The great political issue in Ireland during the early 1840s is the repeal movement, aimed at the anti-Catholic laws imposed on the island by the British government.

The Young Irelanders, a group of poets and writers, agitates for restoration of the Irish parliament and champions Irish nationalism.

These events are overshadowed by the failure in five successive years of Ireland's potato crop.

Called the Irish Potato Famine, it is the worst famine to occur in Europe in the 19th century.

Meanwhile, the failure of the republican movement, and the deportation or escape from Ireland of most of the Young Ireland leaders in 1848, destroys the repeal movement.

Explore this thread for a more thorough examination of the repeal movement, the Young Irelanders, and the Great Famine and its consequences.