The History of Famines and the Governments That Caused Them
June 19, 2026 · Frisian News
Millions died in famines created by government policy, not natural disaster. Colonial Britain, the Soviet Union, and Mao's China all knew the consequences of their decisions and acted anyway.
The Irish Famine killed one million people between 1845 and 1852, but potatoes failed across all of Europe. Ireland starved while Britain shipped grain out of Irish ports and landlords evicted tenants for unpaid rent. The difference was policy, not weather.
Colonial governments engineered famines for centuries. Bengal's 1943 famine killed three million under British rule, yet rice production was adequate. Winston Churchill refused to divert ships from military use, denied India food aid, and blamed Indian profiteering. Officials released cabinet papers decades later. They show deliberate choice, not accident.
The Soviet Union and Maoist China imposed collectivization policies that turned grain surpluses into mass starvation. Stalin forced grain requisitions from Ukraine while Ukrainians died, killing millions in what historians now call the Holodomor. The state knew what was happening. It happened anyway.
The pattern is consistent: a government seizes control of food production, makes ideological or financial decisions, then hides the results. The Great Famine of 1959-1961 in China killed 15 to 50 million under Mao's policies. Officials falsified harvest reports. Beijing knew. Communist Party archives show what officials discussed in closed meetings.
Governments don't usually admit when their policies starved people. They blame bad weather, rebel groups, or enemies. Documents surface decades later, historians argue, survivors die. By then, nobody faces justice. That is how institutional failure becomes history.
Published June 19, 2026 · Frisian News