More Irish died in the Famine of 1845 to 1849 than in any war
	before or since.  The best estimates (based on census data
	from 1841 and 1851, as well as other figures) are that around
	one million people died, or one out of every nine inhabitants.
	About one and a half million emigrated in the decade after 1845
	(the peak was in 1851, when a quarter of a million people left
	the island).  The population continued to decline in Ireland
	through emigration until well into the second half of this century
	(it nearly halved between 1840 and 1910).  Many say that the
	west of the country never recovered.

	The Famine hit one of the richest kingdoms of western Europe in
	a time of peace.  There have been food shortages since and even
	starvation, but western Europe has not seen a large scale famine
	since.