User:Dr Gangrene/Famine

The last famine in Luxembourg, according to Trausch, was 1816-1817. Due to poor harvests there were were food shortages or food crises in 1842, 1846, 1853-1856.

Famine of 1853-1854
Already in 1852, there had been an insufficient potato harvest, a crop that was the staple food for the masses at the time. The 1852 potato shortage saw a renewed outbreak of begging. This was illegal at the time, but tolerated by necessity due to the failings of the communes (who were responsible for taking care of the poor), either due to carelessness or lack of resources. For these reasons, the period also saw an increase in emigration from Luxembourg.

The following year saw a bad harvest of grain crops, and the price of bread rose from 10 to 25 centimes per pound. On 15 November 1853, workers held a protest in Luxembourg City against the export of foodstuffs, and handed a petition to the government.

These circumstances gave rise to food hoarding, as well as fraud. In late 1853 the minister for justice Wurth ordered the police to ensure did not buy up all the grain on market days, and to inspect flour intended for bread-making to ensure it was not diluted with flour made with peas, broad beans, or with sand.

Luxembourg was part of the Zollverein, the German Customs Union, which in September 1853 had abolished customs duties on cereals, rice and bread, to encourage their importation or at least lower their price. The Luxembourg government, however, took no measures to aid the poor.

The opening of the Chamber of Deputies on 4 Ocotber 1853 was tense, as William III had dismissed the Willmar government, which had a majority in the Chamber, and replaced it with the reactionary Simons government. In the Chamber's response to the speech from the throne, it stated: "We expect measures to be taken to avert the ill effects of the food crisis."

The Luxemburger Wort, amongst others, campaigned for a ban on distilling foodstuffs (grains and potatoes) into alcohol during the crisis. However, no such government ban was forthcoming, and major property owners continued to distil. The government confined to banning potato exports to France and Belgium on 24 November 1853; it was not able to ban exports to the Zollverein. Grain exports towards all countries remained unhindered.

Due to the poor grain crop of 1853, it was expected that potatoes would be the sole food source for much of the population in 1854. Howver, 1854 saw a meagre potato harvest.

The famine of 1853-1854 was the last "non-artificial" famine in Luxembourg, according to Albert Calmes. After this, due to the construction of a railway network of the next decades, it became possibly to rapidly and cheaply supply food to hungry areas.