The Irish potato famine of the 1840s is often referred to by scholars as the most devastating and encompassing of its kind. Whilst agricultural problems played a large role in the extent of the famine, a significant percentage of the hardships suffered by the Irish people were caused by the administrative mismanagement of the British government. The policies in place regarding tenancy prior to the famine were the driving force behind the poverty of the Irish people, thus causing their dependency on the potato which was cheap, nourishing and easy to harvest. …
