This document summarizes three major famines in history: the Ukrainian Holodomor, the Great Leap Forward in China, and the Darfur famine. It describes how Stalin's policies led to the intentional starvation of Ukrainians, how Mao's Great Leap Forward caused widespread famine through poor management and lowered food production, and how drought and conflict contributed to deaths from starvation and disease in Darfur.
3. 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
4. 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 researched
http://tannerashton1.edublogs.org/2010/11/09/holodomor/
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NfsdvUxYGkI/TOQdlmtwLYI/AAAAAAAAZDA/HpAY0a9ivl4/s320/holodomor-03.jpg
5. GREAT LEAP FORWARD
• 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
http://chineseposters.net/images/pc-1958-024.jpg
6. GREAT LEAP FORWARD
• 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
http://www.virtual-china.org/wp-content/plugins/hot-linked-imagecacher/upload/iftf.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/great_leap_forward.jpg
7. DARFUR
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
http://www.unops.org/SiteCollectionImages/Sectors/Environment/Water%20harvesting%20reservoirs%20in%20
Rural%20Darfur.jpg
http://mollybollet.edublogs.org/files/2012/01/Genocide-in-Darfur-rjkl72.gif
8. REFERENCES
Depew, 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=6798eb5ef00e-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-a8915e52bea715ea%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. 367379. Available at:
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6798eb5e-f00e-4b3185b0-4916f26ca0f2%40sessionmgr13&vid=8&hid=106. Accessed October 31, 2013.
