Famines in the Czech lands

The years 1432 through 1434 were known as the hungry years in the Czech lands because they faced climate issues for the duration of the Hussite Wars. The Hussite Wars were fought in Bohemia between the followers of the executed Jan Hus, a contributor to the Protestant movement. This set of wars was one of the first known military actions fought with hand-held firearms. The final two years of this fourteen-year set of wars sparked an increase in the price of grain. At one point grain was six times the price it had been prior to the wars. People in the Czech lands were unable to afford grain until the price returned to an affordable rate.

Around 1560 a decrease in temperature resulted in another disappointing harvest. A famine following the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748 killed 1,200 people in Doksy, a city in the northern Czech lands.

The next recorded famine in the Czech lands was the Great Famine, which lasted from 1770 until 1771. The cause of the Great Famine was a disease of grain monoculture and heavy rains. The Great Famine killed twelve percent of the Czech lands' population, up to 500,000 inhabitants, and radicalized the countryside, which led to peasant uprisings. This famine ended when the Czech lands imported food and increased potato production by 100 percent.

The last famine in the Czech lands was in Czech Silesia in 1847. This famine was caused by a potato disease and led to the deaths of over 20,000 people.