been a fish famine or a wheat famine were those the major food sources of Ireland- and here’s why:
Of course the literal cause of the famine was a blight that specifically attacks potatoes. So other food sources wouldn’t be impacted if available. But that’s the point- potatoes grew well in a place other things didn’t. The introduction of the potato allowed the population of Ireland to grow beyond what could be sustained via locally available and exploitable food sources at the time. When the potatoes began to die, there wouldn’t be another ready food source that could replace them.
Now, it is possible that even with the blight, potato production would have been great enough to continue supporting the potato inflated population levels. This is where we go back to the Brits, who often used the Irish and their country to supply goods and services. Much of any crop would be exported from Ireland. So while the Irish ere starving, the British were exporting food from Ireland to feed those on the home front or use for trade etc. Like I said, it gets interesting and complex- while some in power and the country as a whole were taking food from starving Irish mouths, or there Brits (and of course others from around the world) were sending food and support to Ireland. There can be some debate as to wether the aid being supplied by the Brits in food was equal to or greater than the nutrition they were taking, and in many cases the food sent to Ireland for relief was lacking balanced burp nutrition and people who received it could still have health problems or starve.
There are all these little things and all these socioeconomic and political factors that set the stage for, enabled, one could say created, and CERTAINLY exacerbated the famine. So did the Brits “cause” the famine? I’m not here to say they did or didn’t. They certainly are far from blameless in it. Their relationship with Ireland until and at this point would have pretty squarely placed responsibility for the crisis on the Brits regardless of who or what we pin the blame on-
But as far as who or what was the cause… well… there is some room there. It sort of depends on how you want to define “caused” in this case.
Either way, it was a terrible tragedy and Ireland has suffered greatly in history under forced rule.
Now, to start, potatoes weren’t native to Ireland and were brought back to Europe from the “new world.” Most accounts credit the Spanish with the earliest mainstream European records of the plants. How did they get to Ireland? This…. Is trickier. A couple notable Brits often get the credit, intuitively it would make sense it was the British- their relationship with Ireland and the relationship between those countries; Spain, and the rest of Europe might suggest it logical. However the particular Brits often credited- their claims are dubious. So it probably wasn’t them but it could be the British…. Or not.
Of course the literal cause of the famine was a blight that specifically attacks potatoes. So other food sources wouldn’t be impacted if available. But that’s the point- potatoes grew well in a place other things didn’t. The introduction of the potato allowed the population of Ireland to grow beyond what could be sustained via locally available and exploitable food sources at the time. When the potatoes began to die, there wouldn’t be another ready food source that could replace them.
But as far as who or what was the cause… well… there is some room there. It sort of depends on how you want to define “caused” in this case.
Either way, it was a terrible tragedy and Ireland has suffered greatly in history under forced rule.