The True Story Of The Potato Famine Print Collector/Getty Images By Daniel Johnson/Feb. 1, 2021 4:52 pm EDT Famines have devastated countries with limited access to resources or in the aftermath of a natural disaster for centuries. However, few famines have wreaked havoc to a nation like the Irish Potato Famine in the middle of the 19th century. In a span of less than a decade, the population of Ireland decreased drastically, with the citizens either succumbing to starvation or disease as a result of diseased crops. For many desperate Irish citizens, the famine forced them to flee to different parts of the globe, hoping to find some salvation that was not present in their homeland.