Factors Contributed to the Great Famine in Ireland Research Paper

Factors Contributed to the Great Famine in Ireland - Research Paper Example The political, social and economic reasons for the famine have long been the subject of historical discussion and debate. The fact that from 1801, under the Act of Union, Ireland was governed as part of the United Kingdom, with executive power in the hands of British officials, is a damning reality and one that casts primary blame for this historically horrific event squarely on Britain. The role of in the tragedy cannot be denied. ...That an island which is said to be (following quote from the Act of Union, repeated in the Continental Congress of America Address from its inclusion in Mitchel’s The Last Conquest of Ireland )an integral part of the richest empire on the globe—and the most fertile portion of that empire;—with British Constitution, Habeas Corpus, Members of Parliament, and Trial by Jury—should in five years lose two and a half millions of its people (more than one-fourth) by hunger, and fever the consequence of hunger, and flight beyond sea to escape from hunger,—while that empire (Britain) of which it is said to be a part, was all the while advancing in wealth, prosperity, and comfort, at a faster pace than ever before ,—is a matter that seems to ask elucidation.2 Elucidation of the subject comes to a great degree from John Mitchel, political writer and Irish patriot whose The Last Conquest of Ireland provides valuable and extensive information to support the thesis that Britain, while not entirely responsible for the causes that created the famine, was largely responsible for the extent to which the Great Famine, as it is called, devastated the country. Other primary and secondary resources support the information covering the two major elements involving the British government that contributes powerful and devastating evidence of British nonchalance in the face of the tragedy, collusion with powerful entities.