How Britain Starved Ireland

The untold story of Ireland’s worst tragedy.

[TheGravelInstitute]

We're very excited to continue with more videos in this series: reframing the history of colonialism and global exploitation. But we need your help! We're competing with groups that have 50 or 100 times the resources we do. So if you are able to, please support us on Patreon! We would be eternally grateful. patreon.com/gravelinstitute

[finnboyle]

As an actual Irish person I would like to thank the Native Americans who gave what little they had to help my people

[Northwest]

When it’s illegal to dumpster dive, but stores throw out perfectly good food, you know there’s a problem

[partycrasher]

The ottomans had given financial aid to Ireland during this terrible time. The sultan had sent ships full off food in secret so that the British may not find them. The ottomans left the food at Drogheda harbour for the Irish.

[Kasnic]

As an Irish person it makes me quite happy that people are actually talking about this outside of Ireland

[artemaeus]

I still hear a lot of that "othering" rhetoric used today against American poor. It's nauseating how quickly and deeply people will detach themselves from their humanity to squash others.

[cludstrfe]

Wow... The story about the Choctaw and Navajo people made me cry. It's a shame we aren't taught this in schools... a damn shame.

[mayuksurja]

As an Indian, i can relate so much with irish ppl. The great Bengal Famine that was caused by churchill actually killed more people then the holocaust. As a person from west bengal, the aftermath effects still lingers to this day

[liammurphy]

As an irish man I do not allow my children refer to it as the famine it was genocide of the irish. I have always felt a great sense of gratitude towards the first nations people who suffered the same as us. The history books have lied to so many peoples and placed the British as Nobel. Thank you for this truthful video.

[Asrahn]

A crime against humanity that should not be forgotten. Well-made video, just as always.

[Slaking_]

The most obvious sign that the famine was artificial is that the blight affected most of Europe in some capacity. Across the entirety of Europe, there were only a few thousand desths due to the blight. In Ireland, over 2 million people died.

[cacamilis]

The Choctaw donated 170 dollars to the Great Hunger. We never forgot that act. In 2020, thousands of Irish people donated more than 6 million dollars to the Navajo reservation to help with Covid relief. Most of us know the Navajo are not the Choctaw, but still, An Gorta Mór is an important thing that after almost two centuries, is still very much part of our culture and political zeitgeist.
For example, since 1999 Ireland's population and wealth started to grow significantly for the first time since hundreds of years. Our frankly childish and greedy reaction to this, like a child eating candy for the first time, is a result of our history. We had nothing. We lost everything while having nothing. Now that we have something, we want it all. The Famine is history, and yet, it's left its mark.

[ArghyadeepPal]

As an Indian and seeing the parallels of what happened with us in the Raj and the Irish, I want to show my solidarity to all the Irish people who suffered due to the oppression of the British. In no way I'm saying that the current British people are responsible for the past, but just that the British Government should at least acknowledge those atrocities. Saw comments here stating that many were not even aware of these incidents as they were not taught in the British school curriculum.
And huge respect to the Native Americans who stood up for the Irish and showed their unconditional support even if they themselves were oppressed so brutally.
Presently, we have many Indians who have Irish descent

[FD-vjhd]

The Ottoman Sultan tried to donate money to famine relief but his donation was denied by the British because it was much more than what Queen Victoria had given; they didn’t want to embarrass her. Pure evil

[Shnipe]

It’s also important to remember the use of ‘soup kitchens’ by the British as a means of assimilating the Gaelic Irish by encouraging them to drop certain cultural signifiers (most notably the ‘O’ in surnames and the use of Gaelic Irish) to qualify for the aid. In other words, the British establishment used a time of utter desperation for Irish people as a means to further their imperial identity. In my view, the British handling of the famine is without question the worst crime perpetrated on the Irish people in modern history.

[zergbergerdelemon]

I really wish more people knew about this. This is how my family came to America, and people think you're a conspiracy theorist anytime you talk about this. Thank you.

[TM-ymwi]

As an Indian, I studied about the Irish Potato Famine along with Bengal Famine which was also a well orchestrated calamity, in a history blog. I pray for those Irish men and women who couldn't survive the famine, and hope that their descendants get bountiful of happiness in their lives.

[jameslebron]

Almost 170 years later, Ireland's population has still not recovered. In stark contrast, England's population has more than doubled since the 1840s.

[kevinmccarthy]

I'm from Ireland and nobody talked about the great famine up until recent years. I ask my father how come we survived and he said all but one on his grandfather's farm in Limerick emigrated to New York. I have many relatives over there that I do not know.

[anxietywave]

You know it's actually pretty scary how influential Malthus's ideas are in the modern day.