How The British Empire Starved Ireland

The humble potato once transformed Ireland—but not always for the better. In this video, we explore Ireland’s lesser-known first Great Famine of 1740–1741, known as Bliain an Áir or "The Year of the Slaughter." Triggered by a volcanic eruption on the other side of the world, this climate catastrophe decimated crops, sparked deadly famines, and plunged Ireland into chaos nearly a century before the more well-known Great Famine of the 1840s. This video was made possible thanks to everyone on the Simple History Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simplehistory Check out our other Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPdc6bs3I8s6Y4QE_3g3MZw Discord server: https://discord.gg/JZsPQXHeYC Become a Simple History member: https://www.youtube.com/simplehistory/join Copyright: DO NOT translate and re-upload our content on Youtube or other social media. SIMPLE HISTORY MERCHANDISE Get the Simple History books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Turner-%60/e/B00H5TYLAE/ T-Shirts https://teespring.com/stores/simple-history-official-merch Simple history gives you the facts, simple! See the book collection here: Amazon USA http://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Turner/e/B00H5TYLAE/ Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daniel-Turner/e/B00H5TYLAE/ https://www.facebook.com/Simple-History-549437675141192/ https://twitter.com/SimpleHistoryYT Further Reading: S. Engler, J Luterbacher, F. Mauelshagen, and J. Werner. “The Irish Famine of 1740-174: Causes and Effects. Climate of the Past Discussions. Published February 15, 2013. https://cp.copernicus.org/preprints/9/1013/2013/cpd-9-1013-2013-print.pdf “Bliain an Áir: The forgotten famine of 1740-41.” WaterfordTreasures.com. https://www.waterfordtreasures.com/bliain-an-air-the-forgotten-famine-of-1740-41/ McWilliams, Brendan. “The Great Frost and Forgotten Famine.” IrishTimes.com. February 19, 2001. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-great-frost-and-forgotten-famine-1.282539 Farrington, John. “Ireland's lesser-known Famine, the history of the Year of the Slaughter.” IrishCentral.com. August 22, 2023. https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/ireland-famine-history-year-slaughter “Irish Potato Famine: After the Famine” HistoryPlace.com. https://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/after.htm Mulraney, Frances. “In forgotten famine of 1879 Irish Americans aided relief efforts.” IrishCentral.com. September 1, 2016. https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/the-forgotten-irish-famine-of-1879-aided-by-irish-americans “On this Day, February 28, 1880.” Archive.NyTimes.com. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0228.html Cusack, Christopher. “A Forgotten Great Hunger.” the-TLS.co.uk. December 22/29, 2023. https://www.the-tls.co.uk/history/modern-history/the-land-war-in-ireland-laurence-m-geary-book-review-christopher-cusack Credit: Simple History Creator: Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London) Video Directors: Anthony Barrett, Denis Blinov Script: Robert De Graaf Script Review: Denis Blinov Narrator: Chris Kane (https://vocalforge.com) Artists: ShyShelly, Arya Ahumada Lydisma Animators: Kuldip Bheda, Krunal, Mani Kumar, Bharghavi Editor: Alec Urbany Brand Partnerships: Justin St-Laurent Senior Production Manager: Umar Ijaz Simple History Channel Manager: James Dowse