FAMINES IN HISTORYCONNOR ALMASI

CONTENTS

• Ukrainian Holodomor

• Great Leap Forward

• Darfur

• References

UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR• Joseph Stalin tried to collectivize farming in the Soviet Union

• Farmers forced to give up private land and equipment

• Ukrainian farmers were known to be fiercely independent

• “Dekulakization” policies, armed brigrades take away land and property from farmers

• Government increases the country’s production quota

• The quota is unreachable on purpose

• Stalin wanted to teach Ukraine a lesson through starvation

• Anyone caught taking grain for themselves would be executed

UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR• By 1933, death rate at

30,000 per day at peak

• 1932-1934, 4 million deaths from starvation

• Soviet Government denied nearly everything

• Other countries knew about famine

• Took a passive stance

• Many of the details weren’t discovered until the 1980s

• Still be researchedhttp://tannerashton1.edublogs.org/2010/11/09/holodomor/http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NfsdvUxYGkI/TOQdlmtwLYI/AAAAAAAAZDA/HpAY0a9ivl4/s320/holodomor-03.jpg

• China’s effort to industrialize in mid 20th Century

• Tried to maximize agricultural output through commune

• Major mismanagement by government

• Government lowered agricultural labor by 20%

• 1958-1960, total foodgrain production decreased by 56.5 million tons

• Per capita grain cosumption down by 30%

• Government blamed the poor yields on bad weather

GREAT LEAP FORWARD

http://chineseposters.net/images/pc-1958-024.jpg

• Food aid was neither requested or delivered

• 1958-1961, 25-30 million more deaths per year

• Annual death rate went from 11.5 million to 29.0 million in 1960

• 30-35 million fewer births

• Birth rate was essentially halved

GREAT LEAP FORWARD

http://www.virtual-china.org/wp-content/plugins/hot-linked-image-cacher/upload/iftf.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/great_leap_forward.jpg

Long-term drought was major contributor

Occurred in the 1980s

Seasonal basis

Deforestation, poor pasture lands and desertification

Led to failing crops and low yields

Leading causes of death were diarrhea, measles, and malaria

Global humanitarian efforts

DARFUR

http://www.unops.org/SiteCollectionImages/Sectors/Environment/Water%20harvesting%20reservoirs%20in%20Rural%20Darfur.jpghttp://mollybollet.edublogs.org/files/2012/01/Genocide-in-Darfur-rjkl72.gif

REFERENCESDepew, B. 2006. Famine that Kills: Darfur, Sudan. Int. Rural Sociology. 71:3, 537-540.Available at: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6798eb5e-f00e-4b31-85b0-4916f26ca0f2%40sessionmgr13&vid=6&hid=17. Accessed October 30,2013

Jowett, A. 1990. China: The Great Leap To Disaster Or China: The Great Famine Or China: The Harvest Of Death. Int. Focus. 40:3. Available at:http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/delivery?sid=3d9a9b1a-66d3-45cd-a891-5e52bea715ea%40sessionmgr112&vid=7&hid=107. Accessed November 1, 2013.

Moore, R. 2012. “A Crime Against Humanity Arguably Without Parallel in European History”: Genocide and the “Politics” of Victimhood in Western Narratives of the Ukrainian Holodomor. Int. AJPH. 58:3, pp. 367-379. Available at: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6798eb5e-f00e-4b31-85b0-4916f26ca0f2%40sessionmgr13&vid=8&hid=106. Accessed October 31, 2013.