The Irish Potato Famine, sometimes known as the Great Famine, is arguably one of the most infamous famines to occur in documented history. Between the years of 1845-1849, more than 1 million Irish people either died of starvation or were forced to flee the country because of this catastrophe. To truly understand how such a devastating event occurred, it is important to understand the political climate of the time period – particularly in regard to Ireland’s relationship with England. Although the famine was caused, in part, by the failure of Ireland’s potato crop due to a disease dubbed the “blight,” the death rate was exacerbated by the lack of English aid – as Ireland was, at the time, an English colony. The mass death and immigration from Ireland within such a short time period were largely caused by negligence and mismanagement of the crisis by the English rulers.