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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (67380)	12/19/1999 12:33:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 108807

Operating from memory here, so I don't have names or specifics. A lot of people of Irish descent continue to hate the British because food produced in Ireland was shipped to England. But history tells us that there was no deliberate attempt to starve the Irish. The food that was exported to England was always intended to be exported, the producers were engaged in the export trade. What did happen was that it was not diverted, and not given to the starving to prevent them from starving. Yet, there was no organization willing to buy the food from the producers, so the alternative would have been for the producers to give away the food for free. As the Hungersite demonstrates, the giving of food to the starving entails social organizations buying food from the producers using money given as charity. The prevailing political philosophy of the time did not allow the government in Ireland to give food to the starving, because they were seen as feckless. It was considered to be encouraging them in their wicked ways. Private charities were not equal to the task. This prevailed for several years, but eventually the size and nature of the disaster caused a change in attitude. Of course, it was too late for many.

To: epicure who wrote (67380)	12/19/1999 1:15:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

As an example of how difficult the situation was in Ireland, here is an excerpt from the London Illustrated Times of 1849. A law was passed requiring landlords to contribute a tiny amount of money per tenant to the poorhouses. As a result, the landlords evicted the tenants, rather than pay for them. This sounds heartless, but most of the landlords were not wealthy, themselves. people.virginia.edu This seems to be a good source in general, in that it recounts versions from several perspectives: people.virginia.edu also: toad.net

To: epicure who wrote (67380)	12/19/1999 1:46:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Still noodling around in the history of the potato famine, came across this, absolutely fascinating, claims that the Germans lost WWI because of potato blight: botany.hawaii.edu "In Europe a great deal of change also took place. Although potato crops also failed throughout Europe, famine did not occur because of diversified agriculture. Nevertheless, hunger did come and prices did go up because of the failture of the potato crop. This caused discontent among the working class people throughout Europe. Riots and revolts occurred throughout the capitals of Europe. This was the time in which Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital and there was growing sympathy for the causes of young radicals: Kossuth, Hungarian revolutionary who fought for an independent Hungary and led the provisional government in 1849 until Russia intervened; Mazzini, an Italian patriot who fought for an independent and unified Italy; and Lamartine, French poet and minister of foreign affair in 1848. In Paris, Berlin, Vienna, etc., monarchies fell, republics were borne. New constitutions were granted Although social changes occurred almost immediately, an end to the Potato Blight did not. The disease struck again in 1872 and again in 1879. Although John Lindley did observe, as early as in 1846, that downwind from the copper works, in Swansea, Wales, the potato plants remained green and healthy, it would not be until years later, in 1885, that it would be discovered that a copper sulfate and lime solution, named the Bordeaux mixture, would kill this dreaded plant disease. However, even after the means to control this disease was discovered, there was one more major outbreak of the Potato Blight, in which people died as a result of famine. In Germany, during WW I, in 1916, Late Blight struck again, and rotted most of the potato plants in the field. Although it was now well known that spraying the plants with Bordeaux mixture would kill the fungus, all the copper that Germany had was being used to for shell casings and electric wire. None was spared for the making of copper sulfate to spray the potato plants. This famine killed seven hundred thousand people during the winter of 1916-17. Until that time, the war was going well for Germany. They were on the verge of defeating Russia, in the east and was readying themselves against England in the west. However, because of the starvation that was occurring, morale became very low in the German army and they were unable to launch a successful attack. The delay was all that was needed. By 1917, the United States had entered the war and joined with the British and French and would eventually defeat Germany. If not for the Potato Blight, at this period of time, the outcome of WWI may have been quite different."