1918 - 1939 Flashcards
What kind of country was Britain in 1918?
-Emerging out of the first world war in November of 1918,
Britain was seeing significant political and economic
change.
-politically - This is represented as women gained the
vote which increased the electorate
-economically - Britain had left-over debt to pay from
world war 1. Taxes also rose every year between 1918
and 1922
When did ww1 start and finish?
September 1914 - November 1918
Liberal party’s main stories in aftermath of ww1
- The liberals believed in free trades and a limited role
for the government. - They introduced social reforms from 1906 onwards -
state pensions, unemployment relief and some state
provided healthcare - The Liberals had been in power since 1906 (onward to
1922)
Problems that the liberal party faced after ww1
- Home rule in Ireland ( Irish Independence )
- Women’s suffrage movement
- Increasingly more influential trade unions
- complications after ww1 such as economy
Who was the Prime Minister after WW1?
David Lloyd George ( 1916 - 1922 )
- He grew up in a small village in Wales with humble beginnings which made him a bit of an outsider in British politics.
Labour Party’s main stories after WW1
- The party gained 40 MPs in the 1910 general election
and was gradually growing from election to election
- After 1911, it became far easier for working class politicians to be elected as the liberals introduced wages for MPs.
- The Representation Of The People Act in 1918 was a
huge moment. As a result, the British electorate had
tripled in size from 7.7 million to 21.4 million people - From 1920 onwards, Britain becomes a two party
political system in essence. (General elections are
fought between the labour gov and conservative gov
The Conservative party’s main stories after WW1
- Traditionally, associated with the upper classes and
aristocrats - Electoral reform meant that they had to change a bit
during the 19th century - By the end of WW1, they presented themselves as the
party for the middle and working classes who wanted to
“better” themselves through property ownership - They had been a part of DLG’s wartime coalition and
they continued to support him as a prime minister until
1922
Who were the prime ministers from 1918 to 1939?
David Lloyd-George - 1916-1922 Bonar Law - 1922-1923(May) Stanley Baldwin - 1923 (May) -1924 (January) Ramsay Macdonald - 1924 (January) -1924 (October) Stanley Baldwin - (November) 1924-1929 Ramsay Macdonald - 1929-1935 Stanley Baldwin - 1935-1937 Neville Chamberlain - 1937-1940
What happened in 1924?
The Zinoviev letter was a letter that had allegedly been from Grigory Zinoviev (the head of the communist international).
The letter told the public that if labour had been victorious there would be “a great Bolshevik plot to paralyse the British Army and Navy and to plunge the country into civil war”, and the Communist Party as “masters of Mr. Ramsay MacDonald’s Government”.
However, this was later found to be a forged letter. To this day it is one of the biggest scandals in British politics.
What happened to Labour as a result of the Zinoviev letter?
In the 1924 general election, labour had lost to the conservative party due to the suspicion that labour was working with the communist party. This was also known as the ‘Red scare’
Football, rugby, cricket etc.
→ What caused their rise (DETAILED)
- Radio being able to broadcast outside from the 1920s onwards. This built interest and excitement around organised sport. Instead of reducing the amount of people wanting to watch matches, it actually increased attendance.
- A need for distraction, beginning in the 1930s, it was clear that the economic hardship of the country meant that people needed an escape. This cultural idea of sport being the “most important of the least important things” is now embedded in British culture.
- Cheap stadia. Before the Hillsborough disaster in the 1980s, football stadiums had been able to “cram people in”. The record figure for people at one match was 118,567 at Ibrox in Glasgow. Today, Ibrox’s capacity is 50,817.
- After WW2, the appetite for sport and newspaper to report on sport increased which once again boosted interest. The concept of the “back pages” developed. Furthermore, with the advent of television and the rise in television ownership in the 1950s, it developed fandom but also made it aspirational to attend a game in the flesh. Developments in technology educated people in sport. Events like the Olympics and the World Cup in football were beamed into people’s homes. The 1966 World Cup Final received 32 million viewers.
- Youth culture. Sadly, some groups saw spectator sport as the perfect opportunity to mix and get excitement from violence and hooliganism. This became an issue from the 1960s onwards.
Changes in Transport:
The Morris Minor SV was the first £100 car and was produced in 1931. A small family car, the Austin Seven, cost about £125. This made cars affordable for white collar workers and therefore this facilitated the growth in more Middle-Class people being able to afford holidays around the country.
Economic changes in the country:
In the post-war period, the government had a commitment to full employment. Levels of low unemployment meant that employers needed to offer attractive wages in order to keep hold of their workforce. This meant that there was more disposable income, which had an impact on the amount of people being able to enjoy holidays, both domestic and abroad.
The Consumer boom:
One factor that allowed working-class families in particular to access this consumer lifestyle was the relaxing of the rules regarding consumer credit in 1954. A law was passed called the “Hire-Purchase Act” which essentially increased the amount of money that could be offered through “buy now and pay later” schemes.
