Irish Famine Research Paper

“Why did a rebellion by the Kildare Fitzgeralds occur in 1534, and what were its consequences? “ The rebellion by the Kildare Fitzgeralds occurred in 1534, it is said that was in a fact a turning point in the history of the relationship between both England and Ireland. There were a number of factors that were said to have led to the rebellion, one of which was the tensions between the Gaelic Irish, Old English and the “New English”. At this time, the island was made up of two elements, the Gaelic Irish and Old English. As the sixteenth century progressed, however the expansion of Ireland of the structure of the English state, the ethos of which was so different from that of the Gaelic and gaelicised communities, promoted friction between Irish and old English.

The tensions between Catholic and Protestant citizens had been mounting for many years. During the sixteenth century there was a lot of rivalry between the Catholic Church and Protestants and when King Henry VIII broke away from the Pope and became Protestant,

There were two distinct groups in the Irish community. There were the Roman Catholic Irish and the Protestant Irish based on their faith it divided the Irish community. It was such an

The Irish Famine 1845-1849 “Is ar scáth a chiéle a maireann na daoine” “It is with each other’s protection that the people live” From the Fifteenth through to the Nineteenth centuries English Monarchies and Governments had consistently enacted laws which it seems were designed to oppress the Irish and suppress and destroy Irish Trade and manufacturing. In the Penal laws of 1695 which aimed to destroy Catholicism, Catholics were forbidden from practicing their religion, receiving education, entering a profession, or purchasing or leasing land; since Catholics formed eighty percent of the Irish population, this effectively deprived the Irish of any part in civil life in their own country.

The Protestant reformation and separation from the Catholic Church occurred in the 16th century and led to many struggles for Irish Catholics throughout the 1600’s, 1700’s, and 1800’s. A major prosecutor of the Irish was Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell reduced the Irish population by two thirds through killing Irish soldiers in battle and sending Irish people to work on plantations in the Caribbean. From 1641 to 1652, more than 300,000 Irish people were sold into slavery by the English (Irish Immigration to America, 2013). In 1691, the Protestant English King William III overcame the forces of Catholic Irish James II and Ireland was in full Protestant supremacy. Catholic Irishmen suffered greatly under the control of the English. The English passed laws preventing Irish from bearing arms, holding public office and restricting their rights to an

The Irish escaped from British tyranny to seek a better life, they took jobs and were compared to Blacks, which then created a feud between the Irish and Blacks to compete for

During the early 1700's in Irish history; Catholics were not permitted to vote, marry a Protestant, join the armed forces, bare arms, or have an educated. They made up 70% of the population, but only owned 5% of the land. England had colonized Ireland and because they didn't like Catholics, they made the conditions really harsh for them. Although the English owned most of the land, they predominantly lived in England, so they would rent it out to another protestant who would then divide it between multiple Irish families. The rent would be raised with any land improvements so the tenants would often avoid making any. This then leads to poor food production rates and an overall poorer country. In the essay “ The Modest

     Everything that happened in Ireland during nineteenth century has indeed been overshadowed by the catastrophe which overtook the country between 1845 and 1851. The Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1851 was one of the great catastrophes of the nineteenth century and divides modern Irish history. It was a disaster which poisoned Anglo-Irish relations for many generations to come, and had profound effects not only in Ireland itself, but in England and North America as well.

Ireland has always had religious problems between, Pagans, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish people. Ireland has always been a place of interest in English eyes so Ireland was continually concord over and over by the English and the currency, traditions and religions changed with every English King, Queen or Irish Rebel. Between 1641 and 1691 Oliver Cromwell changed everything, Irish Catholics, Pagans and Jews were killed or shipped off to be slaves. The influence to immigrate was very strong, their options were to go to a new world of which they knew no one and had nothing, be killed for your religion, or be gathered up and shipped away as a slave. It was a hard decision they all were forced to

The start of the Irish’ peoples struggles began when the British came and destroyed their way of life. The Penal laws of 1691 stripped Irish Catholics of their freedoms by taking away their rights to become officers

By the early 1600’s the British had taken land from the native Irish farmers and given it to their own people, effectively kicking out the Irish with little to no compensation. Under the power of the crown, remaining Irish farmers were required to export crops to the British mainland, and paired with a history of disease and famine, the Irish suffered greatly under Britain’s colonization efforts. In this way, Britain took over Ireland but left the people to fend for themselves, and while not physically

England ruled over Ireland and used Ireland as a source of food. England wanted Irish farmers to grow crops and ship them to England, so they didn’t have much to feed their families. Poor Irish farmers were forced to grow potatoes on the side to feed their families, since they were not desirable to the English. In 1845 the potato crop rotted all over ireland, destroying most people's main source of food. Irish starved to death and got diseases from the rotted

Ireland 1845, food was suddenly scarce, money was hard to earn, and what little was earned was immediately spent for survival. The people of Ireland had grown up used to missing meals due to crop failure. However, previous crop failures couldn’t compare to the potato famine of 1845. For the next five years, the blight destroyed nearly all the potato crops and killed many Irish. About one million people died during this time in Ireland because of the starvation and disease. About two million fled the lands of Ireland in hopes of escaping the starvation, disease, death, and poverty that had taken over Ireland since the famine. The tenant farmers, who suffered would farm land that belonged to the absentee landlords. They would grow many crops, most of which were very successful. They were only allowed to keep the potato crops for their own; the rest of the crops would be harvested and exported to England. The absentee landlords lived like kings while the tenant farmers were forced to sell everything they owned so they could have money to purchase food to stay alive. When they ran out of things to sell they were then forced to scavenge for food scraps just to escape death for a while longer. The starvation and struggle of the Irish tenant farmers could have been avoided if the absentee landlords hadn’t been so greedy with collecting the rent. England could have come to the aid of the Irish people sooner than they did if they weren’t so interested in staying true to their

To really get to the heart of the conflict we must go back centuries. The contempt that the ethnically Irish (primarily Catholics) have towards Britain

against the Protestants. In 1829 Catholics were not suitable for schools throughout Ireland they were only suitable for Protestants. The Catholic peasantry were still called on to pay tithes, and they continued to be harassed by the exactions of tithe-proctors and others, who if the money was not forthcoming, seized the poor peoples cows, furniture, beds, blankets, kettles, or anything they could lay their hands on (History Of Nations 12 Ireland-Scotland p.224).The Catholics were a minority in Ireland much like in the history of Quebec where the English conquered the French, the French were considered lower forms of humans they weren’t up to English standards. As the years past the Catholics started to get back at the Protestants forming the I.R.A. I.R.A. and Protestant killings continued into the early 1900s, Britain began launching multi party- talks with the goal of forging a new assembly for northern Ireland and new relations between the north and Irish republic. By 1999, Protestant and Catholic negotiators had