Learning Outcomes

In this free course, you will learn how to:

• Describe the background socio-economic conditions of pre-famine Ireland that led to reliance on the potato
• Explain the biological nature of the potato blight and the immediate social consequences of the crop failure
• Assess the British government response, focusing on the transition from the Relief Commission to the Labor Rate Act
• Evaluate the impact of the workhouse system on the displaced and starving population during the height of the crisis
• Outline the shift in relief responsibility to local Poor Law Unions and the subsequent financial collapse of the system
• Summarize the chronological progression of the famine as it evolved from a localized failure into a national catastrophe
• Analyze the relationship between landlords and tenants following the Encumbered Estates Act
• Discuss the motivations behind the Young Irelander Rebellion and the role of evictions in fueling political unrest
• Relate the patterns of mass emigration via "coffin ships" to the formation of the global Irish diaspora
• Identify the contributions of international philanthropy, including the Society of Friends and the Choctaw Nation
• Classify the causes of mortality, distinguishing between direct starvation and the prevalence of famine-related diseases
• Review the collective memory of the Great Hunger and how it is memorialized in modern Irish and global identity