famines
Widespread food crises
Famines is the plural of famine—periods of extreme food scarcity causing widespread hunger, malnutrition, and death.
Famines result from crop failure, drought, war, or economic collapse, often compounded by political failures: The famines of the twentieth century killed tens of millions.
Historically, famines have reshaped populations and toppled governments.
Extreme nutritional deprivation
- hungerNeed for nourishment
- emaciationExtreme bodily thinness
- deathCessation of life
- diseaseDisorder impairing normal function
cholera · typhus · dysentery · weakness · desperation · cannibalism · mass graves · orphans
Prolonged water scarcity
- crop failureWhen fields yield nothing
- blightPlant disease causing decay
- locustsSwarming crop-destroying grasshoppers
- floodingOverwhelming water accumulation
desertification · war · blockade · siege · sanctions · mismanagement · hoarding · speculation
Engineered Soviet famine
- Great Leap ForwardFailed rapid industrialization campaign
- dustbowlDrought-stricken eroded region
- relief effortsOrganized assistance after disasters
- mass migrationLarge group relocation
workhouses · historical records · mortality rates · population decline · collective memory · memorials · death tolls · refugee camps
Easing of distress
- aidSupport given freely
- donationsGifts to organizations
- food dropsAirborne humanitarian deliveries
- emergency responseOrganized action during crises
NGOs · Red Cross · UNICEF · volunteers · refugee camps · malnutrition · rations · supplies
Systematic annihilation of a people
- engineeredDesigned with technical precision
- man-madeCreated by humans
- weaponizedMade into a threat
- siege warfareSurrounding fortifications to force capitulation
sanctions · blockades · colonialism · exploitation · corruption · accountability · cover-up · propaganda
starvation
Extreme nutritional deprivation
- hungerNeed for nourishment
- emaciationExtreme bodily thinness
- deathCessation of life
disease · cholera · typhus · dysentery · weakness · desperation · cannibalism · mass graves · orphans · displacement
drought
Prolonged water scarcity
- crop failureWhen fields yield nothing
- blightPlant disease causing decay
- locustsSwarming crop-destroying grasshoppers
flooding · desertification · war · blockade · siege · sanctions · mismanagement · hoarding · speculation · climate change
Holodomor
Engineered Soviet famine
- Great Leap ForwardFailed rapid industrialization campaign
- dustbowlDrought-stricken eroded region
- relief effortsOrganized assistance after disasters
mass migration · workhouses · historical records · mortality rates · population decline · collective memory · memorials · death tolls · refugee camps · food riots
relief
Easing of distress
- aidSupport given freely
- donationsGifts to organizations
- food dropsAirborne humanitarian deliveries
emergency response · NGOs · Red Cross · UNICEF · volunteers · refugee camps · malnutrition · rations · supplies · intervention
genocide
Systematic annihilation of a people
- engineeredDesigned with technical precision
- man-madeCreated by humans
- weaponizedMade into a threat
siege warfare · sanctions · blockades · colonialism · exploitation · corruption · accountability · cover-up · propaganda · denial
- comparative historycolonialism, imperialism, revolutions, modernization, industrialization
- disastersdisaster, earthquake, earthquakes, catastrophe, floods
- catastrophesdisasters, disaster, natural disasters, catastrophe, apocalypse
- Soviet HistorySoviet Union, USSR, CCCP, Stalin, Kremlin
- Horn of AfricaSomalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Mogadishu
- Late Medievalfeudal lords, Black Death, knighthood, medieval knights, bubonic plague
faminessurplus
Amount exceeding requirement
overabundance · harvests · prosperity · affluence · excess
- feast or famineMarked by wild extremes
- potato famineAgricultural disaster causing starvation
- famine reliefAssistance during mass hunger
- Irish Potato Famine1840s mass starvation event
- famine crisisAcute widespread food shortage
- Great FamineMass starvation in Ireland