Ireland Essays (2794 words) - Great Famine, Malnutrition, Famines

Ireland The Great Starvation of Ireland I. The starvation in Ireland: 1845-1852 Over the years, the people of Ireland have suffered many hardships, but none compare to the devastation brought by the Irish potato famine of 1845-1857. A poorly managed nation together with ideally wicked weather conditions brought Ireland to the brink of disaster. It was a combination of social, political and economic factors that pushed it over the edge. After a long wet summer, the potato blight first appeared in Wexford and Waterford in September of 1845. The phytophora infestans were carried in on ships from Europe and America. Less than a year later, in August of 1846, virtually the entire potato crop in Ireland had been destroyed. The following winter became unbearable for the already starving nation. The westerly winds, which usually brought warmer air, failed, letting cold conditions from Scandinavia and Russia overtake the island of Ireland. The effects of malnutrition from starvation combined with the unusually cold temperatures aided in the spread of disease and ultimately death among the nation of Ireland. Starvation, respiratory disease, typhus epidemics, cholera, dysentery, scurvy, and deficiencies in vitamin A, all contributed to the loss of over a million Irishmen over a seven-year period. The practice of medicine at the onset of the blight was extremely inadequate. Ireland had only 39 infirmaries; this translated into one clinic for every 366,000 people. When looking at these numbers, one can easily understand why so many perished. Many of the deaths during the famine were never recorded, because of this the death toll may never be known. The number of deaths related to starvation is estimated to range from one to one and a half million people. According to Don Mullan, 200-300 mass graves were discovered, and in each grave over 1,000 bodies were identified. The infant mortality rate in some areas reached 50%. It was mainly the deaths of babies and children were the ones that often went unrecorded. The beginnings of the starvation are said to be a biometeorological phenomenon, however, the British reacted in a sociopolitical manner. Relief from the British government was slow and insignificant. The economic policies that existed were unhelpful and the British Parliament refused to make adjustments to provide for a national disaster. No free food was offered to the starving people as long as there was food for sale. Charities offered to undersell the merchants, but under Parliament policies, this was not acceptable. Ships carrying aid from other countries were intercepted before they could reach the hungry peasants. Several American groups contributed huge amounts of money, food, and clothing for relief purposes, but little, if any, reached the starving peasants of Ireland. In March of 1847, Quakers and religious charities began funding soup kitchens and workhouses. For many of the hunger victims, this was the only kind of aid seen during the years of the famine. Before the peasants were fed, many protestant groups ordered the peasants to condemn Catholicism. Meals served by soupers consisted of watery soup and bread. These meals did not provide adequate nutrition to keep the starving people alive and, many times, made it worse. People who are starving to death suffer from water retention and nutritional edema and by trying to hydrate them with watered down soup, increased their chances of mortality. The workhouses were overcrowded as well as unhealthy. There were as many as 173 workhouses in Ireland, more than the number of health clinics. The workhouses sometimes housed more than three times the amount of people they were originally built to hold. This promoted the spread of disease that was already rampant among the Irish. These aid efforts were halted to finance improvements in long term seed distribution. British soldiers were sent in during the 1846 food riots. The troops were placed in depots, ships, and harvest fields. This action was taken by the British to ensure that the peasants did not keep their produce. During the same year, an Irish physician by the name of Dr. Dominic Corrigan wrote, Starve in the midst of plenty, as literally as if dungeon bars separated them from a granary. When distress has been at its height and our poor have been dying in our streets, our corn has been going to