In what way did Britain hurt the Irish in the 19th century?

Question

A. Britain enforced Catholicism on the Irish.

B. Britain refused to export goods to Ireland.

C. Britain caused the potato famine.

D. Britain restricted Irish political participation

Answer 1

D

Answer 2

A. Britain did not force Catholicism in Ireland. Simply incorrect. They actually tried to force protestantism on us through the plantations of Ulster, and other less successful plantations.

B. At this time Ireland and Britain were the same country and trade was something that took place quite freely.

C. Britain did not cause the potato famine, but they merely sat back and watched without doing a thing while 1/3 of the population of Ireland died of starvation. The population of Ireland is not predictied to return to pre-famine levels until 2024. This is the cause of a lot of the hatred the Irish feel towards the British, amongst many other factors.

D. Partly true. The British held a skewed belief that the Irish did not know how to govern themselves and therefore took over the reigns completely. Resulted indirectly in the Easter Rising of 1916.

Answer 3

C and D are both true, but C was far more harmful.

The English didn't cause the Potato Blight, but they did turn it into a famine by exporting huge amounts of food from Ireland. There was plenty of food, the Irish were just too poor to buy it so the English landlords sold it to people who could pay.