• PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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    9 days ago

    Under the British rule, the Irish were not allowed to own land and had to rent it from a British landlord; more important still, the Irish were not allowed to rent more than a half-acre.

    That’s a pretty dire misunderstanding of the situation. The Irish were allowed to own land. The problem was that some 60%+ was in the hands of absentee British landlords, and another ~30% in the hands of Anglo-Irish magnates. Irish were absolutely allowed to rent more than a half-acre - a half-acre wouldn’t feed a single person, much less pay rent besides. A fourth-acre was the limit for those seeking relief at the poorhouses.

    The potato blight hit the entirety of Europe, not just Ireland. Only Ireland suffered a famine. Because the British rule had reduced the options for the Irish to potatoes or starvation.

    I mean, other areas in Europe suffered famine conditions in the same period because of the potato failure - Ireland was just hardest hit.