An Gorta Mor, the Irish Famine of 1845–1852, claimed many lives and drove Irish immigrants who survived to relocate to the United States. Thousands of Irish, seeking to preserve their faith, suffered famine and exile. The potato blight in Ireland was worsened by a cruel, non-caring, and inept foreign government, and children of the Gaels died in their thousands after fleeing the laws of foreign tyrants and the artificial famine during those years. An Gorta Mor remains one of the most devastating famines in modern history.