The most traumatic event of modern Irish history is undoubtedly the Great Famine of the mid-nineteenth century. By 1849, the forcible displacement of poor Irish farmers and tenants, under the guise of relief legislation, became the major channel through which the Irish economy was remade. Britain pushed out the Irish people and exported tons of food out of Ireland for British consumption. Thus, the British Government deliberately facilitated Irish deaths during the Great Famine, and therefore committed genocide against the Irish people.
