Mysteriously in September 1845, a strange disease had destroyed nearly half of the potato harvest in Ireland. This strange disease that had turned many potatoes black and poisonous was known as the Irish potato blight. This was a year of hardship for those who depended on potatoes. This was mainly due to the shortage of harvest which led to a big rise in the prices.
During the spring of 1846, farmers planted more potatoes with the thought that the blight was a one time occurrence. That fall, they found out that they were quite wrong. Nearly all of the potato crop had been wiped out leaving almost no harvest. There were some cases of starvation in Ireland but the real deaths occurred in the following years of 1848 and 1849.
During the years of 1848 and 1849, the blight had successfully killed a good portion of the crop. Many people were found to be starving and sick. As an effect of people being weak with little food, disease had spread. Soon that disease started to kill many of the young and old. 1849 was found to be the year where the most had died. This was also the year when Cholera had struck (Cholera being a disease that causes infection in the small intestine). The proceeding year of 1850 was a better year for the crop. In fact, the blight had almost completely disappeared.
Scientists today say that the blight was cause by a fungus that they named Phytophthora Infestans. This fungus that struck the farms of Ireland is estimated to have lead to the deaths of nearly one million Irish citizens. This tragic event is recorded to be the greatest years of death in Ireland’s history.
edit (4/18/2011): Added media and updated text
culturelust 
Comments on: "Irish Potato Famine" (1)
This is such a devestating event in history. I could not imagine living in Ireland during that time. Also, America would be so different today if the Irish potato famine never occured, because any of those people would not have came to America for a different life.